Samuel Montembeault’s Laval conditioning stint raises questions about his future with the Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens announced that they were sending Samuel Montembeault down to the Laval Rocket for a conditioning stint. The move comes after the team confirmed that Jacob Fowler would be starting against the Philadelphia Flyers. If Fowler puts together a quality start, we may be seeing the beginning of the end of Montembeault’s time in Montreal.

The Canadiens have been struggling to get consistent goaltending play from Montembeault and Jakub Dobes, and decided to shake up their goalie room by calling up top prospect Fowler before their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It looked like Dobes might have been the odd man out, with the Czech goaltender acting as the third-string goalie in practice. For both of Fowler’s starts, it was Montembeault who was Fowler’s backup, but when the Canadiens played against the Edmonton Oilers on December 14th, it was Dobes who got the start.

Montembeault has not started a game since December 2nd and last appeared in a game on December 9th, coming in relief for Dobes during the 6-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. After having a career year last season, Montembeault looks like a shell of himself this season. The Quebec native has a career-worst .857 save percentage and 3.65 goals against average, which is the second worst of his career.

It felt like, early in the season, the Canadiens were trying to force starts to Montembeault in the hopes that he would find his game, but all that did was damage Dobes’ confidence, who was rolling to start the season, winning his first six starts. The team should have just rolled with the hot hand and let Dobes build on his great start, but instead, they created the goaltending situation they are in.

After the Canadiens' embarrassing loss to the Lightning, the team called up Adam Engstrom, Owen Beck, and Jacob Fowler. The Fowler call-up felt like a message to both Montembeault and Dobes that if they do not improve, the franchise has a young up-and-coming netminder ready to take their place. Fowler showed exactly that in his first career start against the Penguins with a 36-save performance. They rewarded the young netminder with another start two days later against the New York Rangers.

With it looking like the Canadiens are ready to move forward with the tandem of Fowler and Dobes, could we have seen Montembeault’s last start as a Canadien? He was sent down as a conditioning stint, which means he does not go through waivers. If Fowler and Dobes continue their strong play while he is with the Rocket, it may be time to trade the veteran netminder.

Finding a trade partner might be difficult, considering how poorly he has played this season. At the moment, it does not appear any franchise is in desperate need of goaltending help, which means the Canadiens might have to wait and see if any team suffers injuries. If not, the Canadiens might have to put Montembeault on waivers and let him finish the season in Laval before finding a trade partner in the offseason.

If this really is the end of the Montembeault era in Montreal, could we be seeing the start of a new one with Fowler establishing himself as the number one goalie for the Canadiens?