Part of the “in da mix” development process is to assess which players can handle & step it up when playoff crunch time arrives
Do you really think HuGo will be extending Diekembe if Dobes proves his worth as a 30-40GP G and Fowler’s imminent arrival?
I would think HuGo is looking at turning Diekembe into a big haul via trade and buy themselves potential cap relief
Well that is my issue with this. Montembeault is what he is and the league and team know it. He's not part of the rebuild, he's a stop gap until Fowler arrives. Dobes became a pleasant surprise and likely will be a part of the team in the next few years. I see a Fowler/Dobes tandem.
So that begs the question, why are they so hell bent on playing Montembeault who gets fatigued? Why are they not at least splitting games with Dobes? Furthermore, why aren't they resting Montembeault? It's not like he'll get that for the upcoming tournament.
I'm questioning the management of this team during this run. When you're sitting in a wc spot your focus has to shift to staying there. They should play Dobes more than Montembeault for the next 2-3 weeks. Dobes will get the rest during the tournament. Furthermore, if you really want to see what you have in Dobes, play him more. Can he handle more games? If not let's find out now. It isn't like Montembeault is playing lights out hockey, he's tired.
Logically speaking from a now and later perspective, now you want to make the playoffs and playing Dobes more for at least the next 2-3 weeks makes sense. For later you want to know if Dobes can handle the workload, I mean the guy is big so he likely can.
There's no reason to be married to Montembeault, none, yet they continue to play him after repeated poor outings.
