You know the hockey season is really over for a team when the players take to social media to thank fans for their season. Over the last few days, this is what the Montreal Canadiens [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] players, including goaltender Jakub Dobes, have been doing. The Czech masked man knows how to please the masses; he took to his Instagram to thank fans and vowed the Canadiens would be back even stronger next season, but he did it in French. Jakub Dobes' Instagram post. While there’s room for Dobes to improve in the regular season statistically speaking, it would be hard for him to top his playoff performances. With the first line struggling to find the back of the net at even strength, it’s the goaltender’s performance that has allowed the Habs to make it to the third round. Canadiens’ Gallagher Given Permission To Speak To Other Teams [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-gallagher-given-permission-to-speak-to-other-teams] Canadiens Report Card Top Six Edition [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-report-card-top-six-edition] Canadiens Entertain At The Combine [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-entertain-at-the-combine] It will be interesting to see how the offseason unfolds in net for Montreal. In an ideal world, they would start the season with a goalie tandem rather than a trio. Samuel Montembeault said that he wants to turn over a new leaf and start afresh, but he stopped short of saying he wanted to do that elsewhere. Still, one has to believe that given the nature of his struggles last season, a fresh start in a market that isn’t as high-pressure as Montreal would probably be better for him. There aren’t many impact goalies on the market this summer, and there are teams that will be looking to improve in net. With a $3.15 M cap hit for just one season, it could be tempting for a team in need to roll the dice on Montembeault, while the Canadiens could go forward with their pair of young netminders. From what we’ve seen last season, moving on from Montembeault would be an addition by subtraction. When training camp starts, Dobes will have the inside lane for the number one role, but the Canadiens will likely want Jacob Fowler to see a fair bit of action. They need him to do so to keep developing properly. A 52-32 split between Dobes and Fowler would make sense given that the season will now comprise 84 games. Keeping Montembeault around would likely hinder their development, and Kent Hughes has been clear in the past about not wanting to block young players’ path with veterans. Furthermore, this will be the last year of Dobes’ ELC, and the team needs to take a long, hard look at both goaltenders to determine how it wants to proceed. Fowler has always been seen as the Canadiens’ goalie of the future, but does Dobes’ performance this postseason change that? Perhaps not, but if they want to move him in the future, they need to establish a fair price. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow Karine on X @KarineHains [https://x.com/KarineHains] Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/karinehains.bsky.social] and Threads @karinehains [https://www.threads.net/@karinehains]. Bookmark The Hockey News Canadiens' page [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/] for all the news and happenings around the Canadiens. Join the discussion by signing up to the Canadiens' roundtable [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens] on The Hockey News. Subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I].
