With Carey Price and Al Montoya still not back at practice with the team, and Zach Fucale serving as an emergency backup the team has claimed Antti Niemi off waivers from the Florida Panthers. Price today said that he was getting closer to a return, but with Montoya still out indefinitely the team needed a more experienced backup. Fucale, a prized prospect, needs to get back to starting in the minor leagues.
Niemi is onto his third team this year after being previously waived by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers. That follows a summer that saw him bought out by the Dallas Stars, another team that could deal with his lackluster performance any longer. The Stars will pay him $1.5MM this year as terms of the buyout, but now Montreal will pick up the remainder of his $700K hit—that is, if they were to keep him.
GM Marc Bergevin spoke on the situation today after practice:
[Niemi] gives us some depth. Not knowing how far off [Montoya] is, he gives us a safety net. When Carey is back, we’ll re-evaluate our goalie situation, and same thing when [Montoya] is back.
This move seems destined to lead to another waiving of the 34-year old goaltender as soon as Price returns, unless they decide that having Charlie Lindgren in the minor leagues is better for his development. The young Lindgren has performed admirably in his four starts, showing that he’s ready for an NHL job of some sort.
Niemi of course has history with Bergevin from their days in Chicago. As a rookie in 2010, Niemi led the Blackhawks to the Stanley Cup while Bergevin served as Director of Player Personnel.
I realize this is more about getting Fucale back to Laval but man Niemi is just terrible. I truly hope he doesn’t see a single start as a Hab.
No worries. Even if he sees a start he won’t last past the 1st period
Haha I do agree there. I wonder if any other goalie has ever had a 5+ GAA with 3 different teams in a single season.
When will teams learn? This guy sure gets around & just doesn’t last anywhere for very long. I wish that I knew what Montreal was thinking because there are better options out there.
Niemi is/should be nothing more than a bench warmer. Because Price and Montoya were out, they had to call up both of their AHL goalies(Lindgren/Fucale). With them in Montreal, Laval was relying on two guys with 18 combined pro games(2 AHL and 16 ECHL) to their name(Michael McNiven and Etienne Marcoux). Despite McNiven having loads of potential, you can’t really rely on two completely inexperienced goalies to be be your 3rd/4th goalies. The current plan is to ride Lindgren until Price is ready before waiving Niemi.
Again, thanks brother. I wish we had better hockey coverage in northern Michigan. As hockey fans here have learned, we need to get news from unexpected sources to stay up to date with other teams. We get average coverage at best about the Wings & we need to dig deep to try to keep up with the rest of the league. Thanks Doc. You are greatly appreciated for your time & knowledge?
^^ knowledge. ^^ sorry about that question mark?
This is music to our ears…..
-the Eastern Conference
How does this man keep getting work? The whole world could tell he was already done last year with Dallas.. Unbelievable. Cash those checks man..