Rocket: it’s okay if Jacob Fowler wasn’t Carey Price in the playoffs

The Canadiens wanted Jacob Fowler to sign his entry-level contract starting this summer only to allow him to finish his season in the AHL. And that’s exactly what happened.

This would give him a lot more playing time than he’d had in the Montreal playoff race.

Kent Hughes managed to convince him to go down, and eventually, due to circumstances (Samuel Montembeault’s injury), Fowler started the playoffs as a starter.

He won all three games against Cleveland in the Rocket’s first series in 2025. It was thanks to him that the Rocket went on to the next level.

After that, he hit a wall against the Americans, and it was thanks to Cayden Primeau that the Rocket made it to the Eastern finals. And once there, it was the entire club, led by Primeau, that hit a wall.

Fowler finished games #2 and #3 in addition to playing game #4. He didn’t do badly.

In the end, he won his last game on May 6, but by the end of the playoffs he had become the man to trust. It’s been a strange journey… due in part to the collapse of Cayden Primeau, who hasn’t exactly recreated the magic of 2022.

In eight games, Fowler finished with a 3-3 record, a 2.48 average and a .902 efficiency rate. Not bad for a young goalie behind a young team.

Has he been perfect? No. But he did what he had to do and got his feet wet to be ready for next season, when he should – if all goes well – be the man coach Pascal Vincent trusts in Laval.

Of course, in an ideal world, Fowler would have saved the Rocket’s season and done what Carey Price did: win the Calder Cup in his first AHL season.

But Price was exceptional. We shouldn’t have based our expectations on that.

Like all the other youngsters who have brought the Rocket this far (including David Reinbacher, who could well be starting next season in the NHL), Fowler has learned. He’s learned from the good times, but also from his club’s mistakes… including this one.

We’ll be talking about that one for a long time.

#Rocket Jacob Fowler on winning goal

“You knew it would be a sloppy break like that. I got to make a read off him and when you want to get back into a series, that’s something I got to be better on, learn from it, and hopefully not make that mistake again.”

#GoRocket #AHL… pic.twitter.com/bp1om2qlYx

– Chris G (@ChrisHabs360) June 4, 2025

Fowler may take the blame for this one, but we all agree that he played the good teammate in front of the media. This mistake is mainly his team-mate’s.

The American knows what to expect next year, when he starts the pro season. That was the goal of the exercise… even if winning wouldn’t have hurt the Rocket, we agree.

extension

Let’s play bonding games for fun.

I know the Lightning organization already has a few goalies under contract for next season, but would you be totally surprised to see Cayden Primeau playing in the Lightning organization in 2025-2026?

After all, not only is it conceivable that Pascal Vincent could move to Tampa Bay for next season, but Joël Bouchard is the coach in Syracuse.

I’ll say.