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Dans les coulisses

Renaud Lavoie: Samuel Montembeault will not be traded

The Canadiens kick off a busy week tonight with a visit from the Lightning at the Bell Centre. It will be the CH’s first game in Montreal since October 28…

And the first of four in six nights!

On Thursday, the Montrealers travel to Detroit, before crossing swords with the Bruins (Saturday) and Canucks (Sunday) over the weekend.

If Martin St-Louis doesn’t give Cayden Primeau any of those four starts, I don’t know when the young goaltender will see action again…

My call: Jake Allen will be the only goaltender to get two starts. Montembeault and Primeau will get one each. It remains to be seen who will play when…

Let’s talk goalies… but in a more medium- to long-term perspective.

We all know that Kent Hughes doesn’t want to lose Cayden Primeau for free via the ballot. That’s why he’s still with the big club, but has only played one of the team’s first 11 games.

We’ve also noted that Jake Allen is currently the best of the CH’s three goalies, but he’s old, the most expensive and injury-prone.

And as of yesterday, we know that negotiations are underway between the Habs and Samuel Montembeault’s agent… but that they’re far from being in intense mode. There is a discussion corridor, but it seems as quiet as the little home gym I made for myself in the garage. #LittleUsedPresently

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Renaud Lavoie added another layer last night on JiC (TVA Sports).

According to Renaud, there’s reason to believe that Montembeault, who can become an uncompensated independent player this summer, won’t be leaving Montreal.

One of those reasons… is the fact that Montembeault is currently starring in an IGA ad. No kidding…

“This IGA ad. IGA is a major sponsor for Canadians. You have to make associations […] Samuel Montembeault isn’t going anywhere.” –Renaud Lavoie

I agree with Renaud on this, even though Darren Dreger raised the possibility last week of the CH trading Samuel Montembeault (or Jake Allen). Montembeault is a good goalie, but more importantly, he’s a good kid and a French-speaking Quebecer. Unless we see him demand a salary of $5 or $6 million per season for seven or eight years, I think he’ll stay with the Habs.

But I don’t see any hint of his future in the fact that he appeared in an IGA commercial.

It doesn’t work that way…
(Credit: Google)

IGA may be a sponsor of the organization, but I can’t imagine a sales, comms or marketing director going to Kent Hughes or Jeff Gorton and asking if he intends to trade Samuel Montembeault… because he’s closing a deal with IGA.

If Hughes and Gorton, as good field hockey men, feel that the best option at some point in the near future is to trade Montembeault, they will. IGA commercials or not on TV…

Alex Galchenyuk, Marc Bergevin, Jeff Petry and Tyler Toffoli have all left the Habs despite appearing in McDonald’s ads. Toffoli’s campaign was launched at the end of November 2021 and he was traded two or three months later, you know…

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Where I agree with Renaud is at the end of his column, when he says:

“Samuel loves the Canadiens and the Canadiens love Samuel a lot.”

But if the Habs were able to trade P.K. Subban when he was the face of several companies – and a children’s hospital in Montreal – I don’t see why a TV commercial with IGA would provoke any association whatsoever in some people. Then again, maybe it’s just me too…

Os*i, IGA should have signed Brady Tkachuk or Logan Cooley to represent their brand in Quebec a few months before their respective drafts. It would have changed the course of history…

Disclaimer: these last two sentences are neither news nor opinion. #Sarcasm #Humor

In a row

– “There’s no tanking!” – Gary Bettman…

– Our Russian blue-line prospect is a fan of Russian pop music!

– Good question (to which I’m tempted to answer Gallagher). The numbers and probabilities are on Gallagher’s side right now…

– Pretty sure Patrick Roy won’t be Mathieu Darche’s choice if he’s ever named Senators GM…

– He’s not the only one. At least he realized it in time.