If Quebecois Samuel Montembeault has capitalized on his chance with the Montreal Canadiens this season, it’s likely down to Cayden Primeau’s average quality of play.

Montembeault surpassed Jake Allen with his fine performances as the team’s number one goaltender. For his part, Primeau has spent the entire season at Laval apart from a few appearances here and there at the big club, including two games recently.

And according to journalist Renaud Lavoie, Primeau has been far from impressive.

“He had every chance. […] Going back to September, in the mind of Canadians leader Jake Allen, there is one, but we don’t know who (goalie number) two is. Because Cayden Primeau had a good playoff run with Rocket last year, that shouldn’t be forgotten. […] We thought he would come into training camp with confidence. And we saw exactly the opposite.

“It’s a guy who broke down who gave the job to Samuel Montembeault.”

However, Primeau is not doing so badly in Laval at the moment. But his start to the season wasn’t quite up to par.

“Cayden Primeau is better, is that enough? No, Lavoie continued. He even played the two games with the Canadiens against the Flyers […]I found a decent performance, nothing more.

“I think he must have had a busy summer. He has to find all the solutions. I’m speaking physically and how he behaves in front of the net.

See it in the video above.