Price Or No Price, Allen Or No Allen, Montembeault Will Be Ready

Whether or not Carey Price is ready to start again when the Montreal Canadiens host the Toronto Maple Leafs on October 12, Samuel Montembeault plans to be ready if his team needs him.

With Montembeault signing a two-year, one-way contract with $1M AAV on July 18, the Canadiens could have a logjam between the pipes with him, Price and Jake Allen, who all signed to one-way contracts and having to pass through waivers to be sent down to the Laval Rocket and the American Hockey League.

Note: On April the Montreal Canadiens tweeted this update on Allen and that’s the last we’ve heard on him from the team or Allen himself.

Jake Allen:

Est blessé à l’aine. Sa saison est terminée, mais il sera prêt pour le camp d’entraînement.

He has a groin injury. His season is over, but he’ll be ready for training camp.

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) April 12, 2022

As for Carey Price, former Montreal Canadiens goalie coach Stephane Waite had this to say on Price’s future back on July 20:

“Carey always took care of his body. He trained hard. He ate well and he always took care of himself, so I think Carey can come back. I think he’ll be ready for September. But, like every goalie at his age, you can’t play him 60 games a season anymore; so you gotta be smart in the way you manage his time for the games and practices. That’s why it’s very important to have a very good backup like Jake Allen.”

Per PuckPedia, the Canadiens have $1.1M in projected salary cap space. So, with Price ($10.5M), Allen ($2.8M) and Montembeault ($1M), one would think that depending on how much salary cap space Montreal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes can free up before the 2022-23 regular season begins, something would have to give all three are healthy. Allen obviously has the most value but with so many teams up against the cap, it could end up being Samuel Montembeault that goes on waivers. For now, the Becancour, Quebec native isn’t worried about any of that.

“We haven’t discussed that yet. I don’t think anyone knows what to expect when it comes to Carey Price,” Montembeault said after he signed his extension. “I’m just focusing on preparing myself to come to training camp with the mindset of making the team. Nothing changes with respect to my preparation. I just want to work hard this summer to come to training camp ready.

It’s the first time since I’ve turned pro that I signed a two-year contract. It’s fun to go into next season and focus on my training at the end of the year instead of starting the process all over again. It can be stressful. You never know what to expect or where you might be headed, so it was fun to sign a two-year contract. Next summer, I’ll be able to just focus on my training.”

As for the Montembeault’s wrist he recently had surgically repaired, he believes he will be ready for training camp as well. He was scheduled to see his doctors after signing the extension.

“It’s going great. I’m just missing some range of motion from one last movement, and that’s why I’m going to see him,” said after he signed. “Other than that, my wrist is moving great and I’ve been given the green light to start again this week. I’ll start facing a small number of shots and I’m going to start skating more and more, too. Next week, I’m going up to Blainville to see my goalie coach and work with him. It’s getting better and better and I’ll be ready for training camp.”