Conference Call: Cayden Primeau

MONTREAL - Prospect Cayden Primeau took some time to chat with reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

The 20-year-old goaltender was just named to the AHL All-Rookie Team after a standout campaign with the Laval Rocket.
Primeau also made his NHL debut with the Canadiens this season, appearing in two games and registering his first career win against the Ottawa Senators on December 11 at the Bell Centre.
Here are a few excerpts from his Q&A session:
Questions from Martin McGuire, Cogeco Media
How big was the overall learning experience this year during your first year as a pro?
It was huge. I was able to have a few goalie partners, so learning from them was immense. They were all different in their own right. Being able to pick up little things from all of them was huge for my development, and just being able to get into the pro setting on the ice and off the ice, and really understand what it is and what it takes to be a pro, was also huge.

Can you put into words the steps that you made from October to March?
There were a lot of ups and downs. I felt like I went into the year doing pretty well and then I started not playing as well and not doing my best, and then towards the end I started to pick it back up again. Being able to have that experience and trying to figure out how to be consistent was huge.
Questions from Jean-François Chaumont, Le Journal de Montréal
You're only 20 years old. I know the dream for young kids is to be playing in the NHL, but what will be the perfect scenario for you next year? Is it to have the most starts you can have, maybe as a No. 1 goaltender in the American Hockey League, instead of challenging for a backup role behind Carey Price?
I've always tried to not look too far ahead or dwell on the past. I try to live in the moment. I think, especially right now, with not knowing what the future holds, it shows exactly true for that kind of approach. All I can try to do is get better this offseason, and when it comes back up in the fall, there's not much else you can do except just play. I'm not trying to put any standards or too much pressure on myself to try to achieve anything, it's just trying to get better. And when it comes to playing, just play.

What was the feeling of being named to the AHL All-Rookie Team like?
It was great to be named to that award because there's a bunch of great rookie goalies. And not even just on the rookie goalies, being named across the board with forwards and defensemen of such high calibre, it's a true testament to how our team was doing as well. I can't thank them enough, my teammates, for everything they did this year to help me out, on the ice and off the ice.
Question from Raphaël Doucet, 91.9 Sports
Is there a game, either in Laval or Montreal, that you consider to be the best memory of your 2019-20 season?
Probably, if I had to choose one, there were a bunch of great memories from this year, but probably the win against Ottawa when I was with Montreal. I described it to someone the other day, and I think it's the best way to describe it: Sometimes if you're winning, you look up and you're counting down the clock and you're really hoping for that time to go out and get the win, but when it's in overtime, all those emotions that you experience when the clock is running down, you get at once because the game's over when you score. That was probably my best hockey moment to date. It was something special and it was a night I'll never forget.

Questions from Adam Kimelman, NHL.com
The couple of games you were in Montreal, did you get any advice from Carey Price, anything you were able to take back with you to Laval?
He's pretty reserved as well. He's a pretty quiet guy. The main thing for me was just being able to watch him and be around him. He has such a presence in the locker room, so just being able to be around him was huge for the couple of weeks that I was around him.
What were you able to take just from watching him? Was it his preparation for games? For practices? Off-ice? On-ice? Can you be a little bit more specific about what you were able to take just from being around him that close?
It was eye-opening. He's one of the best, if not the best, at the position in the world. He competed every practice, every drill, every puck, every shot, even if there were a couple of days before a game. Watching someone that's so good and so established work hard and compete regardless, no matter what, that was eye-opening.

When you were just trying to stay in shape, did you have to be creative? Did you have any stuff at home you were able to use? What were you able to do just to kind of keep yourself in shape without being able to be on the ice?
I have a gym right around the corner from me. Obviously right now it's closed. We never had weights, because we would always just walk over to the gym. Not having weights now, I had to get a little creative and use whatever we had. For squats and stuff like that, I tried to throw as much stuff as I could in a backpack and just try to get as much weight as possible. For dumbbells and bicep curls, I tried to get a couple of jugs of water. That's part of it being fun as well, just trying to get as creative as possible.
Question from Simon-Olivier Lorange, La Presse
Who would be the person who made the biggest difference for you this year, either in Laval or Montreal?
I was surrounded by so many great hockey minds, so it's tough to pick one. I'll say Marco Marciano, the goalie coach in Laval. I worked with him every day. He's someone that helped me a lot this year, someone that I get along with really well. I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time with him.

Question from Mark Lidbetter, The Suburban
Being at home in New Jersey, have you been able to or will you be able to hit the ice in one of the complexes there shortly?
I actually skated for the first time today since the suspension of the NHL season and the cancellation of the AHL season. I think it's the longest I've ever taken off from the ice since I started playing, so it was really getting to me. You go from every day on the ice and being around the rink to not at all, so that was tough. It was really good to get back on the ice today and get moving. I'm just trying to get a feel for everything again.