July is officially over, and the Montreal Canadiens still have two RFAs that have yet to be signed: Arber Xhekaj and Zachary Bolduc. Much has already been written and said about both, but in the last few days, there was one contract signing that may be an interesting comparable for Kent Hughes’ negotiations with Bolduc’s people.
On July 31, San Jose Sharks GM Mike Greer put pen to paper with 23-year-old undrafted winger Collin Graf. Last season, he put up 46 points in 81 games and found his way into the team’s top six. In 121 career games, he has put up 59 points for a point-per-game average of 0.48. Greer signed him to a one-way three-year bridge deal with a $4.25 million cap hit.
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Meanwhile, Bolduc, who is also 23 but was drafted 17th overall by the St. Louis Blues at the 2021 draft, had 30 points in 78 games in his second full NHL campaign, his first with the Canadiens. In 175 career games, the Trois-Rivieres native has put up 75 points for a 0.43 PPG average.
When he was given opportunities on the top six with the Habs (he played 16 games alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield), he put up six points in seven games from November 17 against the Columbus Blue Jackets to December 2 against the Ottawa Senators. And in his second stint on the top line, from December 11 against the Pittsburgh Penguins to December 28 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, he added four points in nine games. That works out to 11 points in 16 games, but that wasn’t enough for coach Martin St-Louis, who gave auditions to Alexandre Texier and Kirby Dach on the top line before going back to Juraj Slafkovsky.
Bolduc was a first-round pick who has plenty of potential, but he has yet to truly show what he can do, making it rather hard to put a number on what his next contract should be worth or even to sign him to a long-term deal that isn’t too risky, as there are still a lot of unknowns there. A three-year pact like the one signed by Graf could be a good compromise for both parties. It would give the Habs more time to evaluate what they have on their hands with Bolduc, and it would give him more time to show what he can do. I previously wrote that a three-year bridge deal worth between $4 million and $4.5 million would make sense, and that’s exactly where Graf’s deal landed. Given how good Hughes has been at making his players sign team-friendly deals, I believe this is the most likely outcome for Bolduc.
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