Jakub Dobes Becomes Montreal's Clear Workhorse as Sam Montembeault's Injury Brings Jacob Fowler Up From Laval

The Montreal Canadiens' crease changed shape this week. Sam Montembeault left Wednesday's practice with what appeared to be a right leg or groin injury, the club recalled Jacob Fowler from the AHL's Laval Rocket that afternoon, and Fowler started Thursday against Nashville. Montreal outshot the Predators by a wide margin and still lost 5-2 after a late collapse. Montembeault was still being evaluated with no timeline as of Friday, which leaves Jakub Dobes as the obvious workhorse for fantasy and DFS purposes.

That matters right away. Goalie starts are the most volatile input in daily fantasy and the most important number in any game total, and Montreal now has a starter with a rough opening week, a rookie backup with limited NHL experience and an injured veteran with no return date.

How the week unfolded

Montembeault had not played yet this season. Dobes started all three of Montreal's first games, and Thursday's home date with Nashville was widely expected to be Montembeault's first start. Instead, he went down during one of the final drills at Wednesday's practice and left the ice favoring his right side. Coach Martin St-Louis said only that he was being evaluated, and Montembeault was set to see a doctor on Thursday. He has not been placed on injured reserve, and reports describe him as day to day.

Fowler got the call and the start. Montreal took a 2-0 lead on goals from Nick Suzuki and Alex Newhook, then Nashville scored three times late: Alexander Kerfoot redirected an Adam Wilsby point shot, Matthew Wood tied it on the power play, and Ryan O'Reilly won it on another power play with 3:16 remaining, 59 seconds after a Mike Matheson tripping penalty. Adam Edstrom added two empty-net goals. Fowler finished with 15 saves on 18 shots against, while Juuse Saros made 32 saves at the other end. The loss dropped Montreal to 1-2-1.

Dobes' opening week

Dobes has not been sharp. He beat Toronto 3-2 on opening night, lost in overtime in Pittsburgh, and then allowed five goals on 33 shots in a 6-4 home loss to Carolina, with the Hurricanes' sixth goal going into an empty net.

Through three starts he sits at 1-1-1 with a 4.43 goals-against average, having allowed 13 goals on 91 shots. That is a small sample, and it follows a strong 2025-26 in which he went 29-10-4 with a .901 save percentage and then held up in the playoffs. Montreal signed him to a three-year extension in July, and the organization clearly views him as its starter.

What it means for fantasy and DFS

The short version: Dobes is the Montreal goalie to roster, and his volume is about to go up. With Montembeault out, Montreal's realistic options are Dobes and Fowler, and the coaching staff has every reason to lean on the more experienced of the two until the injury picture clears. Back-to-backs are the exception, and those are the nights to expect Fowler.

In season-long leagues, Dobes should stay in lineups as a volume starter. His ratios are a risk in the short term, but wins and saves follow starts, and few goalies outside the elite tier are guaranteed this kind of workload over the next week or two. Managers who streamed Montembeault in hopes of a timeshare should cut bait unless they have an IR slot open.

Fowler is a deep-league stash only. He made his NHL debut last season and was Montreal's playoff backup, so the organization trusts him, but he is not getting enough starts to matter in standard formats unless Dobes struggles badly.

In DFS, the call depends on the opponent each night. Montreal controlled play against Nashville and outshot them 34-18, which is the profile that keeps saves totals low for their goalie and wins attainable. The cleaner DFS angle is often the opponent's goalie: a team that outshoots its opponent heavily creates save volume at the other end, as Saros showed Thursday.

The Verdexed take

We read Montreal's 1-2-1 start as more noise than signal. Thursday's loss came after the Canadiens dominated territorially and gave up two late power-play goals, which is the kind of result that tends to even out. Dobes' save percentage is the variable most likely to regress upward, given his track record.

For bettors, the goalie confirmation is the whole game. On a night Dobes is confirmed, we lean toward backing Montreal at home at a reasonable price, because their shot share has been strong. On a night Fowler is confirmed, we would pass or lean toward the opponent's team total. Montreal goalie props should wait until Daily Faceoff or the team confirms the starter, usually after the morning skate.

What's next

Montreal's next game is at home this weekend, with schedule listings showing Detroit on Saturday, followed by a home date with Buffalo next week. The first real update on Montembeault should come once the doctor's evaluation is shared, and an injured reserve placement would signal an absence of at least a week. If that happens, Fowler stays with the big club and Dobes' workload becomes a near certainty for the next several games.

Verdexed's game probabilities are at /nhl/predictions and the nightly slate breakdown is at /blog/nhl-picks-2026-10-09. Before any lineup lock involving Montreal, confirm the starter: right now, Dobes is the start and Fowler is the backup with spot-start upside only.