Montreal Canadiens
Canadiens Talk: Impact Of Jakub Dobes Call-Up, Primeau, Fowler
When the Montreal Canadiens announced AHL goaltender Jakub Dobes was on his way to join the team ahead of their back-to-back games in Florida, a clear message was given regarding backup Cayden Primeau’s future with the organization.
Don’t be surprised if Primeau is added to waivers tomorrow, at 2pm ET, the first opportunity to do so since the Holiday Roster Freeze was put into effect. The goal is sending him to the AHL to play with the Laval Rocket, but beyond the AHL assignment, there doesn’t seem to be much left to add in Primeau’s case.
He has no future in Montreal.
To a certain extent, it’s a merciful end to what has been a rather confusing and counterproductive development plan. While we must recognize Primeau’s numbers haven’t exactly been great in the NHL, Montreal’s handling of the 25-year-old netminder is the perfect example of what not to do when it comes to goaltending prospects.
It’s something to keep in mind as the topic of Jacob Fowler‘s future with the team comes to the forefront. Fowler is in the midst of yet another fantastic year for Boston College, and there are decent odds he will make his professional hockey debut by next season, especially if Dobes earns the backup job in Montreal.
MUST READ: Canadiens Development Of Cayden Primeau A Perfect Example Of How To Mishandle Goalies
Learning From Mistakes
Personally, I believe there’s very little value to rushing goaltenders, as the Habs did with both Primeau and Dobes. Of course, their discrepancy in recent results denotes that they shouldn’t be lumped together at this exact point, and that leaving the NCAA early isn’t necessarily a death knell for goaltenders.
That being said, like Dobes, Primeau had fairly good results in his first year of AHL action. In fact, Primeau had slightly better stats while playing behind a significantly worse team. He was also younger than Dobes, and though it may seem like I’m trying to tear down the former Ohio State goaltender, I’m just reminding everyone that the Canadiens will have to be careful with how they use their new backup, or there’s a risk he will go down the same road as Primeau, a road paved in poor development plans, frustration, and a complete lack of confidence from the organization.
The Canadiens happen to have one of the most chaotic blue lines in the league. Adding Alexandre Carrier to the mix helped, but Dobes is likely to endure a baptism by fire while making his NHL debut, which is a very difficult situation for any goaltender, let alone a 23-year-old rookie.
We’ll all cheer for Dobes, and support him as he attempts to take the next step in his career, but we should be mindful when it comes to the difficultly involved in starting in the NHL, versus playing in the AHL. If Dobes stumbles a little, the team has to ensure he doesn’t immediately lose his confidence, as was the case with Primeau this season.
This means they will have to give him semiregular starts, at the very least.
A guessing goaltender is vulnerable, both on and off the ice.
For Dobes to succeed, preparation will be key, and that’s only possible when you know exactly what to expect in the near future, including how often the Habs expect to use him as they desperately attempt to give starter Samuel Montembeault a chance to catch his breath.
Fortunately, Dobes is the epitome of a competitor, and he has a history of bouncing back after difficult outings, which should give him a leg up on his counterparts as he navigates the icy waters of an NHL debut with a team that suffers much more losses than wins.
And while we can all agree Primeau’s time in Montreal did not go as expected, I do hope he does find some semblance of success in the near future with another organization, because the empty promises in Montreal led to nothing but a broken prospect, an experiment team cannot afford to recreate now that they’re attempting to take the next step in the rebuild.
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I saw the Rocket play the Marlies last year and there wasn’t one player on the Rocket that looked even close to NHL caliber (Trudeau looked far from it). The only player that played reasonable well for the Rocket was Primeau and he was one of the stars of the game. He really just like a puffed marshmallow (or a Michelin man) in the crease. I could see why the Rocket were last-place worthy and concluded that all of their players were just pastry filling. Come to think of it, beyond the top six on the Habs, they are all filling too, Same with all NHL and NBA teams too. Waaaay overpaid fillers. Boring.
AND I wish to add that, in my opinion, Jacob Fowler is the REAL DEAL. This guy is Can’t Miss and he is already far and away the best goalie in the Habs system. He will pick up where Dryden left off. Fowler is big and mobile and covers his angles superbly. He will take the Habs into the playoffs and beyond. Fowler and Demigod are the future of the Montreal Canadiens.
At 6″1′, Fowler is actually kind of small by today’s NHL goalie standards but agree he has great potential.
Agree, he is the same size as Shesterkin. Dobes is almost 6ft5, was dominant on an Ohio team that wasn’t supposed to make the playoffs when he was there. He missed 3 games, backup played, in the 2 years he was at Ohio. I think Fowler will be good, but I fully expect a challenge from Dobes for the future of the crease in Montreal. I could even see Fowler backing up Dobes to start his career in the NHL
“While we must recognize Primeau’s numbers haven’t exactly been great in the NHL, Montreal’s handling of the 25-year-old netminder is the perfect example of what not to do when it comes to goaltending prospects.”
Maybe explain this a bit rather than just assert it? I know you link to another article at the very bottom, but it’d be helpful for the reader to get a couple of lines about why you think his development was mishandled.
I linked an article (twice) that explains it in detail, but here’s that link again: https://montrealhockeynow.com/2024/11/29/montreal-canadiens-goalie-primeau-perfect-example-poor-development-fowler/
Essentially, they sped up his development for no reason by rushing him out of the NCAA, and then they had the worst possible setup in the AHL, as he was always sharing the net with two (or more) goaltenders. Never had his own net. Plus they promised to give him Carey Price’s backup job, and of course, that never happened.
A complete mishandling of the situation.
Yes, I know you link to the article. I said as much in my comment. I’m just making an observation about helping the reader get more out of THIS article.
Primeau wasn’t handled well. He topped out at 33 games twice in Laval, 41 once. The problem is, as a youngster, out of the spotlight in the AHL, they should have overplayed him like Dobes last year; 51 games. Dobes is more agile, and has a better glove and quicker feet than Primeau already though. At almost 6ft5 and 215, I would say he’s probably stronger with more muscle than Primeau too. Primeau spends way too much time on his stomach in a lot of games, Dobes is way more upright and controlled, something I would have worked on a lot with Primeau. Unfortunately, the team didn’t work with him well enough to correct his flaws.
You can blame this on the Habs if you wish, kind of a lazy analysis if you ask me, He’s just not an NHL goalie. No ones fault, not even his. He is just not good enough at this point
Honestly, ignoring his poor development is very, very lazy.
Saying “he’s just not an NHL goalie, no one’s fault” is legitimately lazy too, lol.
Sorry, but you’re 100% doing what you’re accusing me of, and it’s pretty funny.
Anyhow, here’s the article that was linked twice in the piece, describing why Primeau’s development was terrible. I had pretty good insight as I was essentially the only person who covered Primeau every day in Laval, except for Anthony Marcotte: https://montrealhockeynow.com/2024/11/29/montreal-canadiens-goalie-primeau-perfect-example-poor-development-fowler/
Don’t forget, the Habs convinced him to leave the NCAA early by telling him he’d be playing in the NHL in a year, backing up Carey Price. It was a dumb decision by Marc Bergevin that negatively impacted Primeau’s development, there’s no avoiding it.
Honestly, I’m having a hard time thinking of a worse possible development plan for a goalie than what the Habs did with Primeau.
Personally, I don’t think Primeau’s career as a potential NHL goaltender isn’t over. Case in point; Lindgren. Fucale may even be back next year, both of them were mismanaged by the team development wise as well. The one thing the team didn’t correct with Primeau since his days at Northeastern, the swimming on his stomach that we see with him over and over again. It seems that almost every goal that gets scored on him he’s on his stomach. There are other flaws in his game, he’s not very good with his glove hand, he is not as efficient as Dobes at cross-crease plays. He doesn’t have the same puck skills with his stick as Dobes. Dobes played 51 games in his rookie year last year, Primeau played 33, 33, and 41 in his 3 years in Laval.
You could add Monty to that list. Claimed on Waivers at 24
Just read your previous article on Primeau for the first time, you’re completely right, they mismanaged with, I think you mentioned, 4 goaltenders playing in Laval. The coaching has been horrible in Laval for years when it comes to how the youth has been managed, not just the goaltenders. I will also add, as I have travelled and seen a lot of hockey in this country, based on the west coast for most of my time, the goaltending situation in Canada, how young goaltenders are trained in this country from a very early age is completely wrong. Getting kids as young as 7-9 years old into proper technique, when they don’t even have the size to have their head reach halfway up the goalpost, is completely wrong. Mobility isn’t something that is focused on, and the training is far better in the US right now. The future is not going to be dominant in this country. Goaltenders like Brodeur; played him many times in my youth, Fleury, Price, Roy and Luongo I just don’t see happening unless there is a real mindset reset. In my eyes, with the flaws that still exist in Montambault’s game, he should not be a number 1 goaltender in the NHL, and the team Canada brass wrongly picked him to be on the team.
Hey Mark, I don’t get how you came up with Primeau having better numbers in his rookie year??! Primeau had a more experienced team, less rookies and youth, drafting wasn’t Bergevin and the teams strong suit for the time they were running the team. Dobes played 51 games in his rookie year, Primeau played 33. Dobes, after a tough first 10 games last year was hovering around 83%, with a very inexperienced team, went on to bring his sv% back to 90.6%. Primeau had a consistent run finishing at 90.8%. Primeau won 17 games. Dobes finished with 24 wins. Both teams in their rookie years didn’t make the playoffs. Both were goaltenders of the year in the NCAA, but Primeau came from a powerhouse team, Levi played on the same team, both I would say had great numbers more because of the team around them. Dobes came to Ohio State, one of the weakest teams, a team that wasn’t supposed to make the playoff rounds in the NCAA, and they did. I’ve scouted goaltenders for over 20 years, played the position when I was younger, nicely, Dobes has been heavily underrated. I think there is a big surprise coming, he may let in a couple of goals quickly tomorrow, but I think he’ll settle in, like you mentioned, because of his competitiveness. What I will add, he tended to overplay a lot of plays at Ohio, and he’s tightened his game up quite a bit. He is an elite skater, with top end explosiveness, an outstanding glove hand, and a blocker side that is being worked on. He is a top tier puck handler and a very good reader of the game in front of him. He strained his groin in the first pre-season game of the year against the Leafs. He was out twice in Laval because of that. He’s recouped, but his numbers struggled a little because of it. He will be better than Montambault as he has less flaws in his game than Montambault has at the same age, and is cleaning up his game at a quicker pace, his rebound control improved throughout the year last year, and is even cleaner this year. I think it’s his mental toughness and confidence that will allow him to finish the year in Montreal.
Not surprised, nor put out, by this turn of events. Dobes is a very good goaltender and he deserves a shot. Some people are going to argue he should not make his debut against the Panthers. So, if he loses, are people going to argue he was “mismanaged”? It’s the NHL. Every team is filled with talented players. At some point the player has to get his chin off his chest and play. Play hard. That’s what Suzuki did. That’s what Caufield did (remember he was dropped into the playoffs in his NHL debut?) Every time a team dresses you for a game in the NHL is a chance to show who and what you are. Primeau hasn’t been able to do that. In the final analysis, he may just not be able to play to the standard of the NHL. It happens.
The best thing for Primeau is to be picked up by another team.
If he goes to Laval at least he will get to play a lot. Every
hockey player likes to play regularly even if it is not in the
highest league. He will be unhappy to be sent down but
at the same time eager to finally have some playing time.
It doesn’t seem to me the Habs gave him enough starts this season to get into any kind of a rhythm.
He’s still so young! I hope he isn’t picked up by anyone and has a chance to go down to Laval and get some good coaching on what seems to be a good team, can regain his confidence and get back in the mix! You can never have too many goalies!