The Edmonton Oilers may have their sights set on a new goalie from out East.

Sam Montembeault, who has spent five seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, has one year remaining in his contract, which carries an AAV of $3.15 million. He opened the 2025-26 season as the starting goalie, but that didn’t last long. Young Habs goalies Jakub Dobes and Jacob Fowler broke out, while Montembeault had a down year. He slipped to third on Montreal’s depth chart as the season progressed, making him a prime trade candidate.

Weeks ago, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Montembeault was likely done with the Habs.

“Samuel Montembeault is not going to play another game for the Montreal Canadiens and he’s under contract, so they’re going to have to move him,” said LeBrun on Oilers NOW with Bob Stauffer. “He’s a backup at this point, I think, for someone.”

Last season was one to forget for Montembeault. In 25 games, he posted a career-low .872 save percentage, with minus-3.69 goals saved above expected. His poor performance opened the door for Montreal’s young netminders to take over the crease. Both Dobes and Fowler outplayed Montembeault, and he was pushed up to the press box during the Canadiens’ playoff run.

Montembeault’s value has never been lower, and he’s never been more expendable to the Canadiens. But his performance last season was an outlier when you look at his numbers over the past few years.

For three consecutive seasons, at least 65 per cent of Montembeault’s starts were quality starts. That ranked him among the best goalies in the league at producing above-average performances. He also finished inside the top 15 in goals saved above expected all three seasons, despite spotty defence from the young Habs team in front of him. In 2024-25, he was one of the main reasons the Habs made a surprise trip to the playoffs.

Montembeault was a model of consistency in the final years of Montreal’s rebuild, so why did his performance tank last season? It’s hard to say without being close to the situation, but one theory is that fatigue took its toll after he played a career-high 62 regular-season games in 2024-25. Another is that the torn groin he suffered in the first round of the playoffs had lingering effects.

Whichever theory you subscribe to, there’s no question that something was off about Montembeault early on last season.

In October, Montembeault was arguably the worst goalie in the NHL. He never quite got back to his typical standard, but he was much more passable the rest of the season. He started making high-danger saves again and began slightly outperforming expected results. But by that point, it wasn’t good enough to just be passable. Dobes and Fowler had usurped him on the depth chart. They were younger, cheaper and better.

Things are shaping up for Montembeault to be a strong buy-low candidate for a team looking for a goalie this offseason. The Canadiens have no use for him anymore, and his value plummeted after the 2025-26 campaign. Yet most of Montembeault’s issues were concentrated within a disastrous one-month stretch. Other than that, he’s been at worst serviceable, and at best, one of the better starting goalies in the NHL over the last handful of years. It’s not every day a goalie with his track record is available at a discount.

I don’t doubt the Oilers are interested, but his $3.15 million cap hit could be tricky to navigate. Edmonton already has $7.935 million committed to their crease next season between Jarry and the Jack Campbell buyout. Would the Oilers be willing to spend over $11 million on their goalie tandem when both netminders are coming off down years? Or is the risk worth the potential reward?

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