Montreal locked up the guy who backstopped them to two Game 7 wins on the road this spring. Jakub Dobes signed a three-year extension worth $5,357,575 per season, according to the Canadiens. The cap hit is $5.357 million.
Dobes didn’t start the playoffs as the starter. He took over for Sam Montembeault during the 2025 postseason and never gave the net back. The Canadiens won series against Tampa Bay and Buffalo, both in a deciding Game 7 on the road, with Dobes in net for every minute.
He sounded genuinely amped about the deal, and not just because of the money.
“It’s really exciting for me and my family,” Dobes said, per The Athletic. “Where I come from in the Czech Republic, it’s a lot of money. I’m really happy, especially for my family, that we have this all together. I cannot really get satisfied. 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 with Montreal.”
That quote says a lot. He doesn’t sound like a guy who’s about to get comfortable. He sounds like someone who wants to keep proving something.
From Fifth-Round Pick to Franchise Tender
Dobes was a fifth-round pick in 2020, 136th overall. That’s deep. Most guys picked there never play an NHL game. Dobes debuted in 2024-25, took the starting job in 2025-26, and by this spring he was the guy the Canadiens trusted in the highest-leverage moments of the season.
Montreal also just locked up forward Ivan Demidov to a long-term extension. So GM Kent Hughes is putting pieces together. Dobes is part of that core now, and at $5.357 million per year, he’s not exactly breaking the bank for a goalie who just led a team to the Eastern Conference Final.
The Canadiens lost that series to Carolina. But they made it back to the playoffs for the second year in a row, which is more than a lot of teams can say. And they’ve got a goaltender signed through the next three seasons who has shown he can handle the pressure of a road Game 7.
Not bad for a fifth-rounder.
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