The Montreal Canadiens were quiet this off-season, but that changed this weekend, bringing in Chris Kreider and re-signing Zachary Bolduc. The Habs were going to be dangerous even without Kreider and Bolduc, but their lineup is now stacked – and Montreal is only getting better.
After a very good season last year, the Montreal Canadiens were almost completely silent this summer when it came to improving their roster.
However, this weekend, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes made up for not making additions with two key moves.
On Saturday, the Habs signed veteran left winger Chris Kreider to a team-friendly, one-year contract. Then, on Sunday, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported that Montreal re-signed right winger Zachary Bolduc to a four-year contract extension worth $4.2 million per season.
Those moves leave the Canadiens approximately $4.3 million in salary cap space, according to puckpedia.com, with only RFA defenseman Arber Xhekaj to sign, who isn’t in a position to command all of that cap space just for himself. And that almost assuredly means Hughes has created a sliver of cap space to use during the season.
It’s all shaping up to be a masterwork in team-building by Hughes and the president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton. The truth is, Montreal lost a lot of experience and leadership when they traded right winger Brendan Gallagher to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Habs had to retain half of Gallagher’s $6.5-million cap hit to make the trade palatable for Vancouver, but his offensive production had fallen off a cliff, and he no longer fit into Montreal’s deep-and-talented roster.
Certainly, signing Kreider helps the offensive bottom line for the Canadiens. This is a player who produced at least 20 goals in 11 of his past 12 seasons, most of his time with the New York Rangers. This is a player with 958 games of regular-season experience, as well as 135 games of Stanley Cup playoff experience, posting 50 goals and 83 points in the post-season. Kreider is a fantastic addition for the Habs, and one who isn’t committed beyond this coming season.
Meanwhile, signing the 23-year-old Bolduc locks up an up-and-coming winger who is part of Montreal’s long-term future.
In his first year with the Canadiens last season after coming over from the St. Louis Blues, Bolduc’s offensive numbers actually took a dip last season, falling from 19 goals and 36 points in 72 games in 2024-25 to 12 goals and 30 points in 78 games last season. But progress isn’t always linear, and the Habs have decided to put Bolduc’s mind at ease for the next four years, knowing he’s under contract.
And now, while the Canadiens may still eventually be looking for a second-line center, the team they’re going to training camp with should seriously excite Habs fans. Hughes and Gorton have methodically turned over the roster, and although no NHL team is perfect, Montreal is almost assuredly going to be a playoff team in the highly competitive Atlantic Division.
One of the best parts of the job Canadiens management has done is the fact that they still have all of their first-and second-round draft picks in the next three drafts. Because of that, Hughes can coordinate major in-season trades, and that will only improve the Habs. And Montreal’s development system is excellent, so their future looks as bright as virtually any team in the league.
The Atlantic can only send a maximum of five teams to the post-season, so Montreal's work is cut out for them just to get out of their division in the playoffs. In many respects, this is still a team fine-tuning its identity, and Montreal’s core now can continue growing and evolving.
The Canadiens could soon enough be dealing with in-season issues, as all teams do. But Hughes and Gorton have painstakingly put this Montreal team together, and the full blossom of the lineup should frighten the Habs’ opponents.
There’s no two ways about it – the Habs are for real, they’re only getting better – and a fantastic regular-season and longer post-season run no longer feels like a distant goal. Rather, it feels like that’s what’s expected, and if you support the Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, the 2026-27 campaign could be one of the best in the fabled organization’s incredible history.
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