Montreal Canadiens Off-Season Preview, Part I: Goaltending

Another season is over and it's time to look towards the draft, free agency, and ultimately the starting lineups for the 2008-2009 version of Les Canadiens de Montreal.

Montreal Canadiens' Off-Season Preview: Goaltending

(As Compiled by Miah D. & Matt Eichel)

Bob Gainey made a strong statement putting in rookie netminder Carey Price as his #1 down the stretch. A bold, somewhat criticized to be foolish, move paid off for the Canadiens as Price shined brilliantly down the stretch to lead them to a Conference and Division titles.

However, now that veteran Cristobal Huet is gone, will the Canadiens be content with two young, virtually inexperienced netminders?

Goalie coach Rolland Melanson had a meeting with his two young goaltenders after the end of the playoffs.

He had a few words regarding his two youngsters, starting with Carey Price. “It is one thing to work on the techniques, but he is the one who is on the ice and manages the difficult situations. He needs to learn to handle some parts," pointing that Price needs to work on his emotion.

With Jaroslav Halak's situation, despite his agent inquiring more time on ice, rumours have it that he will be back with the team. Melanson commented “I’d like to see him pushing Price more for the performances. Halak still have the possibility to be a number one in the NHL”.

For the Hamilton Bulldogs, Yan Danis might not come back. During the Bulldogs Calder Cup run a year ago, Danis lost the starting role to Carey Price. Then he lost his spot to Halak during most of this season. To top things off, this season, he has been put on waiver at the start of the year, and with Halak graduating to Montreal, he still could not help Hamilton get off of a 13 game losing streak.

Possibilities are he would not be willing to come back with the team but rather test the market for a team who would need a rookie goaltender as a back up in the NHL.

Melanson is planning on having a veteran goaltender to become the Bulldogs’ number one goalie, and be a possible number three goalie for the big club to step up, in case of injury.But there is also the possibility of having a veteran goalie to help Carey Price.

We all have seen what happened during the playoffs against the Flyers. Neither Carey Price nor Jaroslav Halak were able to show any resistance to the Flyers scoring machine.

Looking at this year’s UFA list, the first name that would be Olaf Kolzig - a 16-year NHL veteran who has played his entire career with the Washington Capitals and has long season and playoff experience, going all the way to the 1998 Stanley Cup Finals.

Despite the salary he makes, he would be a perfect psychological fit to the young Canadiens netminder. Obviously, Kolzig won’t come back with the Washington Capitals next season. He is the owner of the Try City Americans – the team Price played for during his junior years. Both players have a lot of admiration for one another.

But, we have an obstacle - Kolzig’s paycheque. He was paid $5.45 million with the Capitals.  And in the Canadiens case, do they need or have the space to spend lavishly on a backup netminder?

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?