Zachary Bolduc is staying home. The Montreal Canadiens and the 23-year-old forward agreed Sunday on a four-year contract extension carrying an average annual value of $4.2 million, TSN reported, a deal that keeps the Quebec native in a Canadiens sweater through what the club hopes is the front end of a long contending window.
The agreement was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and later confirmed by the team on its official account, according to Pro Hockey Rumors. Bolduc had been a restricted free agent, and the four-year term takes him directly to unrestricted status rather than buying out additional years of team control, a structure that trades long-term certainty for cap savings now.
For a player who spent his junior career an hour up the road, the timing carries its own weight. Bolduc starred in the QMJHL with the Quebec Remparts, a run that included a Memorial Cup in 2023, before St. Louis brought him into the NHL. He arrived in Montreal in July 2025, acquired from the Blues in a straight swap for defenceman Logan Mailloux, a trade of two young first-round picks at positions of need for each club.
His first season with the Canadiens was steadier than spectacular. Bolduc finished with 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points in 78 games, six points fewer than the year before despite a bump in ice time to 13:38 a night, per Pro Hockey Rumors. A 31-game goal drought ate into the middle of his year after he scored in each of his first three games in a Montreal uniform. Across 97 games with St. Louis before the trade, the six-foot, 187-pound winger recorded 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points, TSN reported.
The regular-season numbers, though, undersold what the Canadiens saw in the spring. Pro Hockey Rumors noted that Bolduc’s forechecking and two-way play stood out during Montreal’s playoff run to the Eastern Conference final, with timely offence layered on top. He also drew meaningful work on the second power-play unit, roughly a minute and a half per game, producing three goals and six points with the man advantage.
The extension lands in the middle of a busy stretch for general manager Kent Hughes. Montreal agreed to terms with veteran forward Chris Kreider on a one-year deal the day before Bolduc signed, and the club announced that signing through its own channels. Defenceman Arber Xhekaj, 25, remains the last unsigned restricted free agent on the roster. Reporting over the summer had suggested Montreal weighed everything from a short bridge deal to a five-year term for Bolduc, and there had been chatter about sign-and-trade scenarios that ultimately went nowhere.
What Bolduc has to do next is fairly clear. At $4.2 million, he now sits in the same neighbourhood as San Jose’s Collin Graf and Los Angeles forward Alex Laferriere, both of whom scored 21 goals last season. Pro Hockey Rumors pegged a step into the 40-point range as the benchmark that would make the contract comfortable for Montreal, and Bolduc’s shot has long been the trait scouts point to when projecting 25-goal upside.
Listed as a centre through his junior days, Bolduc has mostly played the wing in the NHL. He took only 19 faceoffs last season and won roughly half, too small a sample to conclude much, but enough flexibility that the Canadiens can drop him into the dot when a shift calls for it. With Kreider added to the forward group and training camp opening, how the minutes sort themselves out will be one of the more watchable subplots in Montreal this fall.
