The Montreal Canadiens have signed Boston College goaltender Jacob Fowler to a 3 year entry level deal the club announced on Friday.
Fowler will join the AHL’s Laval Rocket for the remainder of the season, and will be under team control through the 2027-28 NHL campaign. The 20 year old posted a 25-7-2 record, along with a .940 save percentage and a 1.63 goals-against average this season at BC.
Originally taken in the 3rd round of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft by Montreal, Fowler posted video game like numbers in the NCAA ranks, earning back to back Hockey East Goaltender of the Year awards in the process. His GAA (2nd), shutout total (7), and SV% (3rd) all ranked in the top three amongst all collegiate goaltenders this season.
Per PuckPedia, Fowler will carry a cap hit of $923K per season. His full contract breaks down as follows:
2025-26: $775K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played bonus
2026-27 + 2027-28: $885K NHL salary, $95K signing bonus, $500K Schedule ’A’ performance bonus
Fowler made his junior debut with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms during the 2021-22 season. He would go on to post an 11-4-1 record and .927 save percentage through his first 18 USHL games. That mark continues to stand as the highest save percentage of any U18 goalie in USHL history, amongst qualifying goaltenders.
His sophomore season was even more impressive, as he went 27-9-4 with a 2.28 GAA and .921 SV% to go along with 5 shutouts. His efforts helped Youngstown capture the first Clark Cup in franchise history, taking home the USHL’s Goalie of the Year and Playoff MVP awards along the way.
Fowler will now join the league leading Laval Rocket (44-17-3-1) for their final 7 regular season games, and impending playoff run. In all likelihood, he will see a game or two of action down the stretch, and will serve as top notch back up option to incumbent starter Cayden Primeau.
The 25 year old Primeau has starred for Laval this season (19-2-1, 2.02 GAA, .922 SV%) but has struggled to find his footing at the NHL level. His career 3.69 GAA and .884 SV% at the NHL level is partially not being ready for the speed of the NHL game, and partially being on some leaky defensive teams during Montreal’s rebuild.
Nevertheless, between Sam Montembeault (28), Primeau (25), Jakub Dobes (23), and Fowler (20), Montreal has a plethora of exciting young talent between the pipes for years to come.
Photo: Ken Lund. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.