Big Year Ahead For Carrier And Montembeault

Phillip Danault and Josh Anderson are not the only two veterans Montreal Canadiens playing in their contract year; Alexandre Carrier and Samuel Montembeault will also be playing for new deals when the puck drops on the season.

If Montembeault felt he put too much pressure on himself last year with the possibility of making Team Canada for the Olympics, one can wonder if playing for a new deal, or better yet, competing to play for a new deal, won’t have the same effect. The netminder is coming off a disastrous season, which saw him go down to the AHL on a conditioning stint, come back up to the NHL only to fail to perform again before being sent to the press gallery for the rest of the season and the playoffs in early March.

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Montembeault finished the season with a 10-8-4 record, a 3.43 goals-against average and a .872 save percentage. His fall from grace opened the door for Jakub Dobes to grab the starting job and for Jacob Fowler to graduate to the NHL.

At the end of the season media availability, Montembeault said he was ready to turn over a new leaf and get a fresh start, which he feels he can do in Montreal. So far, despite plenty of goaltender moves in the NHL, the Becancour native remains a member of the Canadiens.

With one year left at a very reasonable $3.15 million cap hit, one would have thought a team would be willing to take a chance on Montembeault, but there have been no takers so far. While he feels he can start again with the Habs, there is little doubt that Montembeault would be best served by joining a team that hasn’t got as crowded a crease. When training camp starts, he won’t be battling for the number one job but rather to prove to his teammates that last year’s collapse was a one-off and that he’s worthy of their confidence. That won’t be an easy task, with Dobes having signed a new three-year contract and Fowler seen as the goaltender of the future in Montreal.

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Perhaps he’ll be traded by the start of training camp, but wherever he is, he will need to prove that the real Montembeault isn’t the one who crashed out of the NHL last season.

Meanwhile, Alex Carrier will also need to have a big year on the blueline. The soon-to-be 30-year-old rearguard was a blessing for the Habs’ defence corps when he was acquired from the Nashville Predators for Justin Barron in the 2024-25 season. In both of his seasons with the Habs, he posted a 0.30 PPG pace, which would project to 25 points over an 82-game season. The difference this past season was how much higher his shooting percentage was. 12.5% of his shots found the back of the net, up from 3.7% the year before.

In an ideal world, Carrier is a bottom-pairing blueliner, but the lack of right-shot defenseman has meant he played in the wrong chair a lot this past year. The veteran is much more efficient when paired up with Mike Matheson, Kaiden Guhle and Lane Hutson than when he’s skating alongside Arber Xhekaj.

When training camp opens, expect David Reinbacher to be given every opportunity to make the Canadiens this season. The fact that Hughes has been unable to find a real top-four right-shot defenseman in the free-agent or trade markets makes it all the more important that the Austrian fifth-overall pick in 2023 live up to his potential.

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Chances are the Canadiens would ease him into the third pairing, but he would ideally prove he can handle more and pass Carrier on the depth chart. If that is the case, Carrier could still be given an extension, since other right-shot options in the Habs’ system may need more time to develop in the AHL. Bryce Pickford, fresh off a season for the ages in the WHL, had to undergo shoulder surgery, which should delay the start of his pro career with the Laval Rocket, while Bogdan Konyushkov will be playing in Russia this year and will likely need to adapt to the North American style of play.

Adam Engstrom is also knocking on the Canadiens’ door, and while he’s a left-shot blueliner, he has shown that he can play on his off-side as well. Unless the Canadiens use him to fill another need via trade, he may very well push a defenseman out of Montreal. Who could that be? Well, it depends on how Martin St-Louis chooses to deploy him. One thing is certain, however: Carrier will need to have a big year to earn a new contract with the Canadiens given how many youngsters are chomping at the bit to get their shot in the NHL.