For many goaltenders, a new season means a brand new mask, and Montreal Canadiens’ netminder Samuel Montembeault is no different. On Wednesday, airbrush artist Sylvie Marsolais shared a reel of her working on the Habs’ new starter bucket, and it looks fantastic.

She has yet to share a picture of the finished product, but it’s easy to see that Montembeault elected to go down the cyborg route like Carey Price did in the later years of his career. Of course, the colour scheme is red, white, and blue.

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On the upper side of the mask, it features a tribute to one of the Canadiens’ goaltending greats, the late Ken Dryden. It’s unknown at this point whether his presence had always been the plan or if the goalie opted to have him on there after the legendary netminder passed away on September 5.

The Canadiens’ players were put through medical and physical testing Wednesday in Brossard and will be hitting the ice for the first official practice and intra-squad scrimmage on Thursday. Team A is set to practice from 9:15 AM, while Team B and C will face off in a scrimmage at 10:30.

Montembeault will be hoping to have another good campaign as he has his sights set on the Milano Cortina Olympics in February. Of course, winning games for the Canadiens remains his top priority, but accomplishing that will help him book his ticket for this winter’s tournament.

It will be interesting to keep an eye on the Canadiens’ training camp to see who gets to back up the Becancour native this year. Jakub Dobes left a good impression last season, but the Canadiens did sign veteran netminder Kaako Khakonen to a one-year, one-way $1,150,000 contract. Unlike Dobes, the veteran is not waiver-exempt, so should the Canadiens elect to send him down to the Laval Rocket, he would have to clear waivers. The organization has also signed Kevin Mandolese to a PTO, more than likely as an insurance policy.

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