Martin St-Louis Finally Addresses the Canadiens' Number-One Goalie Question
Photo credit: HabsFanatics / NHL
The head coach of the Montreal Canadiens, Martin St-Louis, answered reporters' questions regarding Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes a little earlier.
Of course, let's remember that Montembeault is having a more difficult start to the season (save percentage of 0.857) in four starts, so it was logical to ask the question at this point.
Regarding the much-discussed identity of his number-one goaltender, Martin St-Louis finally agreed to make a decision on the matter and explain his reasoning for the day.
Martin St-Louis settles the question and explains his decision
When asked by reporters about the topic of the Canadiens' number-one goaltender, here's what the head coach had to say.
"We're comfortable with our two goalies," said Martin St-Louis, wanting to nip any hint of controversy in the bud.
"There will always be internal competition, no matter the position."
- Martin St-Louis
"There will always be internal competition, no matter the position."
- Martin St-Louis
St-Louis continued:
"We have two good goalies.
Will they both be at their best all year?
No," he went on.
"So you manage that - you manage their workload and performances.
For now, Dobes seems more in his element.
However, there's nothing to say that he could maintain the same effectiveness if he were asked to tend the net two games out of three.
It's a long season - you never know when an injury might happen," said St-Louis.
"It's even important to have a third [goaltender within the organization]. I love the way we're positioned on that front."
- Martin St-Louis Via TVA Sports
Will they both be at their best all year?
No," he went on.
"So you manage that - you manage their workload and performances.
For now, Dobes seems more in his element.
However, there's nothing to say that he could maintain the same effectiveness if he were asked to tend the net two games out of three.
It's a long season - you never know when an injury might happen," said St-Louis.
"It's even important to have a third [goaltender within the organization]. I love the way we're positioned on that front."
- Martin St-Louis Via TVA Sports
Martin St-Louis spoke a lot about balance and workload management, but I especially take away one thing from his statements and his press conference...
You can really sense that the Montreal Canadiens now consider themselves to have a "1A" goalie and a "1B" goalie, rather than one who is clearly number 1 and another who is clearly number 2.
Meanwhile, Samuel Montembeault is putting in the effort to regain his confidence. After a challenging start to the season, he was seen working hard in Brossard.
Already, that's quite a turnaround compared to what we saw last season - especially at the beginning of the year.
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