We felt him coming. And now, it’s indisputable. Jacob Fowler is no longer a promising hope: it is a direct threat.
By winning with authority his first two professional games in series with the Rocket de Laval, the young prodigy of 20 years has just launched a scathing message in the management of the Montreal Canadiens. He is ready.
Ready for the National League. Ready to assume responsibilities. Ready to push a veteran towards the exit. And unfortunately for Samuel Montembeault, all the arrows point in his direction.
Fowler has not only won two games. He dominated. He calmed the game. He breathed serenity. He played like an NHL-READY goalkeeper.
All Rocket coaches are unanimous: you don’t even see its 20th anniversary. Its calm, its technique, its positioning, its energy … it’s high caliber.
The figures are there to confirm it. Imagine.
Match 1: 23 stops on 25 shots – efficiency rate of 0.920
Match 2: 20 stops on 20 shots – Perfect efficiency rate of 1,000
He already dominates in series in the American League while the NHL spotlights intensify in Montreal. And during this time, Samuel Montembeault treats a muscle tear in the groin and sees the hockey planet turning without him. It hurts. And it changes everything.
For months, injustice has been shouting in the Montembeault file. He was one of the pillars of the miraculous season of the Canadian. He played more than 62 games.
But when he should have been in the process of living his consecration – a first spring in playoffs as a number one goalkeeper – the fate reserved a cruel injury to him. An injury that takes him out of the photo. And now a phenomenon called Jacob Fowler takes on the whole light.
We can never say it enough: Samuel Montembeault’s contract, negotiated by Paul Corbeil, has become one of the worst agent of the year.
At $ 3.15 million for three seasons, while its return could have worth $ 5 million per year over five years, Montembeault lost more than ten million.
This contract attached it to Montreal at low prices, and could now make it a target of choice on the transaction market.
A reliable, Quebec guardian, recognized for his personality and his professionalism, paid at a discount for two more seasons? A club like the EDMONTON WEARE OILERS.
The Kings series was tense. Stuart Skinner flanked, again. Calvin Pickard kept the fort in a shady way, but everyone knows that it is not a lasting solution.
Edmonton is on a Stanley Cup mission, and their window begins to close. Leon Draisaitl is entering his last year of contract. Connor McDavid is at the top of his career. And yet, they still don’t have a trusted guardian.
Samuel Montembeault is there. Available. Paid $ 3.15 million. Cheap. Quebecer, humble, appreciated by all. Capable of stealing a match. Capable of playing 55-60 games. The perfect profile for an aspirant club.
And if the oilers collapse in the second round, Ken Holland will have to move. And why not in a scenario where Ryan Nugent-Hopkins could be sacrificed to free up course and rebalance the training?
Nugent-Hopkins is exactly what the Canadian needs: a left-handed center, Two-way, veteran, capable of producing, playing on the digital advantage, supporting Nick Suzuki and stabilizing the top-6.
He has four years of contract to him at $ 5.125 million. He is 32 years old. He still proves this year that he is a series player. He may no longer fit in Edmonton’s time line, but he would perfectly frame in Montreal. The Canadian has space. And an opportunity. We will have to see if Kent Hughes is ready to sacrifice Montembeault in this scenario.
But what makes this scenario realistic is Jacob Fowler.
Since his signing of test contract with the Rocket, he does everything correctly. He is calm, smiling, involved. He gives confidence to everyone.
And there is a real mutual admiration between him and Marco Marciano, the goalkeeper coach in Laval. The organization protected it.
She did not want to burn a year of contract. She did not send it to Montreal to create a crisis with three guards. Kent Hughes was firm.
And today he is rewarded. Fowler sets fire, and he could very well win the Calder Cup. It is not exaggerated. It would be the perfect scenario for him.
And while Jacob Dobes had very good times with CH in series, even if the defeat was cruel, he remains a guardian already established for the NHL. He held the fort. He won crucial matches. He was worthy of the role of number two, even better.
It is therefore simple: Fowler, Dobes, Primeau (soon exchanged in Philadelphia or elsewhere). There is no longer any chair for Montembeault. And yet it was he who saved the season.
There is the drama there.
Montembeault held the fort. He played injured. He faced criticism. He resisted doubts. He took the team on his shoulders. And now that he is away, rumors are intensifying. It’s cruel, but it’s the reality of sport. We do not keep a veteran at $ 3.15 million per year if two young people can deliver the goods to $ 925,000.
The groin injury, which he suffered in series, could well be the final turning point in his story in Montreal. He will not even be able to come back this summer, even if CH was going far.
His name will circulate at the end of the season. And he knows. His family knows it. And his agent, Paul Corbeil, will have to carry this weight: that of not having negotiated better when it was the time of “cash in”.
Jacob Fowler is on fire.
Montembeault is stuck.
Kent Hughes has the cards.
And now everything is at stake. To the point of finally obtaining our left -handed center?
Let us pray to the sky …
