Alexandre Carrier and Samuel Montembeault are both staring down important contract years, and the Montreal Canadiens have no shortage of moving parts around them as the season approaches.
Montembeault’s situation is the more precarious one. After a season that went off the rails, the goaltender was sent to the AHL on a conditioning stint, returned to the NHL and still couldn’t find his game, then was moved to the press gallery for the rest of the season and the playoffs in early March. He finished at 10-8-4 with a 3.43 goals-against average and a .872 save percentage, a collapse that opened the door for Jakub Dobes to take over the starting role and for Jacob Fowler to move up to the NHL.
At the end-of-season media availability, Montembeault said he was ready for a fresh start and felt he could get that in Montreal. For now, the Becancour native is still with the Canadiens, even though plenty of goaltender movement around the league might have suggested a trade could be coming.
He has one year left at a $3.15 million cap hit, and while no team has stepped up yet, the fit in Montreal looks crowded. Dobes has already signed a new three-year contract, and Fowler is viewed as the goaltender of the future.
When camp opens, Montembeault won’t just be fighting for the No. 1 job - he’ll be trying to convince his teammates that last season was the exception, not the rule. He may still be moved before camp starts, but wherever he lands, he has to show the version of himself that didn’t crash out of the NHL last season.
Carrier’s path is different, but the pressure is real all the same. The soon-to-be 30-year-old was a welcome addition to the Canadiens’ blue line after arriving from the Nashville Predators for Justin Barron in the 2024-25 season.
He has produced at a 0.30 points-per-game pace in each of his two seasons with Montreal, which works out to a 25-point pace over 82 games. This past year, though, a much higher shooting percentage helped drive that production, with 12.5% of his shots going in compared to 3.7% the year before.
In a perfect setup, Carrier is a bottom-pairing defenseman. Montreal’s shortage of right-shot defenders has pushed him into tougher usage more often than ideal, and he has looked more comfortable when paired with Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson than when he’s alongside Arber Xhekaj.
That depth chart could shift quickly once training camp begins. David Reinbacher is expected to get every chance to make the team, and with Hughes still unable to land a true top-four right-shot defenseman through free agency or trade, the pressure on the 2023 fifth-overall pick only grows. The Canadiens would likely start Reinbacher on the third pair, but if he proves he can handle more, he could move ahead of Carrier.
Even then, Carrier might not be out of the picture for long. Other right-shot options in the system may need more time, including Bryce Pickford, who is recovering from shoulder surgery after a huge WHL season, and Bogdan Konyushkov, who will play in Russia this year and will likely need time to adjust to the North American game.
Adam Engstrom is also pushing for a look, and although he shoots left, he has shown he can play on his off-side. Depending on how Martin St-Louis uses him, he could force a defenseman out of Montreal or even be used to address another need in a trade.
For Carrier, the message is simple: with so many younger players pushing for NHL jobs, he needs a strong year to earn another contract in Montreal.
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For the Canadiens, the timing is hard to ignore with Kirby Dach still set for a July 30 arbitration hearing. Krebs recent production gives the deal some context, but the bigger takeaway for Hughes is how quickly neighboring teams are locking in their young forwards, which only sharpens the pressure on Montreal as its own negotiation clock keeps ticking. [Read more 🡒]
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Canadiens Face A Tense Kirby Dach Decision This Summer
Kirby Dachs summer has taken a familiar turn for a young player still trying to establish his place in Montreal. He is the only Canadiens player to elect for arbitration, and his hearing is set for July 30, giving the club and the forward a narrow window to settle on a new deal before a third party steps in and decides the price.
For the Canadiens, the situation is about more than just one contract number. Dach filed after receiving a qualifying offer from Montreal, and the final figure could shape both his role on the roster and the teams flexibility if general manager Kent Hughes decides to explore trade options later on. For now, the clock is ticking, and Montreal still has time to work out an agreement before the hearing becomes unavoidable. [Read more 🡒]