The Canadiens may not be in any hurry to flash their hand on Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj, but the expectation is that both contracts should get sorted before training camp opens.
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com and Full Press NHL said on TSN Radio in Montreal that Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton tend to keep negotiations quiet, even if the team has shown a willingness to make announcements at the golf tournament before.
“Knowing Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton, the way they operate, they’re going to keep everything close to the vest. We’ve seen things announced at the golf tournament before.
Why do I have a feeling they might do that again? They could do something this week.
The old well, Vancouver did the old 5 o’clock news dump. I don’t see Montreal doing that.
But sometime this week, I would expect that maybe they can get something hashed out with Bolduc and Xhekaj.”
Biringer said the Canadiens have not been in a rush, especially with the market shifting and the club weighing how much to commit to players in those roles while younger options like David Reinbacher are in the pipeline.
“I think they weren’t rushing anything. The market again has been reset. But again, what does Kent Hughes want to do and pay a player that’s a bottom six forward and a 6, 7, 8 defenseman when you have players coming up like David Reinbacher, if he can step in?”
Even with that roster math in play, Biringer believes both players want to stay in Montreal and should land something fair.
“What does that mean for Arber Xhekaj? He wants to be here.
Zachary Bolduc wants to be here. I think they’ll get fair market value, and I expect something before the start of training camp.”
On Bolduc specifically, Biringer pointed to a mid-length contract as the most likely outcome, something in the three- or four-year range and similar to the four-year deal Alex Newhook signed.
“I could see a mid-range deal, like a three- or four-year deal, similar to what we saw with Alex Newhook when he signed his four-year deal; that’s something like that. They want to see, can he take that next level?
Because everybody expects both of them to take that next level. They traded Logan Mailloux for him.
They gave up a big asset. They expected him to come in.
He played well again, adjusting to a new system.
I thought he played really well in the playoffs last year for Montreal. I think the way Kent Hughes operates, it’s something like a mid-range deal for him.
I don’t know if they go full, full term on this. It feels like, again, they want to see the players that they have coming.
It’s all about calculated moves for the Montreal Canadiens, and Bolduc feels like another calculated move.
A four-year deal makes the most sense to me. Just you see what you have, and then you move on, or you keep him, and you sign him again because that just feels like how Montreal operates. But I agree with you, Peter, this guy, there’s something special about this guy.”
In Other News...
Canadiens Just Settled One Summer Decision Fans Were Watching
A busy summer in Montreal took another turn when the Canadiens locked up Zachary Bolduc on a four-year deal worth $4.2 million, according to Elliotte Friedman. Bolduc arrived in last offseasons trade and quickly gave the organization enough reason to keep him in the fold, adding to a roster that has already seen Chris Kreider come aboard as part of an active stretch of team-building.
The move clears one item off the Canadiens to-do list, even as another remains unresolved. Restricted free agent Arber Xhekaj is still without a contract, leaving at least one more summer decision hanging over the club as it tries to sort out the next layer of its depth and identity. [Read more 🡒]
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Pat Verbeek would not attach that kind of asset to move the money, and the Ducks instead terminated the deal. That left Kent Hughes and the Canadiens in position to sign Kreider as a free agent without surrendering anything in return, a tidy bit of business for Montreal in a market where cap space and draft capital usually come at a premium. [Read more 🡒]
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Chris Kreiders arrival gives Montreal a different kind of weight entering the season, not just because he brings playoff mileage, but because he clearly views this group through contenders eyes. After leaving the Anaheim Ducks, he landed with the Canadiens on a one-year contract and instantly changed the way the organization is being discussed around the league, with his experience and track record adding a layer of credibility to a team trying to reestablish itself among the Easts better clubs.
The surprise is as important as the signing itself. Kreider had been tied more often to Boston and Philadelphia, so Montreal was not the destination many expected, especially for a player with his background and the kind of market interest he generated. Instead, the Canadiens got the player who believes they can chase a Stanley Cup, and that alone says something about how far this roster has come and how it may be viewed going forward. [Read more 🡒]