Do the Montreal Canadiens Have a Star Goaltender in Jacob Fowler?

The Montreal Canadiens organization has been the home for some of the greatest goaltenders in National Hockey League history. From Georges Vezina to George Hainsworth to Jacques Plante to Ken Dryden to Patrick Roy and Carey Price, the latter of whom will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in less than two weeks.

While he's still far, far away from having his name mentioned among those above, Montreal Canadiens fans have been getting a pretty good idea at who their next star goaltender will be - Jacob Fowler.

On Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues, Jacob Fowler put himself into some pretty elite company in franchise history after picking up a 46-save shutout to extend the Canadiens' winning streak to three games.

"I mean Fowler, he was incredible tonight. Several spectacular second saves and I didn’t think we shot it at him, I thought he made the saves." St. Louis Blues head coach Jim Montgomery said to reporters postgame.

Do the Montreal Canadiens Have a Star Goaltender in Jacob Fowler?

Coming into the 2026-27 season, there was a ton of debate on where Jacob Fowler would start the year and a lot of it hinged on whether or not Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes was able to move on from Samuel Montembeault. That didn't happen, leaving Fowler to begin the season with the American Hockey League's Laval Rocket, a move that he wasn't entirely thrilled with, but understood.

However, an injury in practice to Samuel Montembeault earlier this month led to the Canadiens calling up Jacob Fowler from Laval and the 21-year-old netminder hasn't looked back since.

In seven games since being called up, Fowler has a 6-1-0 record, a 1.54 goals against average (4th in the NHL), a .942 save percentage (2nd in the NHL) and two shutouts (T-2nd in the NHL).

Fowler has cemented himself as an early-season favourite for the Calder Memorial Trophy and don't be surprised if he's named Rookie of the Month for October by the National Hockey League within the first few days of November. Along with that, again it's only late-October and things will change quite a bit between now and the end of the regular season, but based on how he's playing so far this season, Fowler has entered the early-season Vezina Trophy conversation, too.

Last night's shutout victory in St. Louis marked a big moment in Jacob Fowler's young career. The 2023 third rounder became just the third goaltender in Montreal Canadiens history under the age of 22 to win six games in a row, joining Rogie Vachon in 1967 and Carey Price in 2008.

Additionally, Fowler had the third-most saves in a shutout in franchise history, behind only Jacques Plante, who made 52 saves against Chicago in November 1955 and Samuel Montembeault, who made 48 saves in October 2024 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

With his extremely strong start to the 2026-27 season, it begs the question - do the Montreal Canadiens have a star goaltender in Jacob Fowler? Personally, I think so. Fowler has shown an ability to delivery at every level, whether that be the USHL, NCAA, the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship, AHL and now, in the NHL.

Goalies are unpredictable, however, but Jacob Fowler certainly has the it factor & calm demeanor needed to play for the Montreal Canadiens and be successful in one of the most high-pressure markets in all of the National Hockey League.

It's Jacob Fowler's crease for now, but there are going to be some interesting conversations that the Montreal Canadiens' coaching staff and management will need to have in the weeks ahead.

The biggest question will be how they'll manage the goaltending tandem. Jakub Dobes might not be off to the greatest start this season, but he's still a very important piece to this team and after signing a three-year contract extension worth $5.3 million annually over the summer, the Czech netminder certainly isn't going anywhere anytime soon. 

That being said, while they do want to keep riding with Jacob Fowler due to his hot start, they'll likely need to find a game or two to get Dobes into at some point soon. Sitting on the bench for an extended period isn't ideal for any goaltender and if Dobes wants to turn things around, Martin St. Louis will eventually need to give him that opportunity. It wouldn't shock me if Dobes is the starter for the final game of their road trip on Thursday night against the Dallas Stars.

Now for the other question, what will the Canadiens do once Samuel Montembeault returns from injury? The Canadiens have made it known that they have zero interest in running with a three-goalie system anymore and with Samuel Montembeault reportedly set to return in two weeks, according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, will Kent Hughes be able to find him a new home? Will he assign him to Laval for a conditioning stint to bide some time before needing to make a decision?

The easiest solution to the goaltending logjam would be to trade Samuel Montembeault when he's back from injury, but it takes two to tango and if there are no takers, the Canadiens may have no choice but to go with a three-goalie system for the time being. I don't see how the Canadiens can send Fowler to Laval after the way he's been playing and obviously, Jakub Dobes isn't being traded or can't go to the American Hockey League without clearing waivers.

We'll see what the next few weeks have in store for the Montreal Canadiens and their goaltending situation, but it goes without saying the organization has a budding star between the pipes in Jacob Fowler.