Cowan: Present collides with future as Canadiens' rebuild takes shape
The future is looking very bright for the Canadiens.
The present is also looking very good for the youngest team in the NHL.
The Canadiens were sitting in third place in the Atlantic Division with a 36-18-10 record after Wednesday night’s 3-2 win over the Senators in Ottawa, four points behind first-place Buffalo while holding a game in hand on the Sabres. The Canadiens have an 8-1-3 record in the last 12 games and were in seventh place in the overall NHL standings after beating the Senators. They ranked third in the NHL in offence, scoring an average of 3.53 goals per game, and 24th in defence, allowing an average of 3.23 goals per game.
The Canadiens would be higher up in the standings if they had more consistent goaltending from Samuel Montembeault this season, and management looked to rectify that on Wednesday when Jacob Fowler was called up from the AHL’s Laval Rocket and got the start against the Senators. Fowler responded by making 32 saves — including six in the last two minutes of the third period while under intense pressure.
Fowler joins an impressive group of talented Canadiens players who are 22 or younger. Lane Hutson and Oliver Kapanen are 22. Juraj Slafkovsky and Fowler are 21. Ivan Demidov is 20. There’s a chance 19-year-old Michael Hage could join the team after completing his sophomore season at the University of Michigan, where the 6-foot-1, 199-pound centre has 12-37-49 totals in 35 games.
Fowler played 10 games with the Canadiens this season before being returned to Laval. In 11 games with the Canadiens, he has a 5-4-2 record with a 2.56 goals-against average, a .906 save percentage and one shutout. In 27 games with Laval he had a 19-7-1 record with a 2.23 GAA, a .916 save percentage and three shutouts.
L’alligator s’est régalé 🐊
Gators gotta eat#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/Daesm2rjvC— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 12, 2026
The Florida native looked calm, cool and collected against the Senators and impressed Stéphane Waite, who was Carey Price’s goalie coach with the Canadiens for eight years.
“He’s so patient,”
Waite said on The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro after the game.
“He’s so in control … that makes him play big and I love his composure, his calmness. He (exudes) confidence. You know, you can’t teach that, and he reminds me (of) Carey Price. Carey was never too high, never too low — in control and exactly Jacob Fowler.
“I know maybe five or six goalies got drafted before him, but right now he’s the best goalie in that draft by far,” Waite added.
Poor drafting and player development under former general manager Marc Bergevin were big reasons why Canadiens owner/president Geoff Molson decided to start a full rebuild four years ago. That has changed under president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton and GM Kent Hughes.
The Canadiens selected Fowler in the third round (69th overall)
after five other goalies had been selected in the second round. None of the other five has played in the NHL yet.
, the first goalie drafted in 2023 (35th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks) has a 17-11-1 record this season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, along with a 2.25 GAA and a .906 save percentage.
Donnez de l’amour à votre gardien 🫂
Hug your goalie 🫂#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/FQYkA5U990— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) March 12, 2026
The Canadiens selected Slafkovsky with the No. 1 overall pick
and their patience in his development is really starting to pay off. Slafkovsky has 24-29-53 totals in 64 games this season, and his 164 points during his first four NHL seasons are the most in franchise history by any player before turning 22 — one point ahead of Hall of Famer Henri Richard. Slafkovsky will turn 22 on March 30.
The Canadiens took Hutson in the second round (62nd overall) of the 2022 draft. He was the 18th defenceman drafted that year, and his 117 assists are the most by any defenceman in NHL history in their first 150 games. Hutson has played 148 games and can add to that total in back-to-back games this weekend at the Bell Centre against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday
(7 p.m., City, SNE, TVA Sports)
and Anaheim Ducks on Sunday
(7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
Hutson has 17-117-134 career totals to rank third in scoring among players drafted in 2022, trailing Slafkovsky (66-98-164 totals in 264 games) and the Utah Mammoth’s Logan Cooley (the third overall pick, who has 62-75-137 totals in 194 games). The second-highest scoring defenceman from the 2022 draft is
selected 10th overall by the Anaheim Ducks, with 16-48-64 totals in 190 games.
Heading into Thursday’s games, Demidov was tied for first in NHL rookie scoring (14-37-51 totals) with the Anaheim Ducks’ Beckett Sennecke (20-31-51). Kapanen ranked fifth in rookie scoring, with 20-13-33 totals.
The Canadiens have five players with more than 50 points this season — Nick Suzuki (21-54-75), Hutson (11-55-66), Cole Caufield (37-27-64), Slafkovsky (24-29-53) and Demidov (14-37-51). Suzuki is the oldest player in that group at 26. The only other team with five 50-point players is the Vegas Golden Knights and four of those five are 28 or older.
This Canadiens team is young and exciting, and now they have some goaltending help with Fowler.
The last 18 games this season should be exciting to watch for Canadiens fans.
