- Stu Cowan believes Arber Xhekaj and Zachary Bolduc could go in sign-and-trade deals before Sept. 16
- Kent Hughes is still hunting a second-line center and a right-shot defenseman for Lane Hutson
- Read below for the Sept. 16 CBA deadline and the Noah Dobson blueprint Montreal already used
Montreal’s two remaining restricted free agents are still unsigned in the middle of August, and one longtime Habs writer does not think that is an accident.
Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette looked at the silence around Arber Xhekaj and Zachary Bolduc and came away thinking it points to something bigger than a slow negotiation.
“The fact neither player has signed yet leads me to believe they could become part of sign-and-trade deals before Sept. 16.”
The Habs already ran that exact play last summer. Noah Dobson agreed to an eight-year, $76 million contract as a restricted free agent, and the Islanders shipped him to Montreal in the same transaction.
Sept. 16 is the day the new collective bargaining agreement takes effect. After that, teams cannot go past seven years with their own players, and signing bonuses get capped at 60 percent of a contract’s total value.
Kent Hughes has been open about his shopping list. He wants a second-line center behind Nick Suzuki and an experienced right-shot defenseman to slot next to Lane Hutson, and Dobson and Alexandre Carrier are the only righties on the roster.
Losing Bolduc would sting more. The 23-year-old scored 30 points in 78 games last season, and Cowan singled out what he did once the games got heavier.
“The Canadiens won’t want to lose Bolduc, who really impressed me in the playoffs with his grit while posting 3-4-7 totals in 19 games.”
His 47 playoff hits were second on the team behind Kaiden Guhle’s 51. Montreal gave up Logan Mailloux to get him from St. Louis a year ago, which is a big reason his next contract has taken this long.
Xhekaj is the likelier exit. He played 65 games and averaged 11:25 a night, the lowest of any Montreal defenseman, and that number fell to 8:05 in the playoffs. He is also a fifth left-shot option in a group that already carries Hutson, Mike Matheson, Guhle and Jayden Struble.
Suitors have come and gone all summer. Anthony Di Marco reported this month that Calgary lost interest after adding Jake Middleton, though Philadelphia has stuck around.
Cowan was asked on The Sick Podcast how long Habs fans should expect to wait for Hughes to finally pull the trigger on something.
“It could happen at any time, but I don’t see us going into December or something like that without a trade being made.”
Catch the full segment here:
Hughes has roughly $9 million in cap space and 34 days before the new CBA changes what he is allowed to offer anybody.
