Well, for some of the well-established teams, it mostly is. For the New York Rangers, it may not be. For the Philadelphia Flyers, who were eliminated on the last day of the season, it isn’t. This league is changing, and you have to have certain bases covered before you become that team.
There’s no way I can say I am comfortable with the Montreal Canadiens goalie tandem if they want to battle for the playoffs next year. It’s not good enough and Jacob Fowler is too young to throw into the NHL no matter how good he looks.
Sam Montembeault has been up and down this year. He’s NHL mediocre. He’s no longer developing and asking him to be better than NHL average for a full season doesn’t seem possible. He is a good 1B. That’s what I think he is.
Jakub Dobes is 23. He is still developing. Is it possible for him to be a 1A starter? Maybe, but I haven’t seen that in him aside from his hot start when he was promoted to the NHL. He’s a good AHL goalie, but not at the top of the league, so in the NHL, he has some steps to take but I don’t see the Canadiens being better next year with the same tandem.
There will be changes on defense next year. Kaiden Guhle being healthy will be a big bonus and maybe they will go out and get another established defenseman to replace David Savard. I wouldn’t re-sign him under any circumstances. His game has dropped off to the point where the team can’t play as fast as they want to when he is in the game. In a reduced role, he can help another team.
The center depth has to improve as well and I don’t have a quick fix there. Kirby Dach may not be the answer any longer. He never really got to that next level and maybe he will but that’s an if and you can’t build an offseason with maybe’s.
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