For the second straight year, Condon outplayed an incumbent goalie to earn a larger-than-expected role. In 2014-15, he beat out Joey MacDonald to become the main goalie for the AHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs; last year, he forced his way onto Montreal’s roster with a sterling training camp, beating out Dustin Tokarski to be Carey Price’s backup. That job typically doesn’t require heavy lifting, but when Price went down with a knee injury in late November, Condon’s burden got a lot heavier. Initially, it looked like the Canadiens had unearthed a goaltending gem from the depths of organized hockey. The Princeton grad went 6-0-2 with a .936 save percentage in his first eight starts, but he couldn’t sustain that level. Indeed, the 25-year-old’s save percentage dropped to .888 in December as it became obvious that Condon needed to stand on his head nightly to earn a victory for the offense-starved Canadiens. It was then that we realized why Condon had been knocking around the ECHL and AHL. Heading into 2016-17, with Price’s health at 100 percent, Condon will need to beat out veteran Al Montoya for the backup role to avoid returning to the minors.