NHL pundit on Niemi: 'Anything before that guy'

Jeff O'Niell, is not a fan of the Montreal Canadiens decision to claim Antti Niemi off waivers this week. 

The former 40-goal-scorer went so far as to say that "anything" would have ben better than Niemi, the 34-year-old Finnish veteran goaltender. 

"I said I would call Jose Theodore before I got Niemi and say, 'Can you give me ten days?' I would go there before I went to Niemi," O'Niell said on TSN Radio 1050 Tuesday afternoon. 

NBCSN's Ray Ferraro chimed in: "When Marc Bergevin said Niemi gives him a bit of a safety net, I'm like, 'Man, that net has got huge holes in it.'

Less than two months into the NHL season, Niemi is already with his third team. The 34-year-old started out with the Pittsburgh Penguins before being claimed on waivers by the Florida Panthers after their No. 1 goalie, Roberto Luongo, was injured. 

After Carey Price went down with a lower-body injury and backup Al Montoya suffered a concussion, reported the Montreal Gazette, Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin claimed Niemi as an insurance policy to back up rookie Charlie Lindgren. Niemi will be on the bench Thursday night when the Arizona Coyotes visit the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

O'Neill:  "It doesn't make sense! I would have called Jose Theodore or J-S Giguère, or somebody in Quebec, and say can, 'You lace em up for ten days.' I'm being serious. Anything before that guy."

Ferraro: "Well, when Pittsburgh signed him in the summer I thought, 'I wonder why him?' Like, the wheels are off. They talk about how he won a Stanley Cup in 2010, that's seven years ago. That was the worst goaltended series that I can remember."

"Eight of the 16 wins they allowed four or more goals, I believe it was," added former NHL goaltender Jamie Maclennan.

"The first game was 6-5," said Ferraro. "It was an awesome game because neither guy could stop a shot. There's times when Niemi is a battler, and he works, and the guys really like him and all that sort of stuff, but eventually you gotta stop the puck. And I just don't think he can do it at the NHL level anymore."

Should Price not come back within the expected time frame, Ferraro said "You're left with Niemi and Charlie Lindgrin. And you better hope Lindgrin is this year's version of Mike Condon, who saved Ottawa's season last year."

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