David Kirouac-Imagn Images
Most companies that pay a professional athlete for a sponsored post don’t expect people to still be talking about it months after it hits their social media channels. However, one mattress company has struck gold thanks to a Canadiens goaltender who hasn’t lost a game since sharing some snaps from a photo shoot that was initially met with plenty of mockery.
The Montreal Canadiens boast a handful of marketable stars including Cole Caulfield, Lane Hutson, and Nick Suzuki. However, it would be a bit of a stretch to use that word to describe Jakub Dobes, the backup goaltender who posted a 7-4-3 record after making his NHL debut with the team last season.
Over the summer, the 24-year-old netminder inked a two-year, $1,930,000 contract with the team. Most people would be more than happy to land that kind of salary, but he’s just one of the many professional athletes who are more than happy to supplement an objectively hefty sum with some sponsorship deals.
On August 5th, he unveiled one of those endorsements on Instagram by plugging a mattress brand called Jump with the help of a couple of photos he took while perched atop the bed they provided him with ahead of his sophomore campaign.
It didn’t take long for some of his teammates to hop into the comments to chirp him, but Dobes and the company that threw its support behind him have gotten the last laugh.
Canadiens goalie Jakub Dobes has not lost a game since posting a mattress ad he got roasted for
Dobes headed into the season slated to be the backup for Sam Montembeault, who is in the second year of a three-year deal worth $9.45 million. However, there may be a changing of the guard based on how things have gone so far.
The Canadiens are currently sitting at the top of the Atlantic Division with an 8-3 record, but Montembeault has been in goal for all three of those losses while posting a 2-3 record and a GAA of 3.82. Dobes, on the other hand, is a perfect 6-0 and is statistically the fourth-best goalie in the league with the 1.97 GAA he’s had during that span.
Montreal also won both games he started during the preseason, and fans have realized that means Dobes has not suffered a single loss while rattling off a victory in eight consecutive starts since posting the mattress ad in question—a run Jump has been more than happy to call attention to.
I’m sure the marketing employee who decided to target Dobes is very pleased with themselves.