Canadiens weekly notebook: Zack Bolduc’s new role, Sam Montembeault’s big moment – The Athletic
We now have a six-game sample of what has been Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis’ most audacious gamble of the season, to take Juraj Slafkovský off the top line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and replace him with Zack Bolduc.
St. Louis said on numerous occasions before that moment that he had his top line, and then the others, refusing to number them two, three or four. But who was No. 1 was always crystal clear, because it was objectively one of the most effective and consistent forward lines in the league.
Losing both Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook to injury impacted this decision, to be sure, because the Canadiens no longer had the depth to load up one line and allow the others to flounder. But there is reason to examine this decision a little more deeply, because on the Canadiens’ highly successful three-game road trip through Utah, Las Vegas and Colorado last week, Bolduc appeared to have a breakout moment on the top line, putting up a combined two goals and three assists in Utah and Las Vegas.
That matched his total output from his previous 19 games.
We have already gone over what this has done for Slafkovský playing with Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov, the added assertiveness, the puck possession, the leadership.
But what it’s done to Suzuki and Caufield in Slafkovský’s absence, and how they need to adapt to Bolduc, is the most important element of this switch working.
Biiiien senti
Tuffff celly 🔥#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/V9cyp0VBIq
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 27, 2025
On Wednesday night, we got a perfect example of how difficult that adaptation is.
One of the things Slafkovský did for Suzuki and Caufield was provide an outlet below the goal line; if ever an offensive zone possession appeared to be going nowhere, or at least hit a lull, Suzuki and Caufield knew they could flip the puck down low in the offensive zone and chances were pretty good Slafkovský would get it, and the line could reset a bit.
It was a safety valve, one that allowed the line to keep playing in the offensive zone.
Late in the third period in Utah, the Canadiens clinging to a one-goal lead and needing to keep the puck far from their net, Caufield saw a chance to take advantage of that safety valve. Except it wasn’t Slafkovský on the ice with them. It was Bolduc.
Suddenly, that puck was in Utah’s hands, heading back toward the Canadiens’ net, because Bolduc was unable to secure possession below the goal line. That is an instinct Caufield has that is borne out of repetition, nearly 80 straight games played with Slafkovský telling his linemates constantly that whenever they are in trouble, just throw the puck below the goal line and I’ll go get it.
Bolduc is not the same player. He has his own qualities, but he doesn’t do business below the goal line. He lives in the slot.
“Bolds is pretty deadly with his shot, we saw that tonight, and he plays a bit less down low than Slaf does,” Suzuki told reporters in Utah after that game. “Anyone that we play with, we try to do the same stuff. He’s learning and we’re learning, so it’s coming along nicely.”
Bolduc had a goal and two assists in that game, and followed it up with a goal and an assist in Las Vegas on Friday.
Vendredi fou, Zachary fou
Zack Friday#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/v7W1RZsWly
— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) November 28, 2025
But the notion it is coming along nicely might be debatable.
The underlying numbers for the Caufield-Suzuki-Slafkovský line were elite. The same numbers for both of the new lines are considerably less than that, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The new Suzuki and Kapanen lines at 5v5
LineCF%SF%XGF%HDCF%
Caufield-Suzuki-Bolduc
42
40.58
38.32
36.36
Slafkovský-Kapanen-Demidov
36.6
34.78
42.2
40
Before leaving on the road trip, after practice last Monday, Bolduc recognized he needed to do more to make the line work, but he liked how he was trending in his new role.
“I think it’s going well,” he said. “You always want to produce more, you always want to bring more to the team, but I’m happy with the direction my game is going. I still have a lot of things I want to bring, I want to help the team more than I am right now. I know I can do it, but I think I’m going in the right direction.”
He followed that declaration with five points in his next two games. It’s a work in progress, but it’s a work of necessity with the injuries the Canadiens are trying to work through. And despite how ugly those numbers are above, it is a work St. Louis needs to stick with, because of that necessity.
Dach’s earliest possible return is in two weeks, but it could be four weeks. Newhook won’t be back until mid-March. Barring a difference-making acquisition from Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes, the Canadiens will need to make do with the offensive talent they have, and separating Slafkovský from the top line seems to be the best way to spread that talent out.
Perhaps the latest road trip was a sign that it’s starting to work.
A Montembeault turning point?
It was easy to cast some doubt on St. Louis’ decision to go with Sam Montembeault in net against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
With a game the next day at altitude in Denver against the powerhouse Avalanche, there was some reason to believe starting Jakub Dobeš in the more winnable game would have made sense. A win in Las Vegas would have made the road trip a success, regardless of what happened in Colorado.
In the past, this was the game St. Louis gave Montembeault, the more winnable game in a back-to-back. Because Montembeault was his No. 1 goalie.
This time, however, Montembeault entered that game in Las Vegas as the No. 2 based on how he and Dobeš were playing.
But St. Louis has also said how much he believes Montembeault remains his No. 1, a loyalty in the face of poor results he has shown before with Jake Allen when it was Montembeault performing better than the incumbent.
Before practice on Nov. 21, one day after Montembeault got pulled for allowing three goals on 10 shots against the Washington Capitals, he got on the ice 45 minutes before practice with goalie coach Éric Raymond and worked on his movement. The emphasis was being square to the shooter despite puck movement, ensuring he was set and ready for a shot that was coming.
For 20 minutes, Montembeault did not receive a shot, he just moved.
His start in Las Vegas was a week after that practice, and Montembeault did a lot more work to prepare for it. And when the Golden Knights came flying out of the gate, piling up a 10-2 advantage in shots on goal before Bolduc opened the scoring in the first period, Montembeault needed to give his team a chance to survive the onslaught.
And he did that.
“Don’t think, just push,” Montembeault told reporters in Las Vegas after that game of his focus over the week. “Just beat all the passes and just push.”
Of everything that happened for the Canadiens over the past week, that is perhaps the most significant. Because, not to sound like a broken record, the Canadiens’ ambitions of being a playoff team are not likely to be achieved without Montembeault playing at his best.
“It gives the team confidence when he makes saves like that, for sure,” St. Louis said after the game. “We know he has that in him. We have to continue playing better, more mature in front of him.”
Beginning of the toughest stretch
Despite the 7-2 beatdown in Colorado on Saturday afternoon, the Canadiens began their toughest stretch of the season with two wins in three games in four days in three different cities in two different time zones.
This trip was indicative of what the Canadiens are facing right up to Christmas. They have a back-to-back at home this week against Ottawa on Tuesday and Winnipeg on Wednesday. They have another back-to-back this weekend in Toronto on Saturday and home to St. Louis on Sunday. They have two more back-to-backs the next two weekends with travel. By Dec. 23 when they play in Boston, the Canadiens will have played 16 games in 28 days, an outrageous workload in a short span.
Which is what made some of the usage in Utah somewhat alarming, even if it was necessary under the circumstances of that one game. Mike Matheson played more than 11 minutes in the third period against Utah. Jared Davidson didn’t play at all, and Florian Xhekaj played one shift.
The game was on the line, the Canadiens had to close out a game they led by a goal, and St. Louis did what he had to do. He cut his bench and got the game to the finish line.
Which was exactly what he said he would do before leaving on the trip.
“If you look at it that way it can be very overwhelming,” St. Louis said last Monday when asked about playing 16 games in 28 days. “What do we have, three games this week? I look at it that way. And then move on to the next week. It’s easy to get lost if you look at it like this, it can be very overwhelming. It’s a condensed schedule.”
So, by that same logic, the Canadiens have four games in six days this week, both back-to-back situations, one with travel. Can St. Louis look at this week in a similar way? He does have two days between the two back-to-backs to manage energy, but still, the Canadiens’ depth has taken a hit with the injuries, and there’s only so much his top guys can do.
Next week, the Canadiens will again play four games in six days. They will do the same the week after.
At some point, managing energy and legs will be an issue. Because NHL weeks don’t exist in a vacuum.
