Will there be a battle for the CH number 1 goalkeeper position very soon?

If the performances of Jakub Dobes make the eyes of many observers widen, those of Samuel Montembeault rather raise eyebrows these days.

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Even though he won a place on the Canadian team that will participate in the 4 Nations Showdown, the Quebecer is having a roller coaster season so far, and the statistics prove it. The 7-3 defeat suffered at the hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday was the sixth occurrence of the campaign where CH’s number 1 goaltender allowed five or more goals in a game. All of this is added to seven other clashes punctuated by four conceded goals, which is not particularly worthy of the Vezina Trophy winners.

Montembeault is also having trouble this month despite a solid game against the Dallas Stars on January 11, a 2-1 shootout loss during which he made 35 saves. Until now, he has maintained a goals against average of 3.61 and an efficiency rate of .871. In these two statistical columns, he is not in the top 50 in the National Hockey League.

In 2024-2025, number 35 is doing well within a club that has had an atrocious start, but it will need to show more consistency. His average is 2.98, and his percentage is just under .900. If it is difficult to make justified comparisons with Dobes due to the low sampling of the rookie’s games, we must still remember the dazzling numbers (0.98 average and .963 percentage before Sunday’s game against the New York Rangers) of the goaltender recalled from the Laval Rocket during the holidays.

What will St. Louis do?

With the rather limited schedule of the CH these days, alternation between the posts is probably the possible option. The team also faces the Tampa Bay Lightning, Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils this week. And the rest doesn’t bode easy with visits from the Winnipeg Jets and the Minnesota Wild on January 28 and 30.

However, could head coach Martin St-Louis possibly bet on the man most “on fire” when the home stretch begins after the 4 Nations Showdown? Everything remains possible, but CH will need two very fit goalkeepers to reach the playoffs for the first time since spring 2021.

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