Canadiens: The Curse Of The Number One Goaltender?

On Oct 15, 2026

There’s a sense of déjà vu in what’s happening with the Montreal Canadiens this season. As in the last campaign, the guy labeled the number-one choice goaltender just isn’t delivering. Last season, Martin St-Louis and co. gave Samuel Montembeault plenty of opportunity to find his footing before finally turning to Jakob Dobes. So much so that by the time they turned to him, Dobes himself was going through a crisis of confidence. By the end of the season, though, he had regained his confidence and had wrestled the starting job away from Jacob Fowler.

Fast forward to the current season, and Dobes emerged as the number-one choice, the guy earmarked to start. Montembeault looked good in training camp, certainly good enough to be the backup, and Fowler, on his ELC, could be sent down to the Laval Rocket, so that’s what the Canadiens did.

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Dobes had a strong first game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but for some reason he struggled afterward. He posted a .929 save percentage on opening night and followed it with two subpar performances: a .800 SV against the Pittsburgh Penguins and a .844 against the Carolina Hurricanes. At that stage, the plan was for the backup to get a start, because your number one netminder can’t play 84 games, but Montembeault was injured.

As a result, Fowler was recalled and stepped into the crease, since Dobes wasn’t meant to start anyway. However, two nights later, Dobes didn’t get his net back; after losing his first game against the Nashville Predators, Fowler got a second straight game against the Detroit Red Wings and shut them out through 65 minutes and a six-round shootout. After that performance, St-Louis decided to put Fowler in net once again, and the youngster won again.

With a second game in as many days, the coach went back to Dobes on Wednesday night, and unfortunately for the Czech netminder, he struggled again. Giving up five goals in just 24 shots. With the next game only on Saturday, Dobes will probably have time to reset before the Habs take on the Sabres for a second time this season, but it seems the Canadiens have learned from last year’s debacle. They want to go with the hot hand; they won’t give Dobes as long a leash as they gave Montembeault because, in the end, the Quebecer ended up hanging himself with it, which Dobes won’t have the opportunity to do.

The Canadiens are no longer a rebuilding team; it’s not about development or the process anymore, it’s about getting the two points, climbing the standings, and ultimately being in as good a position as possible come playoff time. Come Saturday night, they need a win, so who are they likely to go to? The masked man oozing confidence right now, or the one who can’t seem to make the big saves when he needs to? The answer seems simple enough, but what happens when Samuel Montembeault returns from injury?

Kent Hughes said at the golf tournament that he didn’t want a “ménage à trois” this season. Sending Fowler down at the end of September was easy because he was on his ELC and hadn’t outplayed the others in training camp. Now, though, for a second season in a row, Fowler came to the rescue and grabbed his opportunity with both hands. Can Hughes really send him back down if he’s the one giving the Canadiens the best chance to win every night? It seems doubtful.

Having three goalies is far from ideal, but both Montembeault and Dobes would have to go through waivers to be sent down to the AHL. Fowler’s play may force Hughes to move faster to solve his goaltender conundrum. The GM signed Dobes to a new contract; Fowler is earmarked as the goaltender of the future, and Montembeault’s contract expires at season’s end. The answer seems simple enough…once he’s healthy, Hughes will ne need to find him a new home, because Fowler has now shown that he is the hot hand, the one who gives the team the best opportunity to win, and at the end of the day, this is a results-based league.

Could things change before Montembeault returns? Perhaps Dobes could rebound, but it seems unlikely Fowler will falter. As St-Louis often said about Montembeault last season, Dobes hasn’t forgotten how to play goal. However, the Canadiens have the luxury of a young netminder waiting in the wings to step into the number-one role; they shouldn’t hold him back. Will the pressure be too much when chatter about him as the number-one goaltender picks up? Time will tell, but he had no problem starting three games in a row…

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