HabsWorld.net --
Going into training camp, it looks like Jacob Fowler had a shot at making Montreal’s roster but Samuel Montembeault secured the spot instead. Cutting Fowler was the prudent move, at least for the time being.
In the first half of last season, Montreal’s goaltending was poor enough that Fowler was called up earlier than they likely would have preferred. Fowler did well early but started to falter, leading to his return to Laval. The move worked as he rebounded fairly quickly.
The plan was likely to keep him with the Rocket the rest of the way at that point but Montembeault’s struggles left them no choice as he had become unplayable. Fowler was brought up near the trade deadline and the number two spot was his the rest of the way. Even with Jakub Dobes turning things around, Fowler played a reasonable amount down the stretch until the playoffs started.
In the short term, Fowler not getting a heavy workload is manageable but he’s not just a run-of-the-mill goalie prospect. He’s widely viewed as one of the top goalie prospects in the NHL, if not the top one. This is not the type of player you want sitting for extended stretches. Goalies need a lot of game reps for development.
Is Fowler going to get a lot of game reps with the Habs, at least at the start of the season? Probably not. Dobes secured a long leash as the starter with how he finished the year and his playoff performance. Meanwhile, the Canadiens only have one back-to-back set before the middle of November. While Montembeault will probably play more than just that one game, the schedule lends itself toward a Dobes-heavy workload early on.
What’s better from a development perspective for Fowler? A handful of starts in the first couple of months with Montreal or somewhere between 10 and 12 over that same stretch with Laval? Even those with a desire to see Fowler up in Montreal would probably begrudgingly admit that more minutes with the Rocket is probably better, at least for now.
At this point, it seems fair to say that Montembeault isn’t going to be in Montreal’s plans long term. Dobes is signed for three years after this one and Fowler has five years of team control beyond 2026-27. That’s the goalie tandem of the future. More specifically, the near future.
But that doesn’t mean they should just be looking to cut bait with him as soon as possible. I don’t think he was actively being shopped this summer. Instead, it was more along the lines of if there’s a deal that makes sense for the team and Montembeault, they’d make it. With the year he had, there was no way they were getting a trade offer that was going to make enough sense to move him, knowing that they weren’t trying to just give him away. They were content letting this drag out into training camp with the hope that Montembeault would rebound.
And while it’s hard to rely on a few half-game appearances, it looks like Montembeault was better while being in better shape. Given his track record, he earned the benefit of having a bit of rope to work with and he made the most of it, at least for now.
Not wanting to pull Fowler up too early last season, the Habs were quite patient with their goaltending. Probably too patient, in hindsight. But this was still a team that was operating without much in the way of internal expectations. That’s not the case anymore after a long playoff run.
While they won’t say they have a specific goal for the season, making the postseason is a part of it. And in the gauntlet that is the Atlantic Division, wins are going to be harder to come by. That means they can’t be anywhere near as patient with Montembeault as they were last year. If the first handful of starts aren’t pretty, it’s going to be time to think about making the swap.
Meanwhile, if Montembeault does well, then they have options. Fowler can keep getting big minutes with the Rocket or the Habs could assess Montembeault’s trade market at that time. While there aren’t many teams needing a goalie now, things could change fairly quickly between early struggles and injuries. Had they waived Montembeault out of training camp, that wouldn’t necessarily be on the table now.
In the meantime, focusing on Fowler’s development now is easy but if it starts to affect their postseason chances, the priority will change quickly. So while they’ve taken the prudent approach for now, it still wouldn’t be shocking to see Fowler have some sort of an impact on Montreal’s lineup this season.
