Primeau presents a challenging assessment. He appeared sufficiently solid this year, yet I harbored several doubts the previous year. I believed Montreal should retain him, which led to the three-goalie situation we encountered, but I was far from convinced.
The inconsistency often associated with young goaltenders is one thing, but what concerns me is his demeanor. He emerged from a poor performance and admitted to the media that the opposing team got into his head after three goals were scored on his glove side. I see two issues with these remarks: firstly, there are professionals whose job is to identify weaknesses in goaltending—dont just tell them! You just basically told them that either your glove hand is bad or that repeated goals in the same place will throw you off your game.
Secondly, if my goalie doesn't seem calm and composed, then I am more likely to be safer on D than to take chances. A team plays differently when they doubt goaltending. I seriously question if this type of statement is a lack of judgement/experience or if the IQ is just not there.
