Montreal Canadiens Place Goaltender On NHL Waivers

The Montreal Canadiens have announced they have put goaltender Cayden Primeau on waivers.

It’s an expected move following the decision to call-up Jakub Dobes from the team’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket.

Primeau was the victim of incredibly poor planning from the former Canadiens management team, particularly Marc Bergevin, who promised the goaltender he’d become Carey Price’s backup within a season if he left the NCAA early.

This led to Primeau leaving Northeastern (NCAA) after just two years, and spending time with various Laval Rocket teams that always had three (or more) goaltenders in the mix.

Of course, we can’t blame the Habs for the lack of saves in some games, and there’s no doubt Primeau has played poorly, especially in the NHL. But we’d be delving into intellectual dishonesty if we ignored the development plan that was put in place for Primeau, who is in the last year of a three-year contract with the Canadiens.

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At the very least, the AHL assignment should allow Primeau to play enough games to give him a fighting chance to find his rhythm.

In the meantime, Jakub Dobes will serve as Montreal’s backup, providing crucial relief for their usual starter, Samuel Montembeault. There’s no doubt Montembeault needs a lighter workload, especially as the Habs tend to have their fair share of defensive issues, which makes every start a little more tiring.

Dobes is a fierce competitor that spent two years with Ohio State in the NCAA before joining the Rocket last season. His first year in the AHL led to slightly worse numbers than what we saw from Primeau in the same situation, but Dobes did manage to improve his numbers in his sophomore season, which is very encouraging.

It also helps that the Rocket are playing a much more reliable brand of hockey than they did last year.

Regardless, it appears that Primeau’s time with the Montreal Canadiens is coming to an end, and though it didn’t work out, we do hope the 25-year-old goaltender is given a legitimate chance in another organization, either via a waiver claim (which is not likely given his stats), or a new deal with a different team once his contract expires with the Habs.