The Montreal Canadiens may be heading into the season with a goaltending logjam that’s tough to ignore.
It’s already mid-July, and Samuel Montembeault is still on the Canadiens’ roster. That alone leaves open the possibility that Montreal could carry three NHL-caliber goalies for a second straight year, a setup that would be far from ideal.
Last season, Montembeault’s struggles helped force Jacob Fowler into the picture earlier than expected. The Melbourne, Florida native handled the jump well, looking completely comfortable in the crease and earning trust fast. In 17 games, he went 9-6-2 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, and he also posted a shutout.
The Canadiens clearly value what they’ve seen from the Czech netminder, too. Earlier this month, the team gave him a three-year contract extension worth a $5,357,575 AAV. A deal like that doesn’t hand out starts on its own, but as Dobes said himself in his media availability, it does at least put him in the front of the line for now.
That’s where the problem starts. Three goalies on one roster is already a messy arrangement, and it gets even trickier when two of them are 25 or younger.
At that stage of a goalie’s career, reps matter. Kent Hughes has made that part clear: if Fowler remains with the big club this season, he needs plenty of action.
The Canadiens also aren’t in the same place they were when development was the main priority. They’re in win mode now, and results matter. That makes the goaltending picture even more delicate, especially with Montembeault’s uneven play last season still fresh in the conversation.
He’s a strong teammate, but Montreal can’t really afford another year of uncertainty in net. Too often last season, he was beaten on the first shot, and that kind of start puts a team on its heels immediately. It wasn’t hard to see how that would ripple through the group.
There is still the possibility that Fowler spends the season in the AHL and gets the kind of workload that helps a young goalie grow. But there’s no universal blueprint for how long a goalie should stay there.
Dobes played 65 AHL games before becoming a regular with the Canadiens after Cayden Primeau’s collapse. Carey Price had only 12 AHL games before becoming a regular in the NHL.
Andrei Vasilevskiy played 37 games with the Syracuse Crunch, Jake Oettinger had 54, and Dustin Wolf went through 138 before taking over in Calgary.
Fowler’s own AHL sample is much smaller: 30 games with the Rocket and another eight in the AHL playoffs. That’s not a huge body of work, but it may be enough.
He still needs reps, no question, but Montreal could also argue that his development is better served in the NHL. On top of that, the numbers suggest the Canadiens would have better odds of winning with him in the mix.
If the Canadiens go with a Dobes-Fowler tandem and try to send Montembeault to the AHL, there’s another obvious issue: he would almost certainly be claimed on waivers. It’s tough to picture the Canadiens’ front office letting an asset like that walk for nothing.
For all the talk about Montreal needing help in the top six, the goaltending situation may be the more pressing problem. At this point, the Canadiens may need to find Montembeault a new home.
In Other News...
Canadiens Just Added A Young Defenseman Fans Will Want To Track
The Canadiens have quietly added another name to their defensive pipeline, with Kent Hughes signing Konyushkov and keeping the young blueliner on loan in the KHL for another year before he makes the jump to North America. It is the kind of move Montreal has leaned into as it tries to stock the blue line with players who can grow into NHL roles without being rushed, and this one comes with a profile that has already started to draw attention.
Konyushkovs game and offensive touch have drawn comparisons to Alexandre Carrier, which gives Canadiens fans a pretty clear idea of the type of defender Montreal thinks it may be getting down the road. If he develops the way the organization hopes, he could eventually fit into a similar role on the right side of the blue line, giving the team another mobile, puck-moving option to track closely over the next year. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens May Have Already Drawn A Hard Line With Kirby Dach
Peyton Krebs new four-year, $18 million deal in Buffalo has quickly become a useful marker in the Kirby Dach negotiations, and it gives Montreal a pretty clear reference point as the sides head toward arbitration. Krebs had the healthier, fuller season, playing all 82 games with 39 points and a plus-13 rating, while Dachs year was interrupted by injuries and produced 15 points in 37 games with a minus-2 mark.
The Canadiens have already put down a $4 million qualifying offer, and the July 30 arbitration hearing is now looming as the next real checkpoint. For Montreal, the hard part is balancing Dachs upside against what he has actually been able to deliver lately, and the comparable on Krebs suggests the club may not be inclined to budge much from its current line. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Still Feel The Sting Of One 2007 Draft Decision
The Canadiens 2007 draft class still stands as one of the franchises most consequential, and not just because of the names they kept. Montreal came out of that year with Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban, but the decision that continues to linger is the one that sent Ryan McDonagh away before he ever played a game for the team. It was the kind of move that looked like a roster shuffle at the time and has only grown heavier with hindsight.
McDonagh went on to become a fixture in the NHL, later wearing the captains letter with the Rangers and helping Tampa Bay win two Stanley Cups, while the Canadiens return in the deal never delivered the same kind of stability. Scott Gomez arrived with plenty of pedigree, but his time in Montreal never matched the expectations attached to the trade, and the organization eventually moved on. For a franchise that got so much right in that draft year, this one still reads like the missed branch in the road. [Read more 🡒]