The Montreal Canadiens aren’t staring down a “problem” in net, folks. They’re staring down a full-blown, five-alarm, code-red DISASTER if they don’t make a move, and make it NOW. This isn’t some polite little “dilemma” for GM Kent Hughes; it’s a ticking time bomb that will blow up their season before the leaves even change.
I’m telling you, I watched Samuel Montembeault last season, and it was like watching a player actively nerfing his own team. The guy had an .872 save percentage and a 3.43 GAA. That’s not just bad; that’s *unplayable* in today’s NHL. Your local rec league goalie probably puts up better numbers on a Tuesday night. I know what you’re about to type in the comments: “But he’s a good locker room guy!” Yeah, well, so is the guy who brings donuts, but you don’t strap him into pads and expect him to stop pucks. Montembeault had no aura, no presence. He was getting beat on the first shot more often than a rookie trying to defend McDavid. His own teammates started playing like they were walking on eggshells in front of him. That’s L energy, pure and simple.
Meanwhile, the kids were out there choosing violence.
Jakub Dobes, the 25-year-old, just inked a three-year extension. That’s not just a contract; that’s a WAR CRIME against Montembeault’s playing time. When Dobes spoke about it, he wasn’t exactly subtle. “It at the very least lets him know that he’s got the inside lane right now,” he said. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to read between those lines. Dobes is HIM. Kent Hughes himself backed it up earlier this year, saying Dobes’ “progression has been great. He’s a big goalie, he’s athletic. He’s really worked on his technique with our goalie coaches… he’s earned that contract.” That’s the GM telling you who he believes in.
And then there’s Jacob Fowler. Twenty-one years old. Called up, played 17 games, put up a 2.43 GAA and a .908 SV. A shutout, too. He didn’t look out of place for a second. He looked like he belonged. I’ve heard the traditional media types, the talking heads still living in 1998, glazing over this, muttering about “development” and “more time in the AHL.”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Fowler has 30 games with the Rocket and 8 playoff games. Carey Price, a future HHOF’er, only played 12 AHL games. Andrei Vasilevskiy, a Vezina winner, played 37. Jake Oettinger? 54. Dustin Wolf, a top prospect, needed 138, but that’s the outlier. Fowler is clearly on the Price/Vasilevskiy trajectory, not the Wolf one. He’s proven he can hang. Sending him back to the AHL for “more seasoning” when he’s already outperforming a veteran on the NHL roster isn’t development; it’s malpractice. It’s actively stunting a burgeoning talent.
The Canadiens are in “win mode,” not “development mode,” according to Hughes. Well, I’ve got news for you: you don’t win with a goalie who makes your defensemen nervous. Head coach Martin St. Louis knows it too. “When your goalie is playing with confidence, it radiates through the team,” he’s said before. And Montembeault had the confidence of a guy who just got a flat tire on the highway.
So, here’s the deal, Kent Hughes. You’ve got three NHL-caliber goalies, and two of them are young studs who need reps. One of them is a veteran who is actively hurting your team’s chances. You can’t run with three goalies. It creates a circus. It ruins chemistry. It forces awkward decisions. It stalls the development of your future.
You gave Dobes the bag. Fowler looks like a future 90 OVR in 2K. Montembeault is rated somewhere around “cooked.”
This isn’t hard math. You ship out Montembeault. You get whatever you can, even if it’s a bag of pucks and a conditional seventh-rounder. Get him off the payroll, get him out of the room. You open up the net for your future. Anything less is a failure of asset management and a slap in the face to a fanbase that’s tired of watching goalies get beat clean on the first shot.
Who are you trying to protect, Kent? The veteran who proved he can’t hack it, or the two young lions who are ready to take the reins?
