Runoff: A big sign that Samuel Montembeault has made the team

On this Sunday afternoon, we were all waiting to see which players would be placed on waivers before the start of the regular season on Tuesday.

Teams have until 5:00 p.m. on Monday to submit their final rosters for the start of the season, and there are a few questions surrounding the Habs' final lineup.

Although we still don't know the fate of the young players exempt from waivers—such as Florian Xhekaj, David Reinbacher, and Jacob Fowler, among others—we can at least draw one conclusion.

Here are all the Habs players placed on waivers today:

The Canadiens have placed the following players on waivers with the intention of loaning them to the Laval Rocket:

A. Belzile, B. Berard, K. Kahkonen, H. McKown, S. Pastujov, S.…

— Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) September 27, 2026

There aren't many surprises on this list, let's be honest, but the fact that Samuel Montembeault wasn't placed on waivers leads us to believe that the Habs will want to start the season with the Jakub Dobes–Samuel Montembeault duo.

Given Montembeault's performance in camp, it was to be expected that the Habs would keep the veteran on the roster: he seems to have found his footing again.

Let's also remember that the Habs had said they wanted to start the season with just two goalies.

We can therefore infer that Fowler will start the season in the AHL, which isn't a bad thing. He'll get plenty of playing time and dominate at that level. If either goaltender gets injured, or if one is traded (which is much more likely to be Montembeault), Fowler will be ready to make the jump.

Given the camp Montembeault had, this is excellent news for the Habs: for now, they've reclaimed their No. 2 goaltender, but Monty has also regained value.

If a team were to lose one of its goalies during the season due to injury, the Habs would have an attractive goalie to offer and could get a better return than if they'd traded him this summer, for example.

Montembeault is an experienced goaltender, though he had a rough season last year. He seems to have found his footing again, and if he continues to perform this way throughout the season, teams could certainly take an interest in the Quebec native.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that Monty is in the final year of a contract worth $3.15 million per season. He's therefore an attractive, not-too-expensive option for the rest of the season, without teams having to worry about the future. They just need to focus on this season and fill the need they currently have.

More details to come…