At the rate things are going, the number of starts Cayden Primeau will get between now and the end of the season will be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Presumably he will see action in Detroit on Friday, in the first of a home-and-home series against the Red Wings. And again, nothing is less certain.
Martin St-Louis and Éric Raymond, the goalie coach, will perhaps judge that the team will benefit from a long enough break during the Christmas break to give Samuel Montembeault three starts in four days.
Photo MARTIN CHEVALIER
Since the Habs are trying to join the teams that are just ahead of them in the Eastern Association standings, we could understand them doing this.
Among the 80 goaltenders who have seen action in at least three games this season, Primeau has the worst efficiency percentage (.836%) and the worst goals allowed average (4.70).
In his column published in our Saturday edition, Marc de Foy suggested that the management of the Canadian take the decision to send the 25-year-old goalkeeper back to the American League.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea and the risk of losing him on waivers would be practically zero. And even if he were to be claimed by one of the other 31 teams… As Pierre-Yves McSween would say, “Do we really need him?”.
A promising future
Beyond all that, the question worth asking is: “What happened with Primeau?”
Yes, the American was a distant seventh-round pick. But it seems that some differences of opinion, at the time, between his coaches at Northeastern University and him cooled many.
Because his time in the NCAA was particularly brilliant. In two seasons there, he placed his name on Hockey East division all-star teams, was voted that division’s goaltender of the year on two occasions…and finished his college career with the title of best goalkeeper in the entire NCAA (Mike Richter Trophy). Even in the American League, he had a good start by sneaking into the All-Rookie team in 2019-2020.
What if the Canadian had simply dropped it or wasted it?
At 25, Primeau is in the midst of his sixth season in the professional ranks. So far, he has seen action in 178 games (55 with the Canadiens, 123 with the Rocket).
Waste of time
Primeau is part of a list of six goalkeepers who played their first matches in the Bettman circuit during the 2019-2020 season. Of the group, he and Jonas Johansson are the only ones to have less than 200 professional matches under their belt.
Of the six Masked Men born in 1999, he is also one of those who has seen the least action relative to the number of seasons.
In 2020-2021, during the shortened schedule, he spent the last five weeks of the regular season with the Canadian. He played three games and one period. Then he watched the team’s improbable playoff run from the catwalks.
Course which ended on July 7. The camps began two and a half months later. That doesn’t leave much time to work on the points we want to improve.
In 2022-2023, he spent two weeks in the Canadiens’ environment due to an injury to Jake Allen. He only saw 20 minutes of action. He came to replace Samuel Montembeault. At least he held the top position with the Rocket, with whom he participated in 41 games.
Last year, in the role of the spare wheel of the carriage, he was the big loser in the ménage à trois which lasted until March 8. At that point, the day Jake Allen was traded to New Jersey, Primeau had made just 13 of 63 starts.
Lined up end to end, we understand that these events caused Primeau to lose valuable development time.
