Aebischer really wants the #1 spot...
 

French article from Radio-Canada web site...
http://radio-canada.ca/sports/hockey...er-lundi.shtml

And so he should. I don't want a beackup that is happy and satisfied with that role and that won't push hard to become the No1.

Well let's hope so. The last thing you want on your team is a goalie who DOESN'T want the #1 job.

This is good news for the Canadiens. We will have legitimate starting goaltenders who will be fighting for the #1 spot. It wil fun to see how this will pan out.

Go Habs Go!!!

Good. I hope he plays his butt off and tries to win the spot.

I'm of the opinion that it's Huet's job to lose going into camp. I'm sure Aebischer will get his chance at some point.

And also, there is not animosity between ours goatenders, even good friendship... Good to see! :clap:

Good stuff,I hope he comes ready and takes the #1 job from Huet

He's gonna need to outplay Huet for a bit of time. If Huet keeps being the Huet of last year...Aeby can forget it.

I'm guessing Huet and Aebischer get about a 50/50 split in games at the beginning of the season. I think Habs will try to showcase Aebischer so that they can trade him after Xmas and recall Danis. That's when Huet will become clear cut #1 goalie.

I like this idea. Hopefully it turns out to be true.

For those that can't read the article due to a lack of French comprehension, here's a translation by moi:

Aebischer, objective: Montréal

Un texte de Jean-François Tremblay

David Aebischer says straight up that he wants to be the starter with the Montreal Canadiens. Anything lower would be a let-down.

When contacted by Radio-Canada Sports, the Swiss goaltender pointed out that he has even moved all of his personal belongings that he had left in Denver to Quebec. He is thus in la Belle Province to stay.

"I like the city, I like the team, I want to stay as long as possible. Even if I have no confirmation that the number one job is available, I'm gonna fight for it. I come to Montreal to play as much as possible."

The problem? ANother player is battling for this same position, a certain Cristobal Huet. The same person who, without saying a word, led to the leavine of Jose Theodore last spring, before becoming a big crowd favourite. It has to be said that his numbers were outsdtanding, with a save percentage of .929... the best in the NHL.

The competition will thus by ferocious, but friendly between two old fellow Swiss league players. Always used to comparisions between them, these two goaltenders now find themselves on the same page, obliged to compare their performances once again.

"It will be like last year, but easier. Cause I'll be starting the year with the Canadiens. It will be a collaboration between myself and Cristobal, and that's a good thing for the Canadiens."

"Cristobal is French, but he married a Swiss," added Aebischer, amused. "So he is half-Swiss and we get along well. We both want to play."

Last July, Aebischer accepted a contract of only one year, after which he'll be as free as the air. Is this a strategy of Aebischer's if things don't work out in his favour, or is it a strategy of the Canadiens who see him as a stop-gap?

"It's tough to answer that right now. This season, I'm in Montreal and I'll give it my all to succeed here. Now, there is a salary cap, so anything can ahppen. Teams change a lot and there are many possibilities. You can be traded, which you can't control, or you can find yourself without a job."


Aebischer, training in Switzerland, has received instruction from the guru of goaltenders, Francois Allaire. He then found himself facing shots from Russian players in training camp.

Without a doubt, the Swiss wants to arrive on the ice in Montreal well prepared.

Two goalies of NHL ability ready to go can only be a positive to start the year.

Will Aebi put Huet out of Montreal??? We never know, but one thing is for sure, we will have a consistent #1 this year...

as long as abby and huet act like professionals throughout the season, this can only be seen as good news

I don't want to rain on any parades or anything, because it's great to see that we'll have solid goaltending this year, but none of this comes as a surprise. He gets along with Huet, he wants the #1 spot, he's working hard in the off-season. Is any of that unexpected?

Great news let's hope he plays awesome so we can get alot for him in a trade.

no. it shouldn't be unexpected. But its nice to at least confrim that Abby is coming in with the right attitude

Seriously? :sarcasm:

Come on, goalers in their "prime" that already have been a #1 for a good team in the NHL and that wouldn't want to be #1 anymore are pretty rare...

I expect nothing less from Aeby to fight for the #1 spot.

What I expect it those two keeper gonna be great this year. They got no choice, they made an All-In. They both wanna get more game then the other, may be at the middle of the season 41 games, Huet would have been starter for 23 games and Aebischer something like 18 games. Seems like to be 50-50, like that the coaching staff gonna see if Huet or Aebscher deserve the more the #1 spot. After that if both of them are playing 50-50, that means they're both good and competitive, after that, other team who get some trouble at that position, we get an great number 1 for them...

Or the second option, one of them ( Aebi or Huet ) are awful and didnt play like they was able to do, so we're got "back-up" with one of those. I think people are not 100% certain that Huet can keep the goal like last year. If he didnt can do that, we got a good-average number 1 keeper in Aebischer.

:dunno:

I think Aebischer took the starting job in Colorado for granted, he played behind Roy for a couple of seasons, then the job was his and that was that. Until last season, when he wasn't playing as well as he should have (and Budaj and Kolshnik almost stole his job), Abby finally picked it up and was playing way more steady than he ever has.

Now that he's sorta being labled as a "backup goalie", I think it'll finally trigger him to step it up to the next level since he doesn't see himself as a backup after a few year being a decent starter. He's gonna have to work hard for this job, especially behind a potential allstar goalie like Huet.

And aslong as they're still friends and there's good chemestry, what has Montreal got to lose?? (except semi-large saleries).

And also, everytime I think of the goaltending mess with Huet, Abby and Danis, I just think back to the time when our 2 goalies were Thibault and Joblonsky

Well, with Gainey the GM, the fact that there's nothing unexpected here can be considered as unexpected, no ? :sarcasm:

If he comes in hungry and fighting for the top job then it will push Huet and this will be nothing but good for the Habs.

I love this. two goalies that want to be here and that wants to be number one. theres nothing rong with that. Its healthy competition. Its like in baseball, if you want to make the playoffs and want to go far you need 5 solid starting pitchers. 1 incridible ace and four sub par pitchers will not get you anywere. If you have 2 solid goaltenders you can make adjusments on the fly if something goes sour. If ward dident step up for the canes they would off never won that cup.