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.