Tonight, the Laval Rocket is in Toronto for a game against the Marlies. We will obviously be monitoring Joshua Roy’s return to play, but we will also keep an eye on another player from the CH’s farm team who will be in action.
And that player is Cayden Primeau, who will be trying to improve his record to 10-0-0 since returning to the AHL.
The one who was named goalie of the month in the AHL for his performances in January is currently a true wall. His statistics (goals-against average of 1.96 and save percentage of 0.923) are very solid, and he seems to have regained his confidence.
And that’s good news for him because he needed it.
However, what’s interesting is that all of this is happening at a time when Jakub Dobes is starting to struggle in the NHL… and that raises questions.
José Théodore discussed all of this on the airwaves of 98.5 FM last night… and according to him, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the CH to replace Dobes with Primeau. Essentially, do the opposite of what was done upon returning from Christmas.
In fact, Théodore explains his point this way: we need to reward the most deserving, and right now, the most deserving is Primeau. He excels in the AHL while Dobes is coming back down to Earth after a dominant start in the NHL.
And it’s normal for Dobes to come back down to Earth: one should have expected teams to adjust, and now that it’s done, it’s up to Dobes to respond. The young goalie has a nice challenge ahead of him now… and he shouldn’t burn out either.
So right now, it is true that the idea of bringing back Primeau isn’t crazy… but the CH needs to consider where it’s better for Dobes to play for his development.
After all, in the NHL, he has the opportunity to be really tested and to understand what it means to be an NHL goalie… but if he ends up losing all his confidence by struggling, that won’t be better either.
The other big question is whether Primeau, who has always been an excellent goalie in Laval but an average goalie in Montreal, would be able to translate his good performances to the big club this time. Right now, Primeau’s confidence (which was seriously shaken in December) is back… and we have to ask whether this is an opportunity to give him one last chance.
If it doesn’t work out after he has rebuilt his confidence like this in Laval, it will never work out.
So we will see if the CH will make a change at that level… but we might wonder if Sunday’s game will be the last chance match for Dobes. If he has another tough outing, maybe suddenly, the Canadiens will reevaluate their situation in net ahead of the return from the 4 Nations break.
