When the Canadiens’ biggest injury headline around Ivan Demidov turns into a speeding story instead of a hockey one, you know the noise around this team has gone sideways fast. Montreal is sitting at 3-3-1, a record that looks a lot less impressive than what plenty of people expected heading into the season, but the injuries piling up around the roster are not the real explanation.
Demidov is out 2-4 weeks with a lower-body injury, and the Canadiens would obviously love to have him back. He’s the one player on the shelf who probably draws the most longing, given the superstar ceiling he brings as a sophomore.
But Montreal just put up four goals, and the winger filling his spot on the second line, Josh Anderson, is tied for the team lead in goals with the same total. That makes it hard to pin the slow start on Demidov’s absence alone.
Anderson has helped, even if he’s obviously not a long-term answer there. He has six points in seven games, which is a nice burst, but he’s also not someone with a track record of carrying that kind of scoring load over a full season.
The offense could be sharper, sure, but it hasn’t exactly been the core issue. Neither has the defense, at least by the numbers.
Montreal has allowed 25.9 shots against per game, which ranks 10th in the league, and it held the Washington Capitals to 24 shots on Wednesday even without Mike Matheson, who is supposed to be a shutdown specialist.
That leaves the obvious target: goaltending. Sam Montembeault is injured too, but the deeper issue is that he probably shouldn’t have been the guy in the first place.
The Canadiens went with him over Jacob Fowler for logistical reasons, and Fowler has since been called up and given Montreal its best work in net. He even delivered a historic shutout against the Detroit Red Wings.
Je viens d’avoir la confirmation de la Ligue nationale : Jacob Fowler est le 1er gardien de l’histoire du Canadien à effectuer un blanchissage en n’accordant aucun but en fusillade. @TVASports
- Nicolas Cloutier (@NCloutierTVA) October 11, 2026
Fowler hasn’t exactly been untouchable, but through three games his 1.91 goals-against average and .906 save percentage look strong compared with Jakub Dobes’ 4.63 GAA and .842 SV%. If Dobes is the reason Montreal is only 3-3-1, then that’s a problem the Canadiens may simply have to live through for now.
Dobes has value, and he’s not someone you just cut loose after he helped lead the team to Round 3 last season with a league-leading 13.3 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck.com. He also requires waivers, while Fowler does not.
That’s why the idea of moving Dobes aside feels unrealistic, even if Fowler is the hotter hand. Montreal could certainly make a case for riding the youngster, and there’s even a path there to a third straight Calder Memorial Trophy finalist after Lane Hutson in 2025 and Demidov in 2026. But the Canadiens also need to be careful about asking a 22-year-old to carry too much too soon.
The truth is the roster would look better with Demidov back, with Matheson healthy, with Oliver Kapanen in his proper role and Alex Newhook on the wing instead of at center. Demidov would help, no doubt.
He’d push Anderson down the lineup and deepen everything around him. But even then, the Canadiens would still need a goaltending plan that makes sense.
The best move may be the simplest one: keep Dobes in the mix, but give him the softer matchups for now. Chicago on Oct. 23 and St.
Louis on Oct. 29 stand out in the next stretch, and that kind of split would let Montreal test the setup without forcing an all-or-nothing decision. That’s two games out of the next six, not unlike the way Montembeault probably should have gotten two of the first six to show what he had.
By Halloween, when the now-3-4-1 Pittsburgh Penguins come to the Bell Centre two Saturdays from now, Dobes may have his confidence back and the Canadiens might be healthier too. That game lands four weeks to the day from Demidov’s last appearance, also against Pittsburgh, when Dobes’ struggles first became impossible to ignore. The script is sitting there waiting to be written.
As for Demidov, let the full four weeks pass. There’s no reason to rush it.
And if there’s a lesson here from his legal troubles, it’s that rushing things doesn’t help anyone. Pulling the plug on Dobes too quickly could be just as damaging.
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Kent Hughes May Still Have A Clever Canadiens Forward Move Left
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Rakell still carries a $5 million cap hit, and his slow start has only added to the intrigue around what kind of return Pittsburgh might eventually consider. For Montreal, the appeal is obvious enough: if Hughes decides the fit still makes sense, Rakell could give the second line a different look even with the original deal structure gone, leaving open the possibility of a separate swing later on. [Read more 🡒]