Zachary Bolduc is staying home. The 23-year-old forward from Trois-Rivieres, Que., signed a four-year contract extension with the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday worth US$16.8 million, the club announced, a deal carrying an average annual value of US$4.2 million and running through the 2029-30 season.
Bolduc had become a restricted free agent on July 1, and the extension ends a summer of uncertainty for a player who arrived in Montreal only a year earlier. He was acquired from the St. Louis Blues on July 1, 2025, in a trade that sent defenceman Logan Mailloux the other way, a move that brought a Quebec-raised forward into a market that has historically prized exactly that.
His first full season with the Canadiens produced 30 points, 12 goals and 18 assists, across 78 regular-season games, according to NHL.com. He added seven points, three goals and four assists, in 19 Stanley Cup playoff games. The raw offensive totals tell only part of the story. Bolduc led all Montreal forwards with 170 hits last season, ranking second on the team overall behind defenceman Arber Xhekaj, a number that speaks to the kind of physical, north-south game he has built his value on rather than pure scoring touch.
That combination, a young forward willing to finish checks while still contributing at both ends, is what the Canadiens have effectively paid for. At US$4.2 million a season, the contract slots Bolduc into the middle of Montreal’s forward group at a moment when the NHL salary cap has climbed to $104 million, an $8.5 million jump from the previous year. Term matters as much as dollars here: four years buys the club cost certainty through what should be Bolduc’s prime development window, taking him from 23 to 27.
The signing came during a busy stretch for the organization. TSN reported the agreement Sunday, the same day veteran winger Chris Kreider signed a one-year, US$2.15 million deal with the Canadiens. Kreider is 42 games from 1,000 in the NHL, a milestone he is on track to reach in Montreal this season.
For Bolduc, the appeal of the deal runs beyond the cap sheet. Players from Quebec who end up in the Canadiens dressing room carry a particular weight of attention, and the pressure that comes with it has undone plenty of careers. Bolduc spent his first two NHL seasons in St. Louis, well outside that spotlight, before the trade brought him into it. Signing through 2030 is a statement that he is comfortable there.
Montreal opens training camp shortly, with the 2026-27 regular season to follow. Bolduc, who has 36 goals across his NHL career to date, enters it with his contract situation settled and a clearer runway than he had a year ago, when he was the newly acquired piece in someone else’s trade.
Sources: NHL.com, TSN, CBC News.
