Zach Bolduc’s first season with the Habs had some ups and downs overall. With a new four-year contract giving him some stability, what should the Canadiens be expecting from the winger?
2025-26
Bolduc made quite the first impression, scoring in each of his first three games. It looked like Montreal had found a legitimate scoring threat to give them a bit more pop in their middle six. And then he immediately had an 18-game stretch where he tallied just once while adding two assists. As it turns out, the inconsistency was a sign of things to come.
The second quarter of the season saw Bolduc hover near the half-point-per-game mark, still a respectable number for a middle-six piece who was being moved around the lineup somewhat regularly. In that segment, he had time on the top line and was also a part of multiple fourth lines, with a few other combos in between.
Unfortunately for Bolduc and the Habs, things went sideways in the second half. He wound up going 31 games between goals, spanning from late December to well after the trade deadline in March, or nearly three full months. He only had nine assists in that stretch, so it’s not as if he was a big contributor there either. In the final 10 games, he had two two-point efforts and was pointless in the other eight.
There were some positives in the playoffs, however. Bolduc had a strong series against Tampa Bay and had a couple of tallies versus Buffalo, including a big one in the final game. Like many, he then faltered against Carolina. Given that he’s still pretty young, I suspect the Habs were reasonably content with his postseason, though his consistency continued to be an issue.
Regular Season Stats: 78 GP, 12-18-30, -6, 28 PIMS, 3 PPG, 3 GWG, 101 shots, 13:38 ATOI
Playoff Stats: 19 GP, 3-4-7, -3, 22 PIMS, 1 PPG, 1 GWG, 18 shots, 11:23 ATOI
2 Year Averages
Bolduc has three professional seasons under his belt but he only played in 25 games in his first year. The low total would really skew the averages so we’ll instead just focus on his two full campaigns.
GP: 75
Goals: 16
Assists: 17
Points: 33
+/-: +7
PIMS: 33
PPG: 5
GWG: 2
Shots: 111
2026-27 Role
Bolduc is one of those players whose role could be pretty consistently in flux. In a nutshell, I expect him to see time on both wings in the bottom six while seeing some ice time on the top line when Martin St. Louis shifts Juraj Slafkovsky down when he’s looking for more balance. One duo that didn’t get much time together last year was Bolduc and Ivan Demidov on the second trio. I anticipate that will change, open up a chance for him to see a bit more time in the top six. He bounced around a lot last season and might bounce around even more in 2026-27.
On special teams, Bolduc was a regular on the second power play unit last season as one of the better shooting threats on that group. That shouldn’t change and if someone on the top wave is injured, he’d be a candidate to move up. Bolduc’s defensive metrics with St. Louis suggested that the Canadiens might want to test him shorthanded. Instead, he played all of 40 seconds on the penalty kill. Given Montreal’s limited roster turnover (only Joe Veleno killed penalties and he wasn’t an every-game player), Bolduc shouldn’t see an uptick of significance but it wouldn’t be shocking to see him deployed there down the road.
Projected Stats
Bolduc is certainly one of Montreal’s bigger wild cards heading into the season. Now with a couple of full NHL campaigns under his belt, it’s fair for expectations to be higher. On the other hand, for someone who could plausibly play on all four lines over a two-week span, how high can those expectations be?
The contract signed just before training camp implies that the organization is expecting him to take that step forward. Maybe that at least limits the fourth-line playing time. And if that’s the case, it’s fair to forecast at least a small improvement offensively.
In deeper leagues, Bolduc is worth a late-round dart throw. He got the Montreal boost from a hit perspective, giving him a bit of a floor from a points perspective for leagues with that category. One element that was a little concerning last season was the dip in shots on goal but there’s reason for optimism that it will rebound. So for head-to-head leagues with those categories, he’s a bit above-average there too.
From a straight points perspective, the safe approach is to only forecast a small improvement given the uncertainty in Bolduc’s role. However, if you’re confident that he can crack the 40-point mark, you could get some late-round value in drafts this month.
GP: 80
Goals: 18
Assists: 19
Points: 37
+/-: -3
PIMS: 40
PPG: 3
GWG: 2
Shots: 125