- Stu Cowan puts the odds of Montreal opening the season with three goalies at close to zero
- Montembeault has one year left at a $3.15 million cap hit after a rough season
- Read below for the numbers behind his down year and why Edmonton keeps getting mentioned
Samuel Montembeault is running out of runway in Montreal.
Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette was asked in his weekly mailbag whether the Canadiens could open the year carrying Montembeault, Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler. He did not leave much room for it.
“I’d say the odds of the Canadiens starting with three goalies in Montreal are close to zero.”
Fowler is the reason the math does not work. The 21-year-old does not have to clear waivers to go to Laval, so he is the easy one to send down.
That leaves Montembeault as the piece Kent Hughes has to solve.
Cowan expects the goalie market to move now. Connor Hellebuyck asked the Jets to trade him this week, and Edmonton lost Frederik Andersen to an offseason training injury before camp even opens.
The contract helps Montreal here. Montembeault is in the final year of his deal at a $3.15 million cap hit, and Hughes has never been one to let a useful asset walk for nothing.
Last season was ugly. Montembeault went 10-8-4 with a 3.43 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage, and he slid to third on the depth chart while Dobes carried the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference final.
He was a different goalie before that. Montembeault posted save percentages of .901, .903 and .902 in the three seasons prior, and the down year followed a serious groin injury suffered in the 2025 first-round loss to Washington. Chasing a Team Canada Olympic spot piled on top of it, and he has admitted the whole thing got to him mentally.
Take a look at what he looked like when it was going well:
Edmonton is the name that keeps getting attached to him, and with Andersen out until late October the fit is easy to draw up. It is not that clean, though. Stan Bowman said last week the Oilers are not worried about their injury list, and Tristan Jarry is already signed there.
Camp opens in less than three weeks. Hughes has that long to find a taker for Montembeault, or Montreal starts the year with the three-goalie setup it keeps saying it does not want.
