Poll: Goalie Situation

[BigTed3]

Some people think there's a goalie controversy. Some think it's way too early to crown Lindgren an NHL starter. Some think Lindgren has proven he's a better option than Montoya and some think he's a better option than Price as well for now. What should the Habs do once all the goalies are healthy and available?

[Regis22]

Price is the man

 

[eldag]

What is the goalie controversy exactly? The only controversy I am aware of is the ridiculous contract that Bergevin gave Price. As I have been saying consistently since the end of last season, Price should have been traded when his value was at max during the summer. There is no way he is tradable at this point given his performance, injury concerns, and his cap hit plus a modified no trade to the end of the season. We are stuck with him ....

Lindgren shows promise while Montoya is a veteran filler. A rebuilding team would go with Lindtoya as their two headed goalie entry but Bergevin has messed that up and now who knows? One thing is for certain ... this franchise does not care one wit what the fans think. And really, why should they as the lemmings continue to fill the arena to watch disgraceful performances like last evening by two dreadful hockey teams. Somewhere Harold Ballard is laughing!

[habsisme]

8 minutes ago, eldag said:

What is the goalie controversy exactly? The only controversy I am aware of is the ridiculous contract that Bergevin gave Price. As I have been saying consistently since the end of last season, Price should have been traded when his value was at max during the summer. There is no way he is tradable at this point given his performance, injury concerns, and his cap hit plus a modified no trade to the end of the season. We are stuck with him ....

Lindgren shows promise while Montoya is a veteran filler. A rebuilding team would go with Lindtoya as their two headed goalie entry but Bergevin has messed that up and now who knows? One thing is for certain ... this franchise does not care one wit what the fans think. And really, why should they as the lemmings continue to fill the arena to watch disgraceful performances like last evening by two dreadful hockey teams. Somewhere Harold Ballard is laughing!

 

i agree and if Lindgren is not the real deal, he proves the point that there is enough goaltending talent in the league to get by even in the worst of circumstances. Price has never done well in playoffs either 

[Habs=stanleycup]

15 minutes ago, eldag said:

What is the goalie controversy exactly? The only controversy I am aware of is the ridiculous contract that Bergevin gave Price. As I have been saying consistently since the end of last season, Price should have been traded when his value was at max during the summer. There is no way he is tradable at this point given his performance, injury concerns, and his cap hit plus a modified no trade to the end of the season. We are stuck with him ....

Lindgren shows promise while Montoya is a veteran filler. A rebuilding team would go with Lindtoya as their two headed goalie entry but Bergevin has messed that up and now who knows? One thing is for certain ... this franchise does not care one wit what the fans think. And really, why should they as the lemmings continue to fill the arena to watch disgraceful performances like last evening by two dreadful hockey teams. Somewhere Harold Ballard is laughing!

Agreed on all points but specially the one in bold.

[habby67]

I am gonna go on a tangent here. All this talk about the 8 mill cap space and I would pay trade Price and pay half his salary as part of the deal. Now, I don't know how many years we would have to do it but I think it would be money well spent. MB can trade him for a few good/great assets and we ca go with Lindgren and run with it. Just my opinion. 

[habs1952]

Price and Montoya with Lindgren back to the AHL. If Price's knees give out put him on LTIR and recall Lindgren. 

[jwlk]

id give price a chance again, but on thin ice, we cant be letting in 4 goals a game, i understand its price, but if we keep playing him and he does not improve, we are stuck with him, even if he improves id wanna move him, his contract scares me more every day

[Regis22]

38 minutes ago, jwlk said:

id give price a chance again, but on thin ice, we cant be letting in 4 goals a game, i understand its price, but if we keep playing him and he does not improve, we are stuck with him, even if he improves id wanna move him, his contract scares me more every day

I don't think u can move him unless he wants to be moved and with the way things are going , who knows maybe he changes his mind and say " trade me right NOW "

[jwlk]

wish they had waited before giving him this extension

[BigTed3]

Lots of differing opinions on this! Here's my take:

1. Price is absolutely the starter. This team is only going to go as far as we take him. His trade value is low right now (no one's going to invest in him long-term on his contract unless he first proves his funk isn't permanent), so it doesn't help us to trade him right now and unless he's on top of his game again. And I think he will right the ship.

2. Lindgren is superior to Montoya. The only reason to keep Montoya early on was because Lindgren could be sent back down without waivers, and because Lindgren needed to play games, whereas Montoya could come off the bench. So what's changed? For one, Montoya has been extra-shaky to start the year, so there's nothing that makes me scared to lose him. And more importantly is point #3, as to why I voted for Price and Lindgren to each play 25 games.

3. While Price is my de facto starter, he's getting older and he's had trouble staying healthy and sharp for an entire year. We get to the playoffs and he's over-burdened by the time we get there. So if you have a guy like Lindgren who has shown on several occasions that he has NHL-level skill, it gives you a chance to put less wear and tear on Carey. I am not voting to have Lindgren be an equal with Carey. I am voting to have Lindgren play 25-30 games to continue his development but more importantly to keep Price rested and healthy so that he has a better chance of being in top shape if we are able to get into the playoffs.

[eldag]

1 hour ago, habby67 said:

I am gonna go on a tangent here. All this talk about the 8 mill cap space and I would pay trade Price and pay half his salary as part of the deal. Now, I don't know how many years we would have to do it but I think it would be money well spent. MB can trade him for a few good/great assets and we ca go with Lindgren and run with it. Just my opinion. 

 

14 minutes ago, Regis22 said:

I don't think u can move him unless he wants to be moved and with the way things are going , who knows maybe he changes his mind and say " trade me right NOW "

I think both the above are close to the truth ... Price needs to be onside with a trade and we will probably have to eat salary to move him. Bergevin will never do it of course in the same way as he will never move Weber which is of course mucho reason for him to be fired. This team is light years away from challenging for the Cup and is not only devoid of many blue chip prospects but it also has an aging an increasingly expensive roster which will deteriorate with time. Never mind the Subban for Weber craziness but look at the blunders committed over the past several months in mismanaging the expansion draft strategy and trading away the likes of Bo and Sergychev, plus allowing Rads and Markov to walk with no replacement strategy not to mention operating the team as if in a small market over $8MM under the cap ..... all of these head scratching moves should merit dismissal. But the reality is he is not going anywhere folks .... he has a 5 year deal and this is the FIRST year so settle in and get used to this nonsense .......

[jwlk]

wouldn't be funny if price isn't really injured, and there just using it as an excuse to give him time to get his head together, besides MB needs these wins, with price we were getting destroyed, i can see prices return when Lindgren begins to crack, besides could u imagine prices ego backing up Lindgren because he cant get his game together

[jennifer_rocket]

I chose "Price and Lindgren each get at least 25 games..." although I think, if I were coach, I'd hand the reigns back to Carey initially, but I'd hand them straight over to Lindgren for an extended run if Price continues to have below 0.900 save percentage performances. I expect Lindgren will be returned to Laval and we'll go back to Price and Montoya, but... who knows?!

[H_T_L]

I wasn't crazy about any of the choices. I would go with Price and Charlie with a split of something like 70/30 or 60/40 the rest of the way, unless Price continues to struggle badly. I'm betting CP breaks out of this soon but I don't want CL sitting for long periods of time.  Anything less then 70'30 and you may as well keep Monty,,, but no way should he play other then in a B2B situation.

[habs1952]

15 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

2. Lindgren is superior to Montoya. The only reason to keep Montoya early on was because Lindgren could be sent back down without waivers, and because Lindgren needed to play games, whereas Montoya could come off the bench. So what's changed? For one, Montoya has been extra-shaky to start the year, so there's nothing that makes me scared to lose him. And more importantly is point #3, as to why I voted for Price and Lindgren to each play 25 games.

 

Would Montoya be extra shaky if Price was performing the way he should be? I think not. 

[jwlk]

you know its sad when we need our starter and back up injured to win, montoya is just a back up goalie, and as such could just need more time to get his game on, it it could have been prices performance that made montoya bad, anyone have any idea on prices return date

[BigTed3]

4 hours ago, habs1952 said:

Would Montoya be extra shaky if Price was performing the way he should be? I think not. 

Yes. His numbers are inferior to even Carey's.

[habs1952]

2 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

Yes. His numbers are inferior to even Carey's.

He's also under a lot more pressure to win considering the way Price has played. No different than a goal scorer who is in a slump and clutches his stick too tight but just can't score. 

[BigTed3]

36 minutes ago, habs1952 said:

He's also under a lot more pressure to win considering the way Price has played. No different than a goal scorer who is in a slump and clutches his stick too tight but just can't score. 

Not sure I buy that... just cause one goalie is struggling doesn't mean the other guy stops less pucks. If Pacioretty is in a slump, it doesn't mean Galchenyuk or Drouin will grip their sticks tighter. One guy can have success while another is failing. I think the Habs as a whole have a slow, immobile defence and that that hasn't helped any of the goalies, but we've seen Lindgren have success and we've seen Carey and Montoya simply struggle to stop pucks, sometimes easy shots. That's not all on the D.

In my view, Montoya simply hasn't played well. We might actually be talking about it LESS because people are focused on Price's performance, but any time a goalie is putting up a save percentage below .900, it's a serious problem, and that's where Montoya is. Forget Carey for now... on his own performances alone, Montoya has been brutal. Lindgren has been excellent. And yes, Lindgren's sample size is small, but Lindgren also out-performed Montoya in training camp and Lindgren was very good in the AHL last year and also in his brief stints in the NHL before. I really like Lindgren's technical skills as well, so I do think he will remain a serviceable goalie and I do project him as a future NHL starter. I think he'll struggle this year if asked to play long stretches in a row, just because he doesn't have that stamina yet. But I do think he's ready to be a regular NHLer.

[vegasrick]

Well, it's a lose-lose situation all around.  Which seems perfect for the way this franchise is being handled. 

First, Price is nowhere near washed up.  But if he keeps playing for the Habs, he likely goes back to playing like he doesn't care, or worse, like he wants to be traded.  So if he stays, it hurts the team, and if he gets traded, it hurts the team because they lose one of the greatest goalies of all time, they probably don't get fair value for the trade, and then as soon as Price steps off the plane he instantly returns to his all-star form and wins the Vezina, the Hart, and probably the Cup for a different team.  He is still one of the greatest and has a lot of pride, which means he wants to win a championship in the NHL -- the only trophy that has eluded him -- before his career is over.  Habs lose.

Second, Lindgren, Montoya, Fucale and now Niemi are nowhere near Price's caliber.  Lindgren has shown signs of being a good one, but he has several things going against him, such as (1) he really hasn't had a chance to prove himself over multiple long seasons yet; and (2) he's in Montreal, where everything gets messed up somehow year after year.  Even this year his numbers will almost certainly go down because of the pitiful state of the Habs' defense.  Montoya and Niemi will never again reach the level of being an NHL starter, and Fucale, who might have reached that level at some point, is being wasted away in the minors by this same incompetent management team and it may be too late when or if he ever does get that chance.  Habs lose again.  

I didn't vote in the poll.....it didn't seem to make any difference.  

 

[jeff33]

1. I've been on the trade price bandwagon since last year so thats my first choice whether hes healthy or not.

since that will not be happening under this regime 100% and likely not otherwise since his contract is so ridicluous ( see Luongo, R, and check how that worked out...playing for a much better team than this one)

I would say the best thing is  to keep charlie with the team and have him play 35-40% of the games for the rest of the year and beyond. Price cant play 70 games. he obviously has chronic injury problems.  just accept that he needs to have a sit every 3 games or whatever and lets get the most out of that unmoveable contract.