Montreal Canadiens News | Keith Kinkaid Placed on Waivers, Victor Mete Out With Injury, Matthew Peca, Cayden Primeau Recalled From Laval Rocket
MONTREAL, QC. — On Monday at noon, the Montreal Canadiens announced that Keith Kinkaid was placed on waivers. The New York native has started just five games posting a record of 1-1-3 record with a 4.24 goals against average, and a .875 save percentage.
Claude Julien explained the decision saying, “From what we’ve seen of him, he’s been good, but maybe not good enough right now. We need a goalie, especially when we don’t call on him very often, to make sure he’s on point. We weren’t in that situation now to say, ‘Yes, he’s playing some good hockey for us.'”
Kinkaid was signed to a to a generous $1.75 million contract on July 1st by Marc Bergevin with a declaration that Keith would start 25-30 games. Given his shaky start, Kinkaid was on track for just 15-16 starts this season. With the lack of trust in their backup, Carey Price has already started 22 games, second most in the NHL.
If Kinkaid clears waivers in Tuesday (likely given his steep contract and poor performance), the plan is that he will be assigned to Laval to get playing time.
“We’re going to give him the chance to play more often and to see if he can find that part of his game again,” said Julien. “If it happens, we’ll see. We have 24 hours to see if he’ll clear waivers. We’ll take it from there.”
The Montreal Canadiens are in the midst of an eight game losing streak earning just three of a possible 16 points.
The Canadiens also revealed that Victor Mete will be out for the next two weeks. Mete left Saturday’s game due to an ankle injury.
On Monday afternoon, the Canadiens announced that they had recalled forward Matthew Peca and goaltender Cayden Primeau.
Primeau has a record of 7-4-1 with a 2.58 goals against average and a .910 save percentage in 12 games this season with the Rocket. Primeau had a good start to his rookie season but has struggled in four of his five last starts. In those four games, Primeau has allowed 19 goals.
Peca has four goals, eight assists for 12 points in 18 games with Laval and a minus-8 rating.
The Canadiens host the Islanders on Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.