Montreal Canadiens

Concerns Over Samuel Montembeault’s Leg (and the Canadiens Remain Silent)
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Concerns Over Samuel Montembeault’s Leg (and the Canadiens Remain Silent)
Credit: YouTube

Yesterday morning, as you already know, Samuel Montembeault skated with a few guys in Brossard. He also faced some shots from his teammates, which is good.

But there's a problem.

As Renaud Lavoie mentioned in his segment last night on JiC with TVA Sports, the goalie's leg is a cause for concern. Yesterday, on the ice, he kept lifting it—something few players do when they're 100% healthy.

Obviously, a goalie with a sore leg needs to take his time, and no one is saying otherwise. Especially when his team isn't in trouble and there's no rush to see him back on the ice.

So we should expect that he won't be back anytime soon.

Keep in mind that the goaltender could go play rehab games in Laval once he's ready, since he hasn't played a regular-season game since March.

And it's also worth noting that our colleague Maxime Truman recently said we shouldn't be surprised if Monty never plays another game with the Habs.

Except that… the Canadiens haven't announced anything in quite a while regarding the Quebec native's health.

In fact, exactly two weeks ago (October 31), the Canadiens indicated that Samuel Montembeault was being evaluated on a day-to-day basis as he worked his way back to fitness.

Since then, the Montreal Canadiens have not provided an update on the goaltender, who does not appear to be very close to returning to action.

In fact, we can now use the plural form of “weeks” since the Canadiens' last update regarding Samuel Montembeault. That update described him as day-to-day.

According to the new rules put in place by the Canadiens, we must assume that Monty hasn't suffered a setback, that his injury hasn't worsened, and that he won't miss much more time than expected.

Because according to the Canadiens' official rules, that's what needs to be considered to warrant an update.

Remember that the Canadiens announced on October 9 that Monty would be out for 10 to 14 days, before describing him as day-to-day on October 31. Then, yesterday, his leg was still hurting enough that he tried to shake off the pain several times.

It's up to you to tell me whether you think the Canadiens are following their own rules.

It's also worth noting that Ivan Demidov should be the subject of an update, but the Canadiens prefer not to announce anything in his case. Silence reigns for now.

Let's also remember that an update doesn't have to be exhaustive.

Extension

At the start of the rebuild, it didn't matter if players missed more time than expected since winning wasn't the club's priority. Then, last year, the club was relatively spared from major injuries.

The 2026–2027 season therefore represents the new administration's first real test in terms of how it handles injuries in the media. It's up to you to tell me if you're satisfied with the results.