Canadiens tend to their depth in net
College free-agent Lindgren joins club as Montreal places veteran Scrivens on waivers
MONTREAL — This bizarre Montreal Canadiens season took another twist Wednesday when the club signed St. Cloud State University goalie Charlie Lindgren.
Not only did the Canadiens sign the 22-year-old free agent, they also flew him to Florida with the team and he will be the backup to Mike Condon Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Lindgren’s signing resulted in veteran backup Ben Scrivens being placed on waivers. Scrivens becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season and this could be the end of the NHL road for the 29-year-old.
The signing also hangs a question mark on Zach Fucale’s future with the Canadiens. The 20-year-old Montreal native was considered the team’s goalie of the future after being selected in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft. Fucale has a 15-174 record with a 3.14 goals-against average and .901 save percentage this season with the American Hockey League’s St. John’s IceCaps.
“Lindgren was in our mind the best free-agent goaltender available coming out of the U.S. college level,” Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin said in a statement. “He made the decision to join the Canadiens organization and will complete the season with the team. Lindgren is a top goaltender coming out of college and becomes an excellent prospect for our organization, bringing some depth at this position.”
The Canadiens have three goalies with them in Florida because Carey Price — who hasn’t played since Nov. 25 because of his mysterious “lower-body injury” — also made the trip. After Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings, coach Michel Therrien was asked if Price might practise with the full team in Florida for the first time since his injury.
“I don’t know,” Therrien said. “I don’t know if he’s going to practise, but I know he’s coming with us. He needs to work with Stephane Waite.”
Lindgren will also be working with Waite and the goalie coach has a prized pupil in his hands — one who catches with his right hand. While Lindgren was never drafted, NHL teams had been chasing him this season to the point that St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko had to put a stop to their recruiting efforts.
“We sure wish he was drafted because then we would have only had to deal with one (NHL team),” Motzko said during a phone interview Wednesday. “We had to deal with a pile of them. It got a little crazy for him. We had to shut it down at Christmas. It was out of control.”
When asked why he thinks Lindgren wasn’t drafted by an NHL team, Motzko said: “It’s one of those things. It’s not a perfect science.”
Before going to St. Cloud State, Lindgren was named USA Hockey’s Junior Goalie of the Year in 201213 with the United States Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede. This season, the Lakeville, Minn., native posted a 30-9-1 record with a 2.13 GAA, a .925 save percentage and five shutouts.
The Canadiens signed Lindgren to a two-year, two-way contract, but will burn up the first year of that deal by calling him up now with only six games remaining in the season. You have to give something to get something and that was part of the give for the Canadiens to get the goaltender, who will wear No. 35.
“We anticipated losing him ... we wished not to,” Motzko said. “He had one more year (of eligibility) with us, but we sure anticipated it. He’s been an awful good player for us.”
That Lindgren chose to sign with the Canadiens shows what he’s made of, said Motzko.
“He had many options,” the coach said. “I know one thing that was posed to him was Montreal is kind of a pressure cooker, ‘Are you sure you want that?’ And that’s one of the things that excited him the most. A traditional hockey market. He was excited for that part of the challenge.
Motzko called Lindgren “a fantastic young man,” an honour-roll student majoring in business marketing who earned the respect of his teammates during his three seasons at St. Cloud State.
“His teammates would die for him,” the coach said. “This was their guy.”