Jacob Fowler wasn’t part of the Calder chatter when the season opened, but seven games into his NHL run, he’s pushed his way into the discussion in a hurry.
The Canadiens goalie is 6-1 through his first seven starts, and that kind of opening has changed the conversation around him. On the Fan Hockey Show, Eric Engels said this isn’t some fluky burst of form. The people who have followed Fowler closely at every level keep landing on the same point: this is standard Fowler.
That track record matters. Engels also noted that Fowler was the best goalie in the league by goals saved above expected from the trade deadline through the playoffs last year, so the early success in Montreal is not coming out of nowhere.
Even with that start, Engels was careful not to run too far ahead. He said nobody should be pencilling in a Vezina season yet. Still, if Fowler keeps this pace and gets enough starts, Engels believes he could move into that conversation too.
What makes the story even more interesting is how Fowler ended up in the crease in the first place. He began the season in the AHL because the Canadiens did not want to carry three goalies.
Then Samuel Montembeault put together a strong camp, got hurt right before his first start, and Fowler got the call. Since then, he has taken full advantage.
The comparisons to Carey Price have already started because of how composed he looks in net. Engels called that a fair compliment, but not the right takeaway. The calm matters, and teammates can feel it, but the bigger reason Fowler is working right now is simpler: he is just being himself.
That leads straight to Jakub Dobes. Engels said Dobes should not try to become Fowler.
He should be the goalie who got him to this point. In his view, you need two goalies in this league, and the workload bears that out.
Last season’s busiest goalie played 64 games, which meant another netminder handled about 18. Most teams, Engels said, settle into something close to a two-to-one split.
So the Canadiens need Dobes to rediscover his game, because Fowler is currently playing like the best goalie in the league. Whether that holds over time is another question. For now, though, Fowler has made the Calder race look very real.
In Other News...
Canadiens Still Waiting On Clarity In Demidov Suzuki Injury Situation
The Canadiens have navigated the early stretch of their season without three key injured players, and the latest update suggests at least one of those absences may soon be nearing an end. Marc-Olivier Beaudoin reported that Ivan Demidov is expected back soon, with several sources pointing to Nov. 3 as the latest target, while Montreal has quietly kept winning anyway, stacking three straight victories without him, Samuel Montembeault or Nick Suzuki in the lineup.
Montembeaults situation remains a little murkier, even after he skated Tuesday in Brossard, because the club still has not issued an official update after his original return window came and went. Suzuki is in a similar holding pattern, with no fresh status from the team as Montreal waits for clarity and may have more to say after its next game. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Have A Rare Shot At The Star They Need
A rare opening has suddenly appeared for a player the Canadiens have had eyes on before, and it comes at a time when Montreal is still looking for the kind of elite talent that can change the shape of a lineup. Nikita Kucherov is in the final season of his deal with Tampa Bay, and his situation has quickly become one of the most intriguing in the league because of what it could mean for a contender trying to get in front of the market.
For Montreal, the appeal is obvious: this is the kind of star who could fit the long-term picture if the opportunity ever truly materializes. The catch is that plenty still has to break the Canadiens way, from whether Tampa actually moves him to whether Montreal is even in position to pursue him, so for now the front office can only watch closely and wait for the next shoe to drop. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens May Be Getting Boxed Out Of Dylan Larkin Sweepstakes
Dylan Larkin remains one of the bigger names to watch as Detroit works through a tense standoff with the center, but the Canadiens are not sitting in an obvious spot in the chase. Montreal has been linked to the trade discussion as the Red Wings keep talking with multiple clubs, yet Larkin has not expanded his preferred destination list, leaving the Canadiens outside the group he is known to want.
That matters because the market for centers is already thin, with Ryan O'Reilly and Mark Scheifele among the other names being floated. For Montreal, it leaves an important question hanging over the rest of the trade chatter: whether the Canadiens can stay involved long enough to matter, or whether this is another sweepstakes they are watching from the outside. [Read more 🡒]