Jacob Fowler Contract: A Potential Wrinkle In The Canadiens Plans

Montreal Canadiens fans are expecting the team to soon announce an entry-level contract for top goaltender prospect Jacob Fowler.

But according to Cam Robinson, there’s a chance Fowler may end up heading back to Boston College for a third season.

Nothing official, but there is some decent smoke out there that Jacob Fowler (MTL) is leaning towards returning to Boston College for a junior season.

The 20 year old posted a 25-7-2 record with a .940 SV% this year.

— Cam Robinson (@Hockey_Robinson) April 1, 2025

I was also told Fowler was considering a return to the NCAA, which lines up with what Robinson has been hearing, but we have to remember this is perfectly normal when it comes to contract negotiations for a top college player. I hear a lot of things, and very few of them come to fruition. That doesn’t mean they’re all false, they may have been accurate at the time, but such is life when discussing situations that are still unfolding.

Before we discuss the pros and cons of staying in college, we should note that a third season in the NCAA would not lead to Fowler potentially becoming an unrestricted free agent by the end of the year. That would only come into play if he’s there for a four-year stint.

NCAA Value

As previous discussed, Jacob Fowler enjoyed two very solid seasons in the NCAA with the Boston College Eagles. However, seeing as Trey Augustine, another top-rated goaltender picked in 2023, is heading back to spend a third year playing college hockey, we would be hard-pressed to argue that Fowler is beyond such a decision.

Goaltenders take time to develop. The slow cooker strategy, set it and forget, often leads to impressive results, whereas rushing them tends to backfire. We all know what happened to Cayden Primeau after he was rushed into professional hockey. We also know that Jakub Dobes only spent two years with the Ohio State Buckeyes, and his save percentage is now below .900.

Simply put, despite fans lacking a little patience when it comes to goaltender development, there’s very little evidence that spending just two years as a goaltender in the NCAA can lead to excellent results in the NHL.

Fowler represents the next great goaltending hope for the Canadiens, and with that will come a certain pressure, as the team has a long history of exceptional netminders.

The franchise would be giving him a little more time to mentally prepare for such a difficult assignment by leaving him in the NCAA. It would also lead to an uptick in his workload, as the Eagles have lost a pair of talented players to the NHL, with Gabe Perreault and Ryan Leonard signing their entry-level contracts.

Don’t forget, Fowler faced on average 25 shots per night in the NCAA. That’s not an unreasonably low number, but it’s much lower than what he’d deal with in the AHL or NHL.

More NCAA saves, more starts, and more patience may be in order when discussing Jacob Fowler’s future.