FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — This was anything but a stunner.
It was entirely foreseeable that the Montreal Canadiens would be calling goaltender Jakub Dobes up from the Laval Rocket and bringing him with them to South Florida on Friday, with their six-game road trip continuing with back-to-back matinees against the Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning this weekend and starter Samuel Montembeault overtaxed since the start of December.
He rounded out the pre-Christmas jaunt with a loss in Columbus. It was his third game in four nights — with two travel days in between — and his 10th game in a row, making him the only goaltender in the NHL shouldering that type of workload. If the Canadiens still trusted Cayden Primeau to win them a game since giving them no chance to win Dec. 1 in Boston, he’d have relieved Montembeault at some point over that stretch.
When the Canadiens didn’t tap Primeau to start in Detroit one week ago, in the first leg of a home-and-home with the Red Wings, it was a sign they no longer trusted him. The writing appeared to be faintly on the wall that night, and then it appeared to have been traced over in indelible ink on Monday in Columbus, when Montembeault was tasked with playing under those adverse conditions to help the team win its fourth consecutive game.
We can’t say whether or not Primeau will be placed on waivers on Saturday, when the NHL’s roster freeze officially lifts, but we know Dobes isn’t traveling with the Canadiens just to watch them play two games.
The 23-year-old from Ostrava, Czechia, who was drafted 136th overall in 2020 by the franchise, is all but guaranteed to make his NHL debut this weekend. And, with the Canadiens closing out this trip with back-to-back games in Chicago and Colorado after a game on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas, there’s a good chance he’ll be sticking around.
Even if Primeau remains on Montreal’s roster — and he can, with the Canadiens currently not exceeding the 23-man limit — you have to think it’s possible, if not probable, Dobes gets more than just a one-game trial to show he can parlay the success of his two AHL seasons into proving he can play in the NHL.
The six-foot-three, 215-pound goaltender went 24-18-6 and posted a .906 save percentage behind one of the youngest teams in the minors during the 2023-24 season, and he’s improved on that with a 9-3-1 record and .910 save percentage to start this one, making it plausible he’ll deliver with the Canadiens. Dobes has been steady, reliable and consistent, which is the opposite of what you’d say of Primeau so far this season.
The 25-year-old Primeau, who was taken 199th overall in 2017, looked like he was finally finding his best self at this level a season ago, posting a .910 save percentage through 23 appearances and coming on stronger with every performance down the stretch — particularly after the Canadiens ended their three-man rotation by moving Jake Allen to the New Jersey Devils at the trade deadline.
But this season, Primeau proved incapable of picking up from where he left off. His first start was a 6-4 loss to the Bruins at TD Garden, and you can’t help but wonder if the 6-3 loss to them there at the beginning of this month might have been his last start with the Canadiens.
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Not that another team will necessarily claim the New Jersey-born goaltender — who has a 4.70 goals-against average and .836 save percentage through 11 appearances this season and is in the final year of a contract that pays him $890,000 — if he hits waivers. But we wouldn’t entirely strike the possibility.
Primeau was a standout at Northeastern University before signing with the Canadiens at the end of his sophomore season. The six-foot-three, 205-pound goaltender put up very similar numbers in the AHL to the ones Dobes has authored in that league since leaving Ohio State, and he showed flashes of NHL ability while also playing under less-than-ideal circumstances throughout his time with the Canadiens. A team with a pressing need in net wouldn’t be completely out of place thinking he just needs a change of scenery, and one might consider giving him a shot, especially since he’s still only 25.
Montembeault was 28 days from his 25th birthday when the Canadiens claimed him from the Panthers. He came with just 25 games of NHL experience, and with ugly numbers and technical flaws that made it entirely questionable he could play in this league.
Montembeault was far from wiping that narrative away in his first season, but he’s since proven he’s a bona fide No. 1 goaltender in this league. And now one of the better ones, with his selection to Team Canada for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off supporting that argument.
The Becancour, Que., native has been mostly great through 28 appearances, but he needs a break here and there. Only Connor Hellebuyck and Juuse Saros have played as much as him this season, but they’re both used to that type of workload.
Montembeault, who’s never appeared in more than 41 games in an NHL season, isn’t.
We don’t think his workload will be dramatically lightened moving forward, but Dobes is being given an opportunity to show he can lessen it a bit.
The timing is right for that experiment. The Canadiens have a supercharged schedule before returning to the Bell Centre for a game on Jan. 6, and they’re hoping to build on their best stretch of hockey this season as they navigate their way through it.
It should come as no surprise they’re turning to Dobes instead of Primeau now to help them do it.
