Montreal Canadiens Role Profiles: Noah Dobson

Unfortunately for Dobson, it was that same shot blocking that got him injured late in the regular season, which affected his playoff performance significantly. Dobson blocked a shot off his hand in the Canadiens’ final home game of the regular season, which resulted in a thumb fracture that forced him to miss the final regular-season games and the first six matchups against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Round 1. 

Although he did return to the lineup, Dobson’s hand wasn’t healed 100%, and it showed when he handled the puck or took a shot. Even his shot blocks per game went down from 2.35 during the regular season to 2.07 blocks a night in the playoffs. Given he was already playing injured, it’s not that surprising that his shot blocks fell a bit in the postseason. 

The part of his game that was affected most by the injury was his offensive abilities. Dobson went from 12 goals and 47 points in 80 games in the regular season to just a single assist in 13 postseason matchups. Despite the injury really setting him back offensively, his past playoff performances have shown that he struggles in the playoffs in general. This upcoming season, he will need to show that he can keep his game to the same level in the playoffs as the regular season when healthy.

A lot of these playoff struggles could be related to Dobson not playing very physically, having just 62 hits in 80 games. This is one of the things that Dobson gets a lot of criticism for, as at 6-feet-4, 200 pounds, he has the body to be physical, but it just isn’t part of his game.

Luckily, he makes up for his lack of physicality with his great skating for his size which in turn helped make him a very effective two-way defenseman for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2025-26 campaign.

The upcoming 2026-27 season should be much of the same for Dobson, who at 26 years old is now in his prime and seems like a finished product in terms of development after showing that he can be a reliable defensive presence for the Canadiens. 

With that being said, expect him to be a mainstay on the penalty kill, where he will be counted on to block shots and could once again find himself among the league leaders. Meanwhile, he will also be tasked with being the quarterback of the power play on the second power play wave. While he may produce offence on the power play, the majority of his points should come at even strength. Last year, 39 of his 47 points came at even strength, whereas just seven of his points came on the man advantage. 

Dobson will likely play around 23-24 minutes a night, especially considering he’s just one of two regular right-handed defensemen on the Montreal Canadiens roster alongside Alexandre Carrier. 

Heading into training camp for the 2026-27 season, Dobson is currently expected to be paired with superstar Lane Hutson (whose Role Profile came out on Friday), as the duo hope to continue their two-way regular season dominance when they play together. Although having a more defensive partner like Kaiden Guhle could be more ideal so that the Montreal Canadiens can have their top two offensive defensemen on separate pairings, that would require another big top right-handed defenseman to come in to play with Hutson. There is a chance that prospect David Reinbacher can be that eventually at some point this season, but he likely won’t be ready to be a top-four defenseman, even if he makes the team out of camp. 

What are your expectations for Dobson during the 2026-27 campaign?