Canadiens Can’t Blame Slow 2026-27 Start on Copious Injuries

When Montreal Canadiens forward Ivan Demidov is injured and the headlines are instead about him speeding, it kind of encapsulates the problem. And, clearly, with the team a mediocre 3-3-1 when many analysts had them safely in the playoffs and potentially contending for the Stanley Cup, things could be better. However, with the Habs mired in something of a slump as the injuries, including to Demidov, who is out 2-4 weeks with a lower-body injury, pile up, it’s only natural to want to search for reasons (not excuses). Injuries aren’t one.

Canadiens Still Scoring Without Demidov

Obviously, the Canadiens would love to have Demidov back. In fact, of all the team’s players on the shelf, he’s probably the one they’d love back the most, based on the sophomore’s superstar potential. That shouldn’t be controversial in the slightest. However, when you’re coming off a four-goal performance and your replacement for him on the second line is co-leading the team in goals with the same amount, you can’t really point to Demidov’s absence as the reason the Habs aren’t getting the results they anticipated.

Of course, Josh Anderson is merely a temporary fix on that second line. While him producing how he has, with six points in seven games so far, has been welcome, you’re also talking about someone who has never scored more than 32 in a season since joining the Canadiens ahead of 2020-21. Regardless, while the offense could be higher-octane, it isn’t the problem per se. Neither is the defense, technically, with the Habs having allowed an actually impressive 25.9 shots against per game, which is good for 10th in the league, as they held the Washington Capitals to 24 shots on Wednesday, despite supposed-shutdown-specialist Mike Matheson being out as well.

So, naturally one would point the finger at the team’s goaltending. However, even though Sam Montembeault is also injured, he probably shouldn’t have made the team in the first place. It’s just funny how the Canadiens chose to cut Jacob Fowler instead of him for what were clearly logistical over logical reasons. Now Fowler, who has since been called up, has provided the team with its best goaltending, even pitching a historic shutout against the Detroit Red Wings,

Je viens d’avoir la confirmation de la Ligue nationale : Jacob Fowler est le 1er gardien de l’histoire du Canadien à effectuer un blanchissage en n’accordant aucun but en fusillade. @TVASports

— Nicolas Cloutier (@NCloutierTVA) October 11, 2026

Has Fowler been otherworldly? Not necessarily, but his 1.91 goals-against average and .906 save percentage are relatively great numbers even over just three games, especially compared to Jakub Dobes’ 4.63 GAA and .842 SV%. The thing is, if Dobes’ goaltending is in fact why the Habs are only 3-3-1, it’s something they’re simply going to have ride out. Whether it’s karma for neglecting to ice the best possible team at the season’s outset by picking Montembeault over Fowler or what have you, Dobes requires waivers whereas Fowler does not. And you’re not going to send down the former after he heroically led the team to Round 3 with a league-leading 13.3 goals saved above expected (per MoneyPuck.com) in the hopes he goes through unclaimed. He won’t, because he obviously still holds incredible value.

Ride or Die with Fowler in Net?

It’s easy to say the Canadiens should ride Fowler, similar to how they should have ridden Dobes last season when Montembeault also struggled at the start of the season (and at the end). And maybe there’s something to that. It could theoretically give the Habs a third straight Calder Memorial Trophy finalist, after Lane Hutson in 2025 and Demidov in 2026. It all comes back to Demidov and the potential he has, though. The Habs are obviously stronger with a completely healthy team. You’d prefer to have Demidov force Anderson down a few lines. You’d prefer to play Alex Newhook at wing instead of centre where a healthy Oliver Kapanen belongs. You’d prefer to have Matheson back in some capacity.

The list goes on, but common sense dictates the best teams have the depth to overcome a sudden rash of injuries. That’s part of the reason why it’s hard to point to them as the cause of the team’s struggles, especially because, even at full strength, they should have the same two goalies in net as they do now.

You’d hope the addition of Demidov to this lineup would be enough to enable them to outscore their problems, but their problems would still persist. They’d just be masked only to reveal themselves in the playoffs, when games become tighter-checking. So, what do you do? The idea of giving up on Dobes should be a non-starter, no pun intended, but reversing his and Fowler’s roles does seem prudent, while exclusively playing a 22-year-old is probably an unwise course of action. As would be giving up on Dobes now, seven games into an 84-game season. Heading in, the Canadiens had been seen as potentially having a 1A and 1B. Simply give Dobes the easier opponents for now, so the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 23 and the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 29.

That’s two games out of the next six, just like Montembeault probably should have gotten two games out of the first six to give the Canadiens a chance to see what they had in him. By the time the now-3-4-1 Pittsburgh Penguins visit the Bell Centre two Saturdays from now on Halloween, maybe Dobes will have earned his confidence back. Maybe, just maybe, the Habs will be significantly healthier than they are now, with the game coincidentally taking place four weeks to the day of Demidov’s last game, also against the Penguins, when Dobes’ struggles first reared their head. The redemption story practically writes itself.

Give Demidov the full four weeks. Why not?

If there’s one lesson to take away from his legal troubles, it’s that rushing things does no one any good. Giving up too soon on Dobes could be equally disastrous.