Jakub Dobes enters Canadiens’ second full season with starting-job expectations

Jakub Dobes is heading into his second full NHL season with Montreal Canadiens goaltending expectations aimed squarely at him. The backdrop is what happened last year, when he began the campaign behind the Canadiens’ established options and then, over the course of the season, worked his way into the playoff conversation. By the time Montreal reached postseason play, Dobes had wrestled the starting role away from Samuel Montembeault and, according to Yahoo Sports, outdueled Jacob Fowler to earn the nod when it mattered most.

For Canadiens fans, the storyline is not only about earning starts. It is about what Dobes showed during the year, because his development came with sharp turns. Yahoo Sports characterizes the rookie season as eventful, including an extended stretch of ups and downs and a crisis of confidence at one point. That same report also notes that Dobes became highly emotional in the process, which led to him taking a break from media coverage, underscoring how mentally demanding the learning curve can be for a young goalie.

The tangible on-ice results were still significant. Yahoo Sports reports Dobes finished the regular season with 29 wins and then added nine more victories in the playoffs. Those numbers do not, by themselves, settle the question of whether he can be a stabilizing long-term answer, but they do place him among the netminders who carried real weight in Montreal’s run to the postseason phase.

This season’s core question is whether Dobes can translate a playoff opportunity into consistent command during the full stretch of NHL games. In the Canadiens’ goalie room, the report frames last year as a competition that did not simply create a “backup who performed well once.” Instead, the starting job became a moving target late in the year, and Dobes’ playoff role suggests the organization believed he could handle the pressure of elimination hockey.

The other reason this matters is organizational timing. Montreal’s current goaltending path is tied to its broader ability to develop young players and convert potential into repeatable performance. A goalie who earns the postseason start has leverage in that development plan, because it affects how the coaching staff structures trust, workload, and in-game confidence from one month to the next.

For Dobes personally, the next step is clarity. A “second full season” is where expectations become more concrete, not because the league demands perfection, but because the advantage of being new and unpredictable narrows after the first year. If he can build steadier performances from start to finish, he reduces the need for constant internal debate about who should start. If the volatility returns, the Canadiens will likely revisit the same question they faced last season.

What to watch in the months ahead is whether Dobes’ level of play holds when games get routine, not only when they become high stakes. Montreal’s summer-to-season transition will also be important in how the team approaches the crease, since the report makes clear the playoff decision came after a genuine internal competition rather than an automatic projection. Dobes does not need to be flawless to validate last year, but he will need to look like the goalie who can keep his game under control long enough for confidence to become the default.

In short, Dobes’ second season has the feel of a test of substance. The Canadiens already have evidence that he can win and handle playoff pressure. The remaining question is whether that confidence and execution can become consistent enough to end the “prove it” phase and start a longer stretch of stability in Montreal’s net.