Advanced Stats: Jakub Dobes Ranks Among the Top 3 Worst Goaltenders in the NHL This Season

Félix Forget
Advanced Stats: Jakub Dobes Ranks Among the Top 3 Worst Goaltenders in the NHL This Season
Credit: Arianne Bergeron/NHLI via Getty Images

Jakub Dobes isn't having a great season in goal for the Canadiens. The goaltender, who was the hero of the last playoffs, has struggled to recreate the magic of last spring since the start of this season.

A 1-2-2 record, a 4.47 goals-against average, and a save percentage of .842: that's… far from good.

Obviously, this is far from reassuring for a guy who just signed a contract extension. But beyond the traditional statistics, it's interesting to look at what the advanced metrics say about his start to the season.

And when you look at them, you see that Dobes, based on his above-expected saves (specifically, how many shots he stopped that should have gone in given the quality of the opponents' shots), is the third-worst goaltender in the league since the start of the year.

Only Kevin Lankinen and Dustin Wolf (who are truly having miserable seasons) are performing worse than the Canadiens' goalie.

According to advanced statistics, Dobes has allowed 6.2 more goals than would have been expected based on opponent shots. That's pretty appalling.

Especially since it's worth noting that during the last playoffs, Dobes was historically good in this very same statistic. We know he's capable of it, but so far in 2026–27, it hasn't shown up.

For his part, Jacob Fowler is doing quite a bit better. He's stopped 2.1 more goals than expected, which ranks him 21st in the league. It's important to remember that this is a cumulative statistic: since he has fewer starts than many goalies in the league, it's normal for him to rank a bit lower than players who have twice as many starts as he does.

If he continues to perform well, he's likely to climb the rankings. And we'll have to hope that Dobes, sooner or later, also manages to turn things around.


In a Nutshell

– Hey, guys.

– That's right.

– Interesting.

facebook icon Share twitter icon Tweet linkedin icon Share
Copied!