The Montreal Canadiens have signed goaltender Samuel Montembeault to a 3 year contract extension worth $9.45M Friday.
Montembeault was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but will now be tied to the franchise through the 2026-27 campaign. His new deal will sport an AAV of $3.15M. That figure represents a sizable increase from his 2 year $2M contract he was currently playing on.
The 27 year old is 5-3-1 on the season with a .910 SV% and 2.73 GAA. The deal adds a degree of clarity in terms of the direction the club hopes to take in the crease moving forward. Up to this point, the Habs had been carrying 3 goaltenders on their roster as Jake Allen (33) and Cayden Primeau (24) had been splitting starts with Montembeault through the team’s first 23 contests.
Rumours of interest from Edmonton had begun picking up steam in recent weeks, as the Oilers continue to scour the NHL for any kind of goaltending help they can find. However the new deal likely means that if Montreal is to part ways with a goalie, it would likely be either Primeau or Allen at this point. Both would need to clear waivers in order to be sent down to the AHL, meaning their names will continue to be linked to netminder needy teams in the coming weeks.
Montreal has been looking for stability in the crease since former netminder Carey Price went on LTIR after starting only 5 games in 2021-22. Since then, the club has cycled through a variety of goaltenders with varying degrees of success.
A former 3rd round selection of the Florida Panthers (77th overall) back in 2015, Montembeault owns a career 3.42 GAA and .897 SV% across 113 NHL games. However the Becancour, QC native has come into his own recently as his GAA & SV% has improved in each of the last 3 years since joining Montreal.
Montembeault also captured gold with Team Canada at the IIHF World Championship this past May, registering 5 wins, a 1.42 GAA, and .939 SV% across 7 appearances.
The Canadiens are next in action Saturday at 7pm ET against the Detroit Red Wings.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: TheAHL. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.