Canadiens Lock Up Dobes, Betting Big on Their Homegrown Crease

 

A fifth-round pick out of the 2020 draft. A backup entering the season behind Sam Montembeault. A goaltender most people outside of Montreal had barely heard of when October arrived.

By May, Jakub Dobes was carrying the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Final.

Montreal made it official Thursday, signing the 25-year-old Czech goaltender to a three-year extension through the 2029-30 season worth $16 million, carrying an average annual value of $5.36 million. It is the kind of number that would have seemed absurd a year ago and feels like a bargain now.

Dobes didn't just fill a roster spot this season. He took a job that wasn't supposed to be his and made it undeniably his own. He went 29-10-4 in the regular season with a 2.78 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage across 43 starts, leading all NHL rookie goaltenders in victories and earning a spot on the league's All-Rookie Team. Then the playoffs arrived and he got better. Nineteen starts. Nine wins. A 2.66 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage that held up all the way through the Eastern Conference Final. His nine playoff victories tie for third-most by a rookie goaltender in franchise history.

Those numbers aren't a fluke. They're the foundation of a contract.

What makes Dobes compelling isn't just the stat line. It's the composure. The six-foot-four, 215-pound frame gives him natural positional advantages, and the way he navigated a rookie season that asked him to do far more than anyone anticipated suggests a goaltender who processes pressure rather than absorbing it. Montreal threw him into deep playoff water and he swam.

When asked about the extension Thursday, Dobes cut straight to what matters to him.

"I'm really happy, especially for my family," he said. "I don't feel like the money is too important to me. I'm just happy I can focus on hockey and have a clear mind and try to win a championship in Montreal."

That is the language of a player locked in on something bigger than himself, which fits perfectly inside what Montreal is building. The Canadiens signed Ivan Demidov to an eight-year, $73.2 million extension just one day earlier. Dobes joins a long-term commitment list that already includes Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson. The organization isn't assembling pieces. It's building something with intention, and Dobes understood that.

"I'm just excited that everyone is on the same page," he said. "I feel like we have a lot of potential in the next couple of years to get something exciting done. I'm very proud of the guys, too. Everyone's staying here and keeping the same team together."

The path to this moment is worth appreciating. Dobes went 136th overall in 2020, spent a season with the Omaha Lancers in the USHL, two years at Ohio State, and turned pro in 2022-23. He made his NHL debut late in the 2024-25 season, barely a blip on the radar. Through 59 career regular-season games now, he owns a 36-14-7 record with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage.

Fifth-round picks aren't supposed to become the face of a franchise crease before their 26th birthday. Dobes didn't get that memo. Montreal is very glad he didn't.