Antti Niemi was one of the few success stories from the Montreal Canadiens this season. Coming off a horrible start in Pittsburgh to a short look in Florida, it looked to be the beginning of the end for his NHL career.
The Habs had restraints around their goaltending at the time as both Carey Price, and Al Montoya were out with injury. Charlie Lindgren had been called up from the Laval Rocket, but he alone couldn’t harbour the goaltending. Marc Bergevin saw an opportunity to add Niemi to the roster through waivers which at first looked like a horrible decision.