When you think of the goalkeepers who deserved a nomination for the Vézina Trophy last season, Sergei Bobrovsky, Thatcher Demko and Connor Hellebuyck immediately come to mind. It was the latter who won the trophy.
You could also think of Jeremy Swayman, Igor Shesterkin or Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Jesse Granger of The Athletic is convinced that Samuel Montembeault should have been part of this conversation! That’s what he explained to his colleague Arpon Basu during the recording of the latest episode of his podcast The Athletic Hockey Show.
Granger doesn’t think Montembeault should have won the Vézina Trophy last season, but he does think the Québécois should have been part of the conversation.
Arpon Basu was so surprised that he let out numerous “woah, woah woah!“
Granger then took the time to explain himself, saying that conventional stats didn’t favor Montembeault, but that many advanced stats made him look good.
It’s true that the Québécois didn’t look bad, but he still ranked 31st in the NHL for efficiency rate (.903) among goaltenders having played at least 25 games.
Even worse was his goals-against average (3.14), which ranked 41st in the NHL among goaltenders having played 25 or more games.
Granger identifiedGoals saved above expected as one of Montembeault’s strengths. It’s true that he was among the NHL’s top-10 in this regard in January with +10.9.
The only problem was that he was overtaken in this category towards the end of the season, finishing 21st in the NHL among goaltenders who played at least 25 games with +3.3.
A far cry from the Vézina.
Arpon Basu wasn’t convinced by the Vézina idea, but he agrees that the Québécois goalie is underrated in the NHL and that he’s the right goalie to help the Habs right now.
Basu believes that Fowler is considered the Canadiens’ goaltender of the future, but that Montembeault serves as a safety net should the young American not develop as expected.
Overtime
– What do you think?
– A few personnel moves in the MLB.
– Tagovailoa described him as a terrible person.
