The Montreal Canadiens have two exciting young goalies in Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler. With this, the future between the pipes for the Canadiens is certainly promising. While this is the case, they also have a veteran goalie in Samuel Montembeault who has become the odd man out. Because of this, the 29-year-old goalie is being viewed as a trade candidate to watch during the summer. Montembeault was among the names featured on Matt Larkin's latest off-season trade board for Daily Faceoff [https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/nhl-trade-board-rankings-candidates-offseason-auston-matthews-brady-tkachuk-darnell-nurse-mason-mctavish-vincent-trocheck]. "With just a year remaining on his deal and only a season removed from being a pretty effective starter, Montembeault could warrant a buy-low offer," Larkin wrote. With the Canadiens having Dobes and Fowler ahead of Montembeault on their depth chart, it would not be shocking in the slightest if they traded him during the off-season. This is especially so when noting that Montembeault has a $3.15 million cap hit, which is far too high for a third-string goaltender. With this year's free agency class not being the strongest, it is certainly possible that Montembeault will generate trade interest this summer. Although he had an ugly 2025-26 season, his past success makes him a bounce-back candidate to watch for next season. Just last season, he had a 31-24-7 record, a 2.82 goals-against average, and a .902 save percentage in 62 games. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if the Canadiens end up trading Montembeault this off-season.
