The Canadiens have stumbled out of the gate, but Zachary Bolduc has been one of the few players giving them something to hang onto.
Through four games of the 2026-27 season, Montreal sits at 1-2-1, with the defence leaking chances, the offence going in and out of gear, and injuries taking their toll, including Ivan Demidov’s ailment. In the middle of that mess, Bolduc has been steady and dangerous. The 23-year-old Trois-Rivières native is showing exactly why Montreal locked him into a four-year, $16.8 million deal in September.
He has picked up right where he left off in terms of early-season production. Last October, Bolduc opened fast as well, scoring four goals in 11 games and adding two assists.
He even found the net in each of his first three games. His scoring pace cooled after that, and he finished 2025-26 with 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points in 78 games.
But his value went beyond the box score. He led the Canadiens with 170 hits, a big part of what made him such a useful piece in Montreal’s lineup.
This season, he has been one of the club’s few reliable finishers. Bolduc has appeared in all four games, averaging 13:08 of ice time, and has scored three goals while posting a plus-2 rating. That places him third on the team in plus/minus, behind only Nick Suzuki and Alexandre Carrier, who are both at plus-3.
The goals have mattered, too. His first of the year came in Montreal’s only win so far, a 3-2 opening-night victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. With the game tied 1-1 early in the second period, Bolduc slipped behind the defence during sustained pressure in the offensive zone and finished from close range.
He stayed busy in the home opener against the Carolina Hurricanes. First, he crashed the crease and buried a rebound to tie the game 1-1. Later in the opening period, he found the right spot again, scoring from in tight on the power play to put Montreal ahead 3-2.
Bolduc was quieter after that, but so was the rest of the team. Carolina, the defending Stanley Cup champions, shut Montreal down the rest of the way, just as they did in last season’s Eastern Conference Final.
Even in a loss to Nashville on Thursday night, Bolduc’s game still showed up in the right places. The Canadiens had built a 2-0 second-period lead before dropping a 5-2 decision, and while Bolduc didn’t score, he remained around the net looking for loose pucks and rebounds off shots from Philip Danault and Alexandre Texier.
That line has been a useful one for Montreal. The Texier-Danault-Bolduc trio has logged less ice time than the top units, but it has posted a 53.8 percent Corsi and a 1.2 expected goals for total.
That’s not far off the 1.5 xGoals for generated by the Slafkovsky-Suzuki-Caufield line. Bolduc’s habit of living around the crease is a big reason those numbers look the way they do.
His work is especially important on a power play that has gone nowhere fast. Montreal is clicking at just 7.69 percent, going 1-for-13, and Bolduc has supplied the club’s only power-play goal, against Carolina. The Canadiens have looked hesitant with the extra man, and Bolduc’s direct style has stood out all the more because of it.
With Ivan Demidov, Oliver Kapanen, Kaiden Guhle, and Samuel Montembeault sidelined, Montreal needs every available contributor to pull his weight. Bolduc has answered the call.
He may not be flashy, but he is purposeful, aggressive, and always around the play. If the Canadiens can straighten things out over the next two home games, he looks like one of the players most likely to help them do it, whether that means scoring again or doing the hard work along the boards.
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What makes this one stand out is the backdrop around his arrival, which has turned the Canadiens home date into more than just another test on the schedule. TVA Sports reporter Anthony Martineau noted the growing conversation around how Larkin might be received in Canada, and whether the atmosphere inside the building could end up mattering beyond one night at the rink. [Read more 🡒]