Expectations in Montreal have shifted, and that change puts a brighter spotlight on certain players heading into 2026-27. The Canadiens are no longer in the stage where development alone is the story. After recent playoff success, the bar is higher, the patience is shorter, and the margin for error has tightened across the roster.
That new reality lands hardest on a few names in particular. Kirby Dach, Samuel Montembeault and Jakub Dobes all enter the season with something significant hanging over them, though for very different reasons.
Kirby Dach may have the most to prove of anyone on the roster. Since Montreal acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in 2022, the hope has always been that his talent would eventually catch up to his potential. Instead, injuries and inconsistency have kept him from locking down a permanent place in the Canadiens’ core.
This season brings real consequences. Dach is on a one-year contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, which makes 2026-27 a critical stretch for both sides. Montreal can’t keep waiting forever for upside to turn into dependable production, especially with more young players pressing for opportunities and Kent Hughes having built enough depth to make roster spots harder to protect.
If Dach doesn’t deliver, he could even become a trade candidate before the deadline. The Canadiens may decide they’d rather move him than risk losing him for nothing in free agency.
But if he finally stays healthy and puts together the kind of season his tools suggest he can, the whole conversation changes. He still has size, skill and the ability to be an effective NHL player when everything clicks.
Montembeault is in a different kind of squeeze. His pressure starts before the season even gets going, because training camp opens with his standing changed from where it was a couple of years ago.
After a rough 2025-26, he’s no longer the clear answer in net. Jakub Dobes is expected to get the first shot at the starter’s job, while top prospect Jacob Fowler keeps moving toward a permanent NHL role.
That puts Montembeault in an uncomfortable middle ground. He doesn’t have to win the crease right away, but he does need to remind the Canadiens that he can still be a dependable NHL goaltender. Another difficult year would only make his future less certain.
Fowler is the biggest long-term factor. Montreal doesn’t need to rush him, but if he keeps progressing and proves he’s ready, a roster spot will eventually have to open. Dobes is younger and already has the inside track, which leaves Montembeault as the obvious candidate to get squeezed out.
There’s also the contract angle. If Montembeault struggles again before reaching unrestricted free agency next summer, the market for him may not be especially strong.
Goaltending openings are limited, and veterans coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons don’t usually have a long line of suitors waiting. He has the season to change that, but the pressure is already there.
Dobes, meanwhile, is facing a different kind of test. He’s not trying to hold onto a job or salvage his standing.
He’s trying to prove he can really be the guy. His strong finish last season and his playoff work earned him the chance to start 2026-27 with the net, and that comes with real expectations now.
Last season, Dobes went 29-10-4 in the regular season, then followed that with a 9-6-4 playoff run, a 2.66 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. Those numbers made it clear why the Canadiens are confident in him. But carrying that level of performance over a full season is a much bigger ask than flashing it in stretches.
Montreal isn’t just hoping Dobes develops into a starter anymore. The organization is expecting him to be one.
That matters even more with the Canadiens aiming higher overall and with competition waiting behind him. Montembeault wants a rebound, and Fowler is closing in.
Dobes doesn’t need one bad month to lose everything, and he’s still young enough to keep growing. But this is the season where he gets his first real chance to show he can be Montreal’s long-term answer in goal.
For Dach, Montembeault and Dobes, the stakes are all different. For one, it could mean staying in Montreal.
For another, it could mean finding a future there again. For the third, it could mean proving he belongs as the Canadiens’ starter.
Either way, the pressure is on.
In Other News...
Canadiens Prospects Just Gave Fans Three New Reasons To Pay Attention
The Canadiens NCAA pipeline keeps giving the organization more to track as another college season approaches, and the latest group of prospects brings a little bit of everything. Michael Hage is headed back to Michigan, LJ Mooney is coming off a strong freshman year at Minnesota, and Timofei Runtso is moving into the college game after a productive WHL run. For a club still trying to build out its future, those are the kinds of names that can quietly start shaping the conversation around what comes next.
Mooney is the one who already looks closest to forcing a decision, since his play at Minnesota has put him on the radar for a possible entry-level contract if he keeps trending up. Hages return gives Montreal another important look at a player whose development path has already been tested, while Runtso adds another fresh layer of intrigue once he settles in at Miami. The Canadiens do not need all of these prospects to hit at once, but they do need some of them to keep moving, and this fall should tell the team a lot about which ones are ready to push forward. [Read more 🡒]
Kirby Dach Just Put A Canadiens Bounce-Back Season Back In Focus
Kirby Dach is back in Brossard as the Canadiens continue their lead-up to training camp, and his return puts a familiar offseason storyline back at the center of Montreals plans. After a limited and disappointing last season, the forward heads into the new year with a new contract in place as a restricted free agent, and his presence at the teams training base arrives as several teammates are already getting work in before camp officially opens.
The bigger question around Dach remains the same one that followed him through the spring: whether the flashes he showed in the playoffs can carry into a full bounce-back season. Montreal has spent much of the summer talking about growth, health and internal improvement, and Dach sits right in the middle of that conversation as one of the players whose next step could shape the teams outlook. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Goalie Situation Suddenly Hinges On Winnipegs Next Move
The Canadiens goaltending picture is suddenly tied to a bigger conversation out in Winnipeg, where any serious trade talk involving Connor Hellebuyck could ripple across the market and put Montreal in a spot it may have to address before long. Samuel Montembeault sits at the center of that uncertainty, with the current chatter suggesting the Canadiens could be watching the deadline landscape closely rather than treating their crease as settled.
Montembeaults future is already a talking point because a move before the deadline has been viewed as plausible, and the uncertainty only grows if the Jets decide to shift course. If Winnipeg starts asking around on Montreals goalie, the discussion could widen quickly, but for now it remains all speculation and there have been no confirmed transactions to report. [Read more 🡒]