Things are about to change QUICK for Montreal...

More good news keeps on coming in for Montreal, as Elliot Friedman gives a big update on the status of Alexander Zavorotsky and Michael Hage, but not just about them coming to Montreal, also about trade talks. And speaking of the same thing, a new mock trade has arised for Samuel Montembeau, as the goaltending situation in Montreal is unfortunately pushing him out with the rise and rise and rise of Jacob Fowler, and the recent numbers are beyond insane for what he's been doing. Plus, a little note from last night's game, something he did after the Leafs Just gets us, tugs on our heartstrings a bit because it makes us just miss a certain guy behind us. Anyway, we'll get into all of that coming up. But we just got to talk about how important Jacob Fowler is to this team. And he is telling that to the team himself, basically. There was a thing going around was from Kyle Bukowskis after the game. He was talking with Alex Newhook and we heard this about Jacob Fowler. Let's put it up here. Fowler went to the bench after it was 3-2 Leafs. Those two questionable calls, the penalty and then the icing, whatever. TV timeout, Fowler goes to the bench. He's like, we're all right. We're all right. Like this maturity, the calmness, he didn't give up a goal after that. We won the game 4-2, but we consistently hear things about how Jacob Fowler is like a leader in some ways. We've seen that clip of him talking in the locker room after certain games. This was also, he now is tied for most goalie steals. In the league, as in where he's saved more goals than his team loses by above expected. So all this put together, Jesse, I mean, I just want to talk about how incredibly calm and amazing he has looked because it just, it goes beyond just the pure numbers, which is like this shows, but also how he's interacting with his teammates. I don't know what else I could possibly ask for. The calmness and the maturity is absolutely showing leadership vibes and again we have to say that again while Nick Suzuki was out the captain of this team insert Jacob Fowler who again provided that leadership for this team when they really needed it to most and to be able to do this it just 21 years of age with a 925 save percentage only allowing one regulation loss over his first 10 games. Again he's not just a rising star in the NHL right now he doesn't just have potential he is a star and the quicker that opposing teams will realize this the better that it's going to be for them and again I love how we're talking about how he really flipped that switch after allowing that second goal and isn't that not the first time that we've seen that from him? In fact on the show where he just something had that second goal is often it is oh that's my quota i'm just not gonna allow anything more from here and again that's the leadership of going to the bench and this not only saying it but then backing it up that's providing confidence for your team and again that's a kind of a sign for them just saying i'm gonna do my job on my end i want you to do what you need to do on your end that's that accountability which i think is at the core of the Montreal Canadiens success yeah accountability is something that we have seen from a lot of A lot of players, they take the blame. But, like, Fowler is just, it's almost more than that for him. It's almost like a responsibility. Like, he feels that, right? It's like, yeah, two goals, that's it, that's the quota. If you can score three goals, you're probably, again, we throw out, it's hilarious that we have, like, seven or eight, like, huge wins, amazing, and then right in the middle is, like, the worst. Anyway, it's hilarious. But you throw that one game out, like, yeah, it's unreal. You score three goals, you're probably going to win with Fowler in that. I mean, there's so much. That we could talk about with Jacob Fowler. I mean, you know, hey, I know Shesterkin went out with injury this year, but he's up there with those numbers. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Anyway, he's still up near the top of the league in all of these stats. And the reason, actually, I brought up Shesterkin is because, well, there's a bit of a problem, but a good problem, right? Because of how good Jacob Fowler has been, he's been saving these chances, the teams have been giving up in front. It just leads to a guy like Samuel Montembeault being pushed out. It's something we've talked about before, but right now, We're going to talk about a few different places, talking about trade destinations for Montembeau. But one article suggests that, hey, the New York Rangers could be a good fit. It's not just this. I mean, we've talked about this before on the show, amongst ourselves. They're a team that... Has, uh, well, they're missing something. Anyway, we'll take a look at what the article has to say. Look, and it makes sense. Monta was a clear trade candidate. Fowler and Dobish make him expendable. James Reimer was just waived for contract termination because they got Jonas Korpasalo back. They really just brought Reimer back just to play him for 20 minutes, pull him and then ship him out of town. But. And it kind of makes some sense. And one of the mock trades proposed is just a simple conditional pick from the New York Rangers. I mean, Jesse, this is just one team that we're talking about as an example. Some goalies are going on waivers lately, but this kind of move, I think now more than ever, we're feeling the pressure for because Monty was upgraded to day to day, not that long ago. And I have to assume that with what Fowler's doing, he's getting these marquee starts, like something's got to give very soon for Kent Hughes. And I'm excited to see where he goes with this. And it's just being complicated by the fact that we're seeing other goalies like Soderblom from Chicago or Remy Poirier also being put on those waiver wires right now. So again, what's very important for the Montreal Canadiens is treating Samuel Montembeault. With respect, which you have to feel would involve him not being on that waiver wire. We have heard from Darren Dreger of TSN that some teams have inquired of potentially a trade with Samuel Montembeault, which is the avenue they want to go with. We've heard of something as a forward in exchange. Again, you have to feel that that's just becoming more and more of a reality in the way that obviously Jacob Fowler is playing. Kent Hughes would be smart to say that Jacob Dobish is just going to continue to really bounce back right now. In fact, I could really see this. I'm surprised that the New York Rangers didn't actually go to Samuel Montembeault before James Reimer here. So I think that it's a team that is competitive. And I think that Samuel Montembeault will find a new home for a team that's looking for that same sort of thing to remain competitive as well. Yeah, I agree. I think, again, he's got the resume, sort of. It's one rough year where he maybe didn't have the best training camp, whatever, whatever. But yeah, I agree with you. I guess the idea of getting a goalie for free that might work is probably just worth it to a front office, especially since, like, it's very short-term. Reimer bought them just enough time for Corpus Allo to come back, and Dylan Grant has been starting, like, every single game for them. Like, if you want to win games at all, you want someone who's going to be healthy, who's going to be consistent. And Monti, again, outside that one year, he kind of has been. So leave your thoughts on this down below, because I think there probably is, like, something brewing here with Samuel Montembeault, and the rumors are going to keep picking up, picking up, picking up. Whether it's a forward, whether it's a pick, I don't know, but the pressure is on. But final thing, another thing that's going to cause... A lot of questions about the roster is what's going to happen at the end of the year, and you guys maybe caught this during the intermission in last night's game. Elliot Friedman was talking about the Habs prospects, specifically Michael Hage and Alexander Zhirovskiy, but not just their play, but also trade talks. We'll start with what he had to say about them coming over, though. He said, one of the things that I refer about the Canadians I've heard, they're operating under the assumption that Michael Hage and Alexander Zhirovskiy, the two top four prospects, will be available to them at the end of the season. So this is what we've kind of. Known, like, or at least expected for a while. Michael Hage and Alexander Zhirovskiy both having phenomenal years. Hage up to 20 points in nine games in college. Had a few days break. Alexander Shirovsky having two points today, but could have very well had four. He had a few posts, six goals, 18 points in 23 games. A little behind. Well, the point pace is similar, but the goal pace is a little bit behind what he did last year. He also won MVP of the Futures Cup, where he even wore the C at one point for Team Russia. Again, there's a lot of stuff going on with them in the World Juniors. But the other thing that Friedman had to say, some of the talks have centered on other teams' interest in those players. But the Canadians do see them as players for them as soon as their seasons end this year. So this is getting a bit complicated, right? So not only are they, yeah, the Habs expecting them to come over, forcing a big roster crunch, making us wonder if we'll even trade for another player, like in our top six, but also teams have been inquiring. There's a lot of movement happening on this front and I love to see it because this team is going to look very different, I think, in just maybe six or eight months time. For sure. And these comments from Elliot Freeman are very interesting because, again, we expect Michael Hage and Alexander Shirovsky to be joining the team. In fact, by all accounts, Michael Hage could be in the NHL right now. But for me, it really just, again, signals the fact that they're coming up in trade talks considerably for him to really bring up those names. But the other part, again, of just speaking how the Montreal Canadiens value them and feel like they're going to be pieces coming up here very soon. And rightfully so, because we see a guy in Michael Hage right now that's performing at above. Two points per game. Again, 20 points in just nine games in the NCAA. And then a guy like Alexander Shirovsky that's performing at Ivan Demidov level production in his draft plus two a year in the KHL right now. 18 points in 23 games. Like, you're seeing what Ivan Demidov is doing and then you feel like you've got a guy like Alexander Shirovsky that could provide you Like, the same, maybe more, maybe less. It's hard to exactly say, right? But, like, obviously, a contributor, the potential is there. You're right to really potentially want to hold on to this. Now, again, so many interesting roster decisions of that coming so quickly because, as you know, Josh, we've been. We needed to talk about every single day about the roster decisions. It's coming so closely with Demidov being back. We're a stacked roster as it is, even within that top six in a lot of ways, right? So again, some massive moves are going to need to be made one way or another. And we're just going to need to get our popcorn and really enjoy to see how Kent Hughes really plays this out. Because obviously some major moves are going to need to be made. Yeah, absolutely. Like in big, big ones, right? Just not... Not just, oh, okay, well, we'll scratch you. Because, like, already Florian and Beck, like, they feel like they deserve to be in the lineup. And now we got, like, we got to decide between when Demi comes back, Kirby, Doc, Oliver, Kapanen, Texier, one of these guys has to get scratched. And now we're talking about two more guys? Like, who else, right? Like, in my mind, there's no one on the Habs that you can reasonably scratch other than them. So then you have to say, okay, well, how can we maybe clear out some roster space? Maybe by acquiring one player while shipping out two or three? That big trade we've been talking about, is that something that could happen? I mean, I don't know about Kucherov, because I think that would cost an arm and a leg and way too much. Let's just get him in free agency. But, you know, like, anyway, there are a lot of questions. In the meantime, though, Montreal is rolling. What do you guys think? Is a big trade going to come? Do we have to clear out roster space? Are we just going to... Because we can't waive, guys, when these two, Hage and Jarosik, come over at the end of the year. I would assume they're not going to Laval. We'll have to just wait and see, but like you said, big moves are coming. That'll do it, though, for this episode. Thank you for tuning in every single day. By the way, guys, thank you for almost 40 subscribers on yesterday's video. We still got a very ambitious goal of 30,000 by the end of the year. We still got about two months left, so thank you so much for supporting us, hitting 30% of our goal. If you haven't hit the free subscribe button yet, do it now. I'm Josh Gross, my co-host Jesse Poivier. We'll catch you all in the next one.