There was only one topic of conversation among Canadiens fans Wednesday and it had nothing to do with any of the team’s star forwards. Everyone was talking about the same question: Where do you stand on the great Samuel Montembeault debate?
On one side of the fence are the folks who’ve been calling for coach Martin St. Louis to anoint back-up goalie Jakub Dobes as the No. 1 dude in the net since the start of the season and who just lost their spit Tuesday evening when Montembeault basically gave away a goal, handing the puck right to Los Angeles King winger Kevin Fiala who popped it easily into the back of the net. Even the Team Monty people had to admit that was not a move a National Hockey League goalie makes. You cover the puck, end of story.
On the other side of the heated debate are those who think Habs fans are being their usually nutty selves, out to rip a star homegrown Canadiens player to shreds to satisfy their thirst for blood. The pro-Monty crowd say: hey, he’s only played nine games, give him time to find his game.
Sometimes fans ici are tougher on Québécois players, as I mentioned last week. Look how they treated Jonathan Drouin, Patrice Brisebois and even Mike Matheson last season. But the flip side of that is that often the local franco media is kinder to the local players. I mean for heaven’s sake, the French-speaking journalists regularly refer to him as “Sam” as if he’s their neighbour. Tuesday on RDS’s L’Antichambre, the lads on the panel bent over backwards to blame the entire team rather than Monty for the brutal 5-1 loss to the Kings.
Now they are right that the loss was a group effort. That was the Canadiens’ worst game of the season by far. Still, everyone has to stop saying Montembeault hasn’t been good enough and come right out and admit he has downright terrible numbers this season. As of Wednesday afternoon he was 38th in save percentage and 62nd in goals against average. That not “not good enough,” that’s crazy bad.
Who knows what’s the cause of this radical downturn from last season when he was one of the key reasons they scraped into the playoffs. Is it lingering fallout from his groin injury at the end of the season? Is it between the ears?
It’s also worth noting that St. Louis is already playing Dobes more because of Monty’s lacklustre start. Montembeault has played nine games, Dobes 7. Though Dobes has yet to lose a game in regulation! Wednesday afternoon, the Canadiens announced that Dobes will start against the Dallas Stars Thursday at the Bell Centre.
In other words, the coach is already adjusting and playing Dobes. But he did play Monty three of the last four games, clearly trying to slot him back in as the No. 1. I’m figuring after Tuesday, the two will at the very least be alternating games.
After Tuesday’s debacle, MSL said he’s “not worried” about Montembeault, but what else is he going to say publicly? He doesn’t want to destroy his goalie’s confidence. The truth is somewhere between the wrath of the Monty haters and those who think the fans are going overboard. Me, I think Dobes probably ends up playing more games this season than Montembeault.
Hutson or Demidov?
Over at McLean’s Pub Tuesday before the Kings game and the re-ignition of The Great Monty debate, fans were arguing over who is more exciting to watch, Lane Hutson or Ivan Demidov.
“Ivan Demidov because he’s more of an unknown quantity whereas Lane Hutson we got to experience it all of last year,” said Patrick Mallette.
Mallette loves watching Demidov’s stickhandling and skating: “It’s awesome, he can skate people out of their skates,” he said.
Victor Bui agrees with his friend Mallette.
“It’s Ivan Demidov, just because there’s hype attached to Demidov, that was there before he was drafted, after he was drafted, and it’s carried on all the way to now.”
Unsurprisingly, given that he was wearing a Demidov Canadiens jersey, Nicholas St-Martin votes for the Russian winger over the young American defenceman.
“First-off, I find it more exciting to watch a forward rather than a defenceman,” said St-Martin. “Hutson is exciting to watch as well, but my favourite is Demidov.”
“I’ll go with Lane Hutson because it’s more unusual to see a defenceman who is so exciting,” said Vincent Roger. “What he’s able to do on the ice, his passing, is very impressive. He’s playing with the best players in the world and he’s able to create that space for himself.”
Julien, who came here from Belgium three years ago, was already a Habs fan in his home country!
“I’d pick Hutson because victory comes first and foremost from defence,” said Julien. “He has great vision of the game and he’s proven himself over more than one season. Demidov still has to prove himself.”
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