The Montreal Canadiens' goaltending may be in a sad state of affair right now, but it's not time to call-up Jacob Fowler yet.
The Montreal Canadiens have lost their last five games, and nothing seems to be working on this team right now, but nothing is worse than the state of the goaltending. Samuel Montembeault has been struggling since the get-go, while Jakub Dobes started hot, but lost his momentum after being sat for too long. Now, both goaltenders are struggling, and their confidence has taken a big hit.
Make no mistake, this is not a repeat of last season’s situation. Back then, Cayden Primeau had lost his confidence, but Montembeault was doing just fine, and when Dobes was called up, the Habs got a boost. This year, though, the issue doesn’t rest solely on the goaltenders’ shoulders. As Martin St-Louis said in his post-game press conference, the team is not helping its masked men.
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The defensive play is inconsistent, and until that’s addressed, calling Jacob Fowler up and throwing him to the wolves seems like a terrible idea. This is not the kind of situation a young goaltender should be playing his first NHL game in.
Kaapo Kahkonen was signed as an insurance policy this summer and as someone who could challenge Dobes at camp for the role of backup, but the young Czech won that duel hands down. It would make no sense to send Dobes, the goaltender who has had the best season so far, down to Laval and replace him with Kahkonen.
So what’s the answer for now? Leave Fowler alone and let him develop with the Laval Rocket. He is not the answer, for right now anyway. This team needs to go back to doing the things it did so well early in the season. Then, if the goalies don’t find their footing, it will be time to reassess, but rushing the prospect everyone agrees will be your number one goaltender somewhere down the line would be ill-advised; things are just too messy right now.
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