Zachary Bolduc spoke to the media about his new contract at the Montreal Canadiens' season-launching golf tournament.
When Zachary Bolduc took the podium at the Montreal Canadiens’ golf tournament, he looked and sounded relieved. Speaking to the journalist, he acknowledged that his contract signing came at the last minute, but he was still happy with the outcome.
Speaking about the negotiations he explained:
I think we discussed pretty much every scenario: short-term, long-term, and middle-term deals. Still, I wanted to make sure I stayed here and had stability, both financially and from a hockey standpoint. A four-year deal lets me get settled, have an important role on this team, and push with my teammates. It’s a tight-knit bunch, and it was important to me to stay here as long as possible.
Of course, that meant as long as possible for an acceptable figure, because staying as long as possible would have been an eight-year deal, but given what Bolduc has shown so far, it’s not surprising the Canadiens wouldn’t pay him a huge amount on a max-term contract.
As for GM Kent Hughes, he was asked about the contract negotiation and how the two sides eventually landed where they did with a four-year deal that takes Bolduc straight to UFA status:
We offered him different terms, including four years; it wasn’t something that was a sticking point for us. I think we’re in a league where players, if they don’t want to be in a certain place, ask to be traded, have term left on their deal, and they’re gone. If we signed him for five years, he’d be going to free agency anyways, and I think if you walk a player to arbitration and on the door of free agency…I’m not convinced; we’ll see how the market evolves here, but is arbitration always going to be the best vehicle for determining a player’s value? I'd rather let the open market make that determination.
This is a bit of a departure from the team’s usual stance, and while Hughes says it wasn’t a sticking point, it feels like Bolduc and his agent stood their ground to negotiate a new deal from a position of strength as soon as possible. It doesn’t mean they spent the whole summer going back and forth, though; it’s well documented that Hughes tried to improve his team during the offseason, and it made sense for him to keep his options open with plenty of cap room to maneuver.
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