Goalkeepers: the Habs look in-house to solve their problems

Dose
Crédit: MONTREAL, CANADA - APRIL 25: Sam Montembeault #35 of the Montreal Canadiens skates during warmups prior to Game Three of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Bell Centre on April 25, 2025. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The subject of goaltending has been a hot topic in Montreal over the past few weeks. The club is struggling in front of the net, which means they’re missing out on a lot of games despite a fairly potent offense.

And Martin St-Louis is clearly fed up with the subject coming up again and again.

Jakub Dobes had a good night’s work on Saturday, which calmed things down in the last few days. But in reality, the numbers don’t lie: the Habs rank last in the NHL for goaltending efficiency this season.

Sooner or later, then, we’re going to have to start thinking about solutions. And according to Elliotte Friedman, the club’s priority in this matter is not to complete a transaction to obtain a goaltender.

In fact, according to Friedman, the Habs want to start by trying to find solutions internally. And obviously, the easiest would be to get Dobes and Samuel Montembeault back in the game.

But if not, a recall from Laval seems the most likely scenario.

Obviously, Jacob Fowler’s name is getting a lot of attention. We know the young goalie has a lot of promise, and seeing him break it down in the AHL this season suggests he may be ready for a recall.

That said, it’s more likely that Kaapo Kahkonen will be the eventual recalled goaltender. He was signed to be the club’s third goaltender, and recalling him wouldn’t interfere with Fowler’s development.

In the short term, recalling Kahkonen makes more sense.

I get the impression that the Habs will be desperate to avoid recalling Fowler in order to let him play a full year in Laval. It is, after all, what will be most beneficial for his development.

And even Dobes, who was recalled rather quickly, had spent a year and a half in Laval before getting his first taste of the NHL, you know.

Overtime

– Joel Quenneville is probably ahead of him. Roy is an interesting candidate, though.

– That’s right.

– Interesting.

– Conor Garland could be traded.

– His comments today are not going down well.