First round pick of the Quebec Nordiques in the 1993 draft, Jocelyn Thibault played 586 games during his 15-season NHL career. He wore the uniform of the Nordiques, the Colorado Avalanche, the Montreal Canadiens, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres, signing 238 victories. He was the Avalanche goaltending coach for two seasons and is now a shareholder of the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the QMJHL. He agreed to collaborate with the LNH.com team to address hot issues in front of the League’s 32 nets.
Jakub Dobes’ very good performance in his very first career game made us want to see more, and it will perhaps allow the Canadians to finally breathe a little bit regarding their situation in front of the net.
Dobes showed some great things during his first outing, on December 28 in a 4-0 win against the Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers. Nothing less!
In your first NHL game, you play big. It will be one of the most important moments of your career. What impressed me most was his control. He’s a big guy, and he used that stature to great effect so he didn’t have to throw himself around. I was impressed by his calm and poise, in addition to the fact that he stood up during key moments of the match. You would have thought you were seeing a goalkeeper with 10 years of experience.
So it will be interesting to see what Dobes can do on Saturday if the Canadiens send him into the fray against the Colorado Avalanche. The Habs play two games in 24 hours, and it was Samuel Montembeault who got the start Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks – a 4-2 loss. We can therefore expect Dobes to be in net against the powerful Avalanche attack.
But you shouldn’t get carried away too quickly with Dobes either. Everything always seems a little easier for a goalie when he plays his first games in the NHL.
Usually the first match goes well. There’s adrenaline and the opposing team doesn’t really know you. In my first games in the NHL, I found that it was a little easier because up front, the players are much more efficient in their execution. The American League is an excellent caliber, but it is still messier than the NHL, where the passes are more precise, where the positioning of the players is better and where the systems are more efficient. You therefore have a much less chance of being surprised by an unexpected change of heart.
Plus, your new teammates absolutely want to help you win this first start. Everyone sticks together. The Montreal defense also blocked 21 shots in this game, compared to 10 for the Panthers.
Suddenly, thanks to their streak of six wins in eight games, the Canadiens find themselves three points out of a playoff spot. If they want to stay in the playoff picture, they will absolutely need two goalies. We can no longer afford to leave two points on the table when we want to give Montembeault an evening off, as has been the case five times out of a possible eight this season.
-Dobes could be this long-awaited auxiliary, but we shouldn’t give up on Cayden Primeau either. He wouldn’t be the first goalie to manage to rebuild his confidence in the AHL before returning to the NHL, far from it. He has to play a lot of games, which he hasn’t been able to do in the last two seasons.
Betting on Dobes or Primeau in the medium term seems to me a better option than getting a veteran through a transaction, for example. We would end up with too many goalkeepers at the Laval Rocket, which would harm everyone.
The Canadiens absolutely need two goalies. Montembeault was used more often than not in December, getting 86% of the team’s starts (12/14). The Habs will have to find a way to give him some time off here and there so that he stays in shape and avoids injuries until the end of the season. Additionally, he will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Showdown, which means he won’t be able to recharge his batteries while several other NHL goalies are on leave.
As a bonus, a little internal competition could only be beneficial to the Quebec goalkeeper’s performance.
A great honor at Wrigley Field
I had a great time this weekend when I was invited to Chicago to participate in the unveiling of the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues Quarter Century Teams, as part of the Winter Classic of the NHL which was held at Wrigley Field.
I am truly honored to receive such an honor from a panel that included members of the national and local media, journalists who covered the team and former players. I played for six seasons, from 1998 to 2004, with the Blackhawks, for a total of 318 games.
