The Montreal Canadiens may end up carrying three goalies for a lot longer than anyone expected.
With rookie Jacob Fowler getting seven starts in the club’s first 12 games and Jakub Dobes trying to settle in after a rough opening stretch, Montreal already has a crowded picture in net. That logjam gets even tighter once Sam Montembeault is back, which is expected to happen in mid-November.
Because of that, the trade talk has naturally circled around Montembeault, who is in the final year of his contract. He turns 30 on Friday, has 31 wins for the Canadiens from the 2024-25 season, and also represented Canada at the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off. At the same time, he struggled last season in only 25 games.
Still, the Canadiens don’t sound eager to force the issue.
During his weekly segment on TSN 690 in Montreal earlier this week, TFP’s David Pagnotta said the Habs are prepared to sit tight unless a deal really grabs their attention.
“They’re going to be in wait-and-see mode with this,” Pagnotta said.
“Unless something fall’s into (Habs GM Kent) Hughes’ lap, I think for a while, it wouldn’t shock me if it’s the full season even, that they ride and go with all three.”
Pagnotta added that a team such as the New York Rangers could eventually come calling for help in goal later in the season, and Montembeault could draw interest. But for now, Montreal is not in any rush. Unless another club brings a major offer to the table, the Canadiens appear content to keep all three goaltenders in the mix.
In Other News...
Canadiens May Have Found Their Goalie Of The Future Early
Jacob Fowlers first stretch in Montreal has given the Canadiens plenty to think about, and not just because they appear to have landed a goalie with real upside in the 2023 NHL Draft. Taken sixth among the goalies selected that year, Fowler has quickly been handed the starting role, and the early returns have made him look like a possible bargain compared with the five netminders chosen ahead of him, none of whom have made an NHL impact yet.
The encouraging start is hard to ignore, even if the sample is still tiny. Seven games is nowhere near enough to crown a long-term answer in goal, but Fowler has already done enough to put himself on the radar as a potential future backbone for the Canadiens, which is exactly the kind of development they hoped to see when they took a swing on him. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Keep Getting Linked To A Blues Trade Worth Watching
David Reinbacher is still developing in the AHL even as multiple NHL teams have reportedly shown interest, which only adds to the sense that Montreal has some intriguing trade assets in play. At the same time, one name that keeps surfacing as a possible target for the Canadiens is Dalibor Dvorsky, the young St. Louis forward whose long-term fit with the Blues has become a little less certain.
Montreal and St. Louis have already done business before, so the idea of another deal between them does not feel far-fetched. If the Canadiens are looking for a way to leverage their prospect depth, and the Blues are weighing their own roster logjam, this is the kind of crossover that could make sense for both sides, even if the specifics remain very much up in the air. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Center Search Just Got More Complicated In Detroit
The Canadiens search for help down the middle may have picked up another layer of uncertainty with word that Detroit is becoming more serious about potentially moving Dylan Larkin and Simon Edvinsson. Any time a player of Larkins caliber is even loosely tied to the market, it tends to ripple quickly through the league, and Montreal figures to be watching closely as it looks for center answers that fit both the present and the future.
What makes this one harder to read is the control piece. Larkin and Edvinsson both reportedly have some say in where they would go, which can narrow the field before real talks even get going. Montreal is being mentioned as one of the teams that could be involved, but the Canadiens are still facing the usual trade-market reality: interest is one thing, landing the right fit is another, especially when the destination picture may still shift. [Read more 🡒]