Jakub Dobes and the Canadiens backup goalie situation

Jakub Dobes had quite the introduction to the NHL, brought in for the relief of Samuel Montembeault, who started ten games in a row through the month of December. To put it bluntly, the Habs desperately needed help.

Dobes delivered. Earning a 4-0 shutout in his debut against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers in Florida. Needless to say, the hockey world took notice. And how could you not? Dobes continued, winning the next four of his starts, but most importantly against cup-contending teams.

Dobes’s numbers would soon fall back to earth, finishing the season with a 7-4-3 record and a .909 save percentage, still respectable numbers but not the blistering pace he started off on.

So what can Habs fans expect from the 24-year-old from Czechia entering the 2025-2026 season? To predict, we must first answer a few questions, and to answer the first question, we must ask a question of another goaltender: Kaapo Kahkonen.

The 29-year-old Kahkonen has already had plenty of NHL experience, 140 games since the 2019-2020 season, primarily with the Wild and the Sharks, racking up 49 wins and 68 losses with a .898 save percentage. The other key detail is that he is on a one-year, one-way contract, meaning he would have to clear waivers to go to Laval.

Do I truly think Kahkonen will take the full-time backup position from Dobes? It seems unlikely, but in the topic of goalie depth, it is worth discussing to give context to where Dobes sits.

Now to Dobes himself.

To put it bluntly, if the Canadiens are to make the playoffs, Dobes needs to win more games. The whole reason Dobes was brought up was the unreliability of Cayden Primeau, forcing
Montembeault into the aforementioned ten-game gauntlet before the Christmas break. It’s not just for the standard reasons that a netminder must be consistent and reliable. Dobes will be put to frequent use as the Habs have 17 back-to-back games on the docket this season, including 4 back-to-backs between November 28th to December 14th. He will (most likely) play almost as many games purely in a back-to-back setting as he did the entirety of games last season.

Now the $965,000 question: can Dobes pull it off? My argument would be that he hasn’t shown any reason that he can’t handle the pressure. Exhibit A would obviously be his five-game win streak. I feel exhibit B is more important, being thrust into the middle of a Stanley Cup Playoff game than being tasked to carry on the rest of the series. While he didn’t win any of those games, he certainly put up a competitive effort that would be hard to criticize.

While I won’t put a specific number as my prediction for Dobes this season, I will predict him to start in net with the Habs, barring something unfortunate in pre-season, as he has more than earned that right. I also predict he will, in fact, win significantly more games. Not just because the volume of games he will play will go up, but with a hopefully more consistent D-core in front of him, combined with his own experience, I have full confidence his play will improve.