The Future in Nets is Now
After years of heralding some of the best goaltending prospects into the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens are getting slightly thin at the position. The talent level of their prospect pool in nets has dwindled in recent years as the Habs have turned their attention towards building back up their offense with centers, right wingers and quite a few offensive defensemen, but that shouldn’t concern fans all that much as one of the best goaltending prospects in team history is now at the helm.
I speak, of course, of Carey Price and, although he remains unsigned as of writing this, the Canadiens have hitched their wagon to the former #5 overall pick and are expecting big things from him, regardless of how tumultuous his development has been thus far.
Look beyond Carey Price, however, and the Montreal Canadiens appear to be rather slim in depth.
The Habs currently boast 4 goaltending prospects, although only one of them is a former draft pick.
Petteri Simila, drafted in the final round of 2009 remains the only goaltender that the Canadiens have drafted(other than Jason Missiaen whom the team cut ties with) since Price and is a long-shot, at best. Aside from Simila, there is youngster Robert Mayer(signed as a UFA) who is currently developing with the Habs ECHL affiliate, the Cinncinati Cyclones and the well-travelled 31 year old, Curtis Sanford.
Of those three, not one is truly expected to crack the Habs roster.
The only other Canadiens goaltending prospect is Cedrick Desjardins, and he is at the top of the depth chart. Desjardins is another undrafted goaltender, yet one that has actually developed into a solid prospect through his years in the ECHL and AHL. Although he is slated to spend another year with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Cedrick may actually have a future in the NHL. He has the talent and remains young enough that it is quite viable to imagine him as Alex Auld’s successor as Carey Price’s backup next season.
*Note: As with the prior 3 lists on
CENTERS and
WINGERS and
DEFENSEMEN, please feel free to add to my scoting reports or to post your own in the comments section.
Goaltenders
1. Cedrick Desjardins – Signed as a Free Agent in 2006
Cap Hit/Contract Length: $550K/RFA in 2011
Outlook/Expectations: Many of you may be asking yourselves, who is Cedrick Desjardins and how did it come to be that he is now the Montreal Canadiens top goaltending prospect? Well, I will tell you. Ced was a late round pick in the QMJHL draft back in 2002 by the Rimouski Oceanic. As a member of the Oceanic, Desjardins developed for a year as backup before gaining the role of the starter of the Sidney Crosby-led Rimouski squad. In 2004-05, Desjardins helped guide the Oceanic to the QMJHL title and had a strong showing at the Memorial Cup, losing to eventual champions, the London Knights of the OHL. The metamorphosis of Desjardins’ game caught the eye of former Habs goaltending great, Patrick Roy. Wasting little time, Roy, the bench boss of the Quebec Remparts, traded for him in the summer of 2005. As a member of the Remparts in 2005-06, Desjardins had another strong campaign, leading Quebec to the QMJHL Finals. Although Quebec lost the QMJHL Finals to Moncton that year, they also earned a berth into the Memorial Cup by default as Moncton was the host. Although participants more by chance than right, the Remparts absolutely dominated the tournament, winning the Final game by a score of 6-2 thanks to Desjardins incredible play(46 saves on 48 shots in final). Along with his Memorial Cup victory in his final season of Junior hockey, Desjardins was also able to close out his career with the Hap Emms Memorial Trophy as the tournament’s most valuable goaltender. Ironically, and despite the fact that Cedrick wound up having an extremely strong career in the QMJHL, he was actually never drafted by an NHL club. Although the league over-looked him in 2004, the Edmunston, New Brunswick native took it all in stride and continued to work harder and harder to prove critcs wrong. In 2006, the butterfly goalie with sublime reflexes got a chance to make an impression when he was invited to the Chicago Blackhawks training camp. Unfortunately for Desjardins, the Hawks never seemed to have anything more than a passing interest and made no efforts to sign him after the camp. Once again, never deterred, Cedrick managed to catch the eye of the Canadiens organization and the Habs decided to take a risk on him to see what he could do in Hamilton. Signed to a two year deal, the Bulldogs took their time in grooming Desjardins, actually sending him to Cinncinati of the ECHL for a year to develop. He bounced back and forth between Hamilton and Cinncinati, winning the 2008 Kelly Cup with the Cyclones and earning MVP honors on the way. Finally, after his original two year deal with the Bulldogs was up, the Canadiens decided they liked what they saw and re-signed him to another two year deal. As with prior periods in Ced’s career, his hard work payed off and he eventually began to show signs of success with the Bulldogs, again earning the encouragement of the Canadiens and the reward of another contract in Hamilton. While he is now 24, set to turn 25 on September 30th, the 5 year pro is actually turning into a successful long-term project. His reflexes haven’t faded over time, but have gotten better. He has a smooth left glove hand and is active and capable with his stick, although not necessarily a puck-moving goalie. The butterfly style is the best way to describe his movements as he has a very fluid demeanor when moving from post-to-post. Recently, under the guidance of Guy Boucher, Desjardins’ confidence hit a new peak as he was able to play well enough to earn the job of starter for awhile with the Bulldogs last season(although he did end up splitting time evenly with Curtis Sanford). It’s been a long journey for the undrafted netminder, but with Jaroslav Halak now out of the picture and ideas firmly set in place that Carey Price will be the Canadiens goaltender of the future, Desjardins just might wind up the perfect backup. As his career path has been a long and winding road, it’s clear that Ced was never going to be chosen outright as a possible starter in the NHL, but(a bit like Halak), he has come from out of nowhere to prove that he has the mettle to play at the pro level. The Montreal Canadiens never truly had much in the way of expectations for Desjardins, yet he has continually exceeded at every level of play and has now stuck around long enough that he is seriously being considered as a possibility to be Price’s backup in the future. He's not a young prospect, not by any means, yet his maturity and years being groomed by the franchise make him an ideal candidate for a talented and affordable backup once Auld is gone. This time around Montreal decided to sign Cedrick to a one year deal(as opposed to the 2 year deals he got in the past), which is a strong indication that they feel he may be ready to sign on with the Canadies next summer. He is in the plans as a possible call-up this season if the Canadiens are in need, but will priimarily split time with Curtis Sanford in Hamilton. Desjardins will need another strong season of growth and development, but as the smoke clears and critcs begin to realize the Montreal pipeline in nets is no longer as strong as it once was, there's a very real chance that Cedrick can earn a spot on Montreal’s bench in a years time.
2.Petteri Simila – Drafted 211th overall(7th round) in 2009 by Habs
Cap Hit/Contract Length: Yet to sign a professional contract
Outlook/Expectations: When drafted in 2009, the Habs were simply making a move to stock their prospect depth in nets. What they weren’t expecting was for the hulking 6’5 native of Finland to come over and struggle as badly as he did when he played with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the OHL last year. After a rough go in Niagara, Simila eventually soured on his lack of playing time and decided to return to Finland, signing a two year deal with KalPa’s Junior A team. There isn’t much to be said in the way of Petteri’s game as it appears to be based solely around the fact that he covers a tremendous amount of net. Yet, according to few scouts across the pond, Petteri has remarkable reflexes and is far more flexible than you would expect for someone his size. Clearly, both statements are a compliment to the fact that there may be more to Simila than meets the eye. His development has only truly begun and, although he struggled in his initial tour in North America, he has plenty of time to develop in Finland and will get the starting minutes he needs to grow his game. The Canadiens are going to give Oulu native all the time he needs to sort his game out in Finland and will be ready to groom him when he decides to come back over. In the meantime, Petteri just turned 20 and still has to grow into his large frame(he’s only 188 pounds at the moment). The Canadiens will watch his development from afar for the time being, but as his development gets going, expect to see him back in North America(possibly with the Bulldogs) in 2012-13.
3. Robert Mayer – Signed as a Free Agent in 2008 by Habs
Cap Hit/Contract Length: Yet to sign a professional contract
Outlook/Expectations: Eligible for the 2008 draft, Robert Mayer went undrafted and was signed by the Canadiens during the summer of ‘08. Mayer, a 6’1, 190 pound native of Zurich, Switzerland, spent two seasons with the Saint-John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL before being assigned to the Cinncinati Cyclones of the ECHL last season. The review on Mayer is that he has a somewhat inconsistent game. He's a very aggressive netminder and, when "on", is an extremely talented goaltender, but for all the flashes of brilliance there are just as many lapses. The expectations for Mayer are not that grand as he will likely wind up back with the Cyclones, but if he can gain control over his inconsistency, he might be worth a look in 2012-13.
4. Curtis Sanford – Signed as a UFA in 2000 by Blues
Cap Hit/Contract Length: $550K/UFA in 2011
Outlook/Expectations: Although he went undrafted out of Juniors before being signed by the Blues and spending a few years in their farm system, at one time it seemed like Curtis Sanford was poised to become a starting goaltender in the NHL, or at the very least a backup. Yet, everytime Curtis seemed to get things on track, he would suffer an injury which would set him further back in the depth chart. With NHL experience in St.Louis and Vancouver, Sanford is proven to be adequate when called upon, but, unfortunately for the injury prone netminder, it doesn’t look like he be will getting back to the NHL anytime soon. That said, the Canadiens have enjoyed what he brought to their farm system last season and have brought him back for another year to pair with Cedrick Desjardins in nets. Now 30(turning 31 in October), Sanford is no longer a prospect necessarily, but he still has the qualifications if the Canadiens need to turn to him.
In order to wrap up my evaluation of the Canadiens prospects, I will return tomorrow with the complete list of prospects and we’ll have some fun grading the future of the Montreal Canadiens.
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