The Montreal Canadiens have one of the best starting goaltenders in the league with Jakub Dobes, and he’s only 24 years old. Every time he gets in between the pipes, it’s expected that he will not only give a phenomenal performance with acrobatic saves, but that the Habs will be coming out of the game gaining two points. If not two, at least one. However, the backup, Sam Montembeault, brings down the strength of the goalie tandem significantly.
Montembeault Last Season
Montembeault signed a three-year contract extension with the Canadiens after showing improvement with a 3.14 goals-against average (GAA) and a .903 save percentage (SV%) in the 2023-24 season. Plus, still trying to build the team back up, the front office probably didn’t expect it to be fighting for a playoff spot the year after, so they just re-signed Montembeault. He received a raise of a little over $2 million.
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The move paid off because Montembeault had the best season of his career when they needed it most during their fight for a playoff berth, which went to the very end of the season. He posted a 2.82 GAA and a .903 SV% in the regular season with a 31-24-7 record. He also had a 2.76 GAA and a .908 SV% throughout the three playoff games he played in. He would also go on to be selected to play on Team Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Unfortunately, in the middle of Game 3 in the first round of the playoffs, Montembeault suffered a double groin tear and missed the rest of the series. The Canadiens lost their starting goalie, and the Washington Capitals went on to win the series in six games. Dobes became the new starter after Montembeault’s poor performances, and he’s obviously now the starter today.
Canadiens Need Montembeault to Step Up
Coming into this season, the Canadiens expected the 29-year-old netminder to continue on his upward trajectory. He was given the start for the season opener against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the Canadiens lost 5-2 (he gave up only three because of the empty net goals). It wasn’t a bad performance by Montembeault, and there wasn’t much to worry about when it came to his goaltending.
Fast-forward to know, and it’s become one of the biggest issues on the team. There have only been two games this season he hasn’t let in more than three goals; Oct. 11 against the Chicago Blackhawks when they were still figuring things out and learning Jeff Blashill’s new system, and the Utah Mammoth, who were on the end of their road stretch (eight of nine games played on the road). Montembeault has had four games where he’s allowed four goals, and in the game on Oct. 23 against the Edmonton Oilers, he let in six in a 6-5 loss.
Montembeault has a GAA of 3.52 and an .861 SV% through nine starts with a record of 4-4-1. His SV% is the fourth-worst in the league behind the Edmonton Oilers’ Calvin Pickard, Toronto Maple Leafs’ Cayden Primeau, and Nashville Predators’ Justus Annunen. Meanwhile, Dobes is making a case for the Calder Trophy, having a 2.20 GAA and a .920 SV%. It’s inching into the territory where, when the starting goalie is announced for the game, it can set the tone quickly, and that’s not a good thing.
Granted, there have been multiple times this season where the whole team just gave up and made sloppy mistakes; it’s happened with Dobes in net, too. Some of the goals just aren’t Montembeault’s fault. However, Dobes can keep Montreal in games — Montembeault, after a good season in 2024-25, for some reason, is struggling to do that. The Canadiens can’t play Dobes every night; they’re going to need Montembeault to reach deep and find whatever was driving him last season, and it needs to happen now.
