Who will be the Canadiens’ backup goalie next season?
That’s one of the questions general manager Marc Bergevin will probably be asked Tuesday when he holds a 4:30 p.m. post-mortem news conference in Brossard after the players pack up their lockers and head home for a long summer vacation with the Canadiens missing the playoffs for the second straight season.
You can bet the answer won’t be Antti Niemi.
Niemi, who had an 8-6-2 record with a 3.78 goals-against average and an .887 save percentage this season, can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and, at age 35, you have to think his NHL career is over. Niemi allowed seven goals on 33 shots in his last two starts — both losses for the Canadiens. As a result, Carey Price started 13 straight games and played in 27 of 28 before getting a night off in Saturday’s season finale against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Bell Centre. Price, 31, ended up playing in 66 games, tying for the second-highest total of his NHL career.
Canadiens goaltender Charlie Lindgren dives to cover up as Toronto Maple Leafs centre Auston Matthews hunts for puck on April 6, 2019.
Charlie Lindgren, who stopped 44 of 49 shots in Saturday’s 6-5 shootout win over the Maple Leafs, would seem to be the front-runner for the backup job. However, the 25-year-old didn’t have a great season with the AHL’s Laval Rocket, posting an 11-14-1 record with a 2.94 goals-against average and a .884 save percentage. Michael McNiven, 21, had better numbers with the Rocket this season, posting a 10-11-3 record with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage. The Canadiens have also signed 19-year-old goalie Cayden Primeau to an NHL entry-level contract and he will be looking for playing time next season in Laval.
If Bergevin doesn’t think Lindgren is ready to be Price’s backup, expect the GM to acquire a veteran goalie in the twilight of his career this summer.
After playing 14 games with the Canadiens in 2017-18, Saturday’s game was Lindgren’s first in the NHL this season. He was called up from the Rocket on March 11 to give Price a break in some practices and morning skates. Lindgren admitted Saturday’s game felt a bit like his first in the NHL, which came at the end of the 2015-16 season when he made 26 saves in a 4-2 win over the Hurricanes in Carolina.
“I was pretty nervous going into tonight … my first game, obviously, the same way,” Lindgren said after Saturday’s win over the Maple Leafs. “So just managing the emotions and just trying to do whatever I can to help the team win.
“Really, I felt good from the get-go,” he added. “As a goalie, you want to feel the puck and tonight it felt like I was feeling the puck really well. I thought Toronto played a really good game, so a lot of credit goes to them. But a lot of credit goes to us, too. We pushed back hard. This is a really fun, really hard-working dressing room. So I think the future looks pretty bright.”
The future looks pretty bright for Ryan Poehling, who made his NHL debut with the Canadiens Saturday and scored three goals before adding the winner in the shootout. Lindgren knows Poehling well since they are from the same home town of Lakeville, Minn., and they both played at St. Cloud State University, although not at the same time.
“He’s my youngest brother’s age, so he grew up playing with my youngest brother,” Lindgren said about Poehling. “His twin brothers are the same age as my middle brother. So growing up in the same home town, I got to know the Poehling family really well. I’ve known Ryan for a long time. To see what he did tonight, that’s really special and I’m so happy for him. To get a hat-trick in your first game, that’s pretty insane.”
The two are be hoping to be teammates next season with the Canadiens.
