Earlier this week, on 98,5 Sports, former Montreal Canadiens goalie coach Stephane Waite suggested that it would cause no harm if goaltender Jakub Dobes were sent down to the Laval Rocket.
He’s waiver exempt, so assigning him to the Rocket wouldn’t mean risking losing him, but I disagree that it would cause no harm. I understand that Dobes doesn’t have the “goaltender of the future” label that Jacob Fowler has, but that doesn’t mean that he should pay for Samuel Montembeault’s current issues.
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If you recall, Dobes was off to an excellent start to the season and was even in the conversation for the Calder Trophy early on. But then, despite Montembeault’s poor form, he kept getting starts over Dobes, who, based on performance, would have deserved to be between the pipes. It’s only after Martin St-Louis kept going back to his starter despite his struggles that Dobes appeared to be shaken up.
Sending him down to Laval would once again shake him. He doesn’t deserve to go down to the AHL. He hasn’t had the same issues Montembeault has had, and therefore, he should not go down. Doing that would only achieve one thing: shake him up once more and mess with his head.
Montembeault’s situation is delicate, there’s no denying that, but the NHL is a results business. If the netminder cannot handle internal competition, he won’t last much longer in the league. Granted, a trio of goaltenders is far from ideal, especially when two of them are rookies who need to play. But for me, Fowler is the one who should go down if the Canadiens feel that someone must.
Waiving Montembeault would mean losing him. Struggles or not, a team would pick him up, hoping that a fresh start would sort him out. According to Pierre LeBrun, GMs are calling Marc-Andre Fleury to ask if he’d consider coming out of retirement; that shows how thin the goalie market is.
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As good as Fowler has been so far, he’s still a bit green; this is his first professional season. The 21-year-old needs plenty of ice time, and there is no point in rushing him. No matter how he performs, the Canadiens won’t win the Stanley Cup this season. Leaving him to mature in the AHL only makes sense.
Finish the season with two goalies, and if Montembeault doesn’t find his game, consider moving on from him this summer. That would pave the way for Fowler to see enough action in the NHL. For now, though, let Dobes be; he shouldn’t have to pick up the tab, so to speak.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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