Habs Mailbag: It’s time for Canadiens to start riding the hot goalie
Do you start Jakub Dobes vs. the Maple Leafs Saturday in Toronto and do you have to consider playing him two games in two days with the St. Louis Blues at the Bell Centre on Sunday? Samuel Montembeault ain’t doing the job. And how close are you from calling up Jacob Fowler from the AHL’s Laval Rocket?
Frank on Blue Sky
Head coach Martin St. Louis said after practice Friday that Dobes will start in goal against the Maple Leafs Saturday (7 p.m., CBC, SN, TVA Sports) and that Montembeault will “probably” start against the Blues Sunday (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
That leads me to believe that if Dobes is outstanding against the Leafs, we might see him play back-to-back games.
With the standings so tight in the Atlantic Division and five points separating first from sixth place through Thursday’s games, this is a good time for the Canadiens to ride a hot goalie. They were in third place in the division through Thursday’s games with a 14-9-3 record, holding a playoff spot.
Dobes has a 9-3-2 record with a 3.11 goals-against average and a .892 save percentage, while Montembeault is 5-6-1 with a 3.61 GAA and a .861 save percentage. The Canadiens have won only one of the last six games Montembeault has played in, during which he has a .855 save percentage.
I’m sure the Canadiens would like Fowler to get a full year of AHL experience under his belt before testing him in the NHL. But if Dobes and/or Montembeault can’t start providing some consistent goaltending, the team might need to call the 21-year-old Fowler up sooner rather than later. In his first 13 games as an AHL rookie, Fowler had a 9-4-0 record with a 2.15 GAA, a .920 save percentage and three shutouts. Calling him up would be a way to find out if Fowler is ready for the NHL. If he doesn’t look ready, Fowler could always be sent back to Laval, like the Canadiens did this week with 21-year-old forward Florian Xhekaj after he played his first five games in the NHL, picking up one assist.
Fowler’s backup in Laval, 29-year-old Kaapo Kahkonen, has also played well with a 6-2-0 record, a 2.50 GAA and a .906 save percentage. Kahkonen has 140 games of NHL experience with the Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche, posting a 49-68-15 record with a 3.34 GAA and a .898 save percentage. He could be another option for the Canadiens — at least short-term — if Dobes and Montembeault struggle and management wants to keep Fowler in Laval.
When Jacob Fowler is eventually brought up to the Canadiens, who do you think is most likely to be traded — Samuel Montembeault or Jakub Dobes?
Paul Wong on X
Montembeault, 29, has one more season after this remaining on his three-year contract with an annual salary-cap hit of US$3.15 million. He can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027.
Dobes, 24, has one more season after this remaining on his NHL entry-level contract with a salary-cap hit of US$965,000. He can become a restricted free agent on July 1, 2027.
How Montembeault and Dobes play the rest of this season will obviously play a role in determining which one GM Kent Hughes would decide to trade to open a spot for Fowler. But because of their ages and contract situations, I believe Montembeault is the one most likely to be traded.
Do you see the Habs making a trade before the Christmas break?
