jacob fowler is part of the Canadiens’ goaltending picture now because Jakub Dobes posted a 2.66 goals-against average and a.908 save percentage in 19 playoff games. Montreal reached the Eastern Conference final before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, and Dobes has already moved from surprise option to a real factor in the crease.
Dobes and the playoff run
“Just believing in myself. Trusting the process, I would say,” Dobes said when asked what powered his run. He also said, “For me, the sky’s the limit in my head,” and added, “I want to do whatever I possibly can to have the best career.”
The numbers matched the voice. Dobes handled 19 playoff games and finished with the same calm approach he described, then said, “I feel like this is just the beginning and, hopefully, I will continue to play like that next year, too.”
Marco Marciano and Dobes
Dobes’ rise came after the Canadiens hired Marco Marciano as goalie coach on Jan. 28 to replace Eric Raymond. In 19 regular-season games after Marciano was promoted from the AHL’s Laval Rocket, Dobes went 13-5-1 with a 2.57 GAA and a.914 save percentage.
He was direct about that relationship. “He’s unbelievable,” Dobes said of Marciano. “He’s done a lot and he had my back. I can’t thank him enough. He’s my guy.”
Dobes said the two were already aligned when Marciano arrived. “We’ve been together for a little while, so we know each other,” he said. “Everything was smooth from the day he arrived.”
That stability now carries into a sharper internal battle. Dobes, 25, earned the No. 1 job ahead of Samuel Montembeault and Jacob Fowler this season, and the Canadiens are expected to have a competition between Dobes and Fowler for the future starting job. Fowler was selected in the third round, 69th overall, of the 2023 NHL Draft and is 21 years old.
Canadiens crease competition
Dobes entered the organization as a fifth-round pick, 136th overall, in the 2020 NHL Draft and was the 13th goalie selected that year. He spent two seasons at Ohio State before moving into the pro picture, and his path has now put him in line for a summer of scrutiny rather than a quiet backup role.
Montembeault is 29 years old, and the Canadiens have already seen Dobes separate himself enough to seize the No. 1 job this season. What follows is straightforward: the next stretch in Montreal’s crease starts with a battle between a 25-year-old who posted playoff numbers and a 21-year-old prospect with first-round-caliber expectations attached to him by the way the job has been set up.
