Habs schedule: the battle for #2 goalie will be bigger than ever

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Crédit:

Earlier today, the Habs schedule for the 2025-26 season was unveiled. In a humorous capsule, Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton and Patrick Chèvrefils unveiled it all.

For those who want to see it at a glance, here’s what it looks like:

One of the most interesting things about this schedule is that, due to the long break for the Olympics, the calendar is quite condensed. In fact, the Habs will play back-to-back games 16 times this season.

That’s a record (tied with a few other teams) in the NHL… and it has major implications for the team.

The most important of these is in front of the net. The vast majority of the time, when a team plays two games in two nights, the second goaltender gets a start in one of those two games.

This means that the battle for the #2 goaltender position (between Jakub Dobes and Kaapo Kahkönen) will be more important than ever. Because this year, the pressure on the #2 goalkeeper’s shoulders will be high… and it will come very quickly.

From the very first month of the season, the club will be playing two back-to-back games, so goalie #2 will have to be ready to contribute quickly. And that’s just a taste of what’s in store for the Habs before Christmas.

Between November 26 and December 23, the Habs will play 16 games in 28 days. And between November 28th and December 7th, the CH will only play back-to-back games.

Last year, for example, the Habs only had 12 back-to-backs on their schedule. As a result, the club will have to manage a much tighter schedule, and put even more trust in its #2 goaltender.

Reducing Samuel Montembeault’s workload was already one of the team’s objectives, and this schedule makes it even more important to achieve it.

We saw in 2024-25 that, on occasion, the Canadiens were prepared to give Monty two starts in 24 hours. That said, this was often done when the team was playing extremely important games and confidence in the #2 goaltender (be it Cayden Primeau or Jakub Dobes) wasn’t huge.

But this year, the Habs(who have a better line-up than last year) won’t be able to afford not to trust their #2 goalie. And all this makes you wonder if it’s all in favor of the veteran Kahkönen, because we know that it’s usually easier to trust a veteran than a youngster.

One thing’s for sure, though: both Dobes and Kahkönen will have to arrive at camp with the knife between their teeth. And whoever wins that competition is likely to be a busy man this season…

Overtime

– Don’t hesitate to ask your questions!

– Here are all of Joe Veleno’s goals in 2024-25.

– What do you think?

– Of note.

– Very cool.