After placing Keith Kinkaid on waivers at noon, the Montreal Canadiens have recalled goaltender Cayden Primeau from the Laval Rocket. They also recalled forward Matthew Peca.
The Canadiens have recalled goaltender Cayden Primeau and forward Matthew Peca from the AHL’s Laval Rocket.#GoHabsGo https://t.co/9b96fNPm9b
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 2, 2019
This will be Primeau’s first stint in the National Hockey League. Primeau has had a tremendous start to his professional career, although he has struggled lately. Primeau was a seventh-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft.
In 12 games this season, he has a record of 7-4-1 with a 2.58 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. He has allowed at least four goals in four of his last five starts.
The two goaltenders in Laval have been alternating starts in the AHL since the start of the season, a trend we can expect to continue with whatever the tandem with the Rocket ends up as. It will likely be Charlie Lindgren with Kinkaid (if he clears waivers) or Michael McNiven. McNiven has a 5-3 record in eight ECHL starts with a 1.64 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. He has three shutouts this season.
Peca has played his best hockey of late on a line with Michael McCarron and Riley Barber. He has four goals and eight assists in 18 AHL games this season. He has points in 11 of his last 13 games, with all of his points coming in that span.
He had three goals and seven assists in 39 NHL games last season with the Canadiens.
The Canadiens play on Tuesday and then have back to back games on Thursday and Friday, and it should be expected that Primeau plays one of those two games. The Rocket have three games this week starting Wednesday at home before back-to-back road games in Syracuse and Springfield.
The team placed Victor Mete, expected out a minimum of two weeks on Injured Reserve to make room.
