{"id":879271,"date":"2026-09-01T09:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/879271\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T09:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T09:10:10","slug":"canadiens-notebook-latest-buzz-around-matheson-bolduc-and-xhekaj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/879271\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadiens notebook: Latest buzz around Matheson, Bolduc and Xhekaj"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTREAL \u2014 You know 2026 off-season fatigue has hit its peak when a potential 2029 expansion draft has already dominated over a week\u2019s worth of chatter.<\/p>\n

Not to keep that yarn rolling when it\u2019s already unraveling at terminal velocity, but since Montreal Canadiens<\/a> blogs and podcasts have been pumping out probable protection lists like the expansion draft is happening next week, let\u2019s start here: Mike Matheson<\/a> won\u2019t be exempt \u2014 and not just when the defenceman\u2019s no-movement clause turns into a partial no-trade clause three summers from now.<\/p>\n

Should the National Hockey League\u2019s 33rd\u00a0team come into existence even sooner than expected and an expansion draft be held in either 2027 or 2028, Matheson\u2019s no-movement clause still won\u2019t provide him exemption. That was negotiated with the Canadiens before he signed his five-year, $30-million extension last October.<\/p>\n

So, keep making your lists and checking them twice while keeping that tidbit in mind.<\/p>\n

If this extension is causing Canadiens fans a bit of unrest, Zachary Bolduc certainly didn\u2019t appear to be losing sleep over it six weeks ago\u00a0when he told La Presse\u2019s<\/a> Guillaume Lefrancois he wasn\u2019t worried about it, that it was in agent Pat Brisson\u2019s hands, and that it would \u201cget taken care of soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s coming today, but I\u2019d be surprised if it wasn\u2019t done before the Canadiens report for physicals on Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

Neither Brisson nor the Canadiens are talking about it, but a three-year deal at around $4 million per year makes sense to me.<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s not that, it could be two years, it could be four years, but I\u2019m not betting on one or eight. I think something shorter-to-medium term benefits both parties, and we\u2019ll see if they agree.<\/p>\n

Either way, I expect Bolduc to take a considerable step forward in his development now that he\u2019s had a full season under coach Martin St. Louis and gained 175 games of NHL experience since 2024. Real signs of progress during Montreal\u2019s 19-game run through the Eastern Conference Final make me feel he\u2019s ready for that, even if the numbers weren\u2019t overwhelming.<\/p>\n

They were still respectable, though, with Bolduc collecting three goals and seven points while averaging only 11:23 per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More importantly, the six-foot, 187-pound winger found the straightforward, hardnosed identity that initially made him appealing to the Canadiens during his rookie season with the St. Louis Blues. Consistently tapping into that enabled him to play some of his best games in bleu, blanc et rouge when it mattered most.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, now the hope is for Bolduc to build on it.<\/p>\n

That\u2019ll he\u2019ll likely start with more runway to do it should only help.<\/p>\n

Then it\u2019ll be up to Bolduc to extend that runway by processing the game and playing with the level of detail expected of a player who\u2019s accrued as much experience as he has over the last couple of years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even if Xhekaj knows his teammates feel that way about him, it\u2019s always good to hear it stated publicly. Especially while he remains unsigned a little over two weeks from the start of training camp.<\/p>\n

No one else of note is talking about his contract negotiation publicly or privately. Contacts on both sides of it are mum, so I\u2019m presenting my own opinion of where I believe things stand.<\/p>\n

I believe fair-value contract options are on the table for Xhekaj, but I also think he\u2019s concerned about locking himself into anything with the Canadiens before having a clearer pathway to regular usage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Xhekaj thought it was coming last season after his best NHL training camp to date, but he stumbled out of the gate and never really found the balance he hoped to achieve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt a big part of that was playing under 12 minutes in 40 games and being scratched from another 17.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Xhekaj also played well to start the playoffs but was still held out of Game 7 against Tampa Bay in the first round. And then he was scratched from all five games against the Carolina Hurricanes in Round 3 after a solid performance against the Buffalo Sabres in Round 2. So, it wouldn\u2019t be crazy for him to be reluctant about continuing in the same situation moving forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That would at least explain why Xhekaj didn\u2019t file for arbitration when he had the chance \u2014 a process that would\u2019ve likely ended in August with a one- or two-year settlement with the Canadiens.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think Xhekaj was prepared to commit then. And I think part the reason he\u2019s still not quite ready is he knows the Canadiens have a versatile, talented and overcrowded blue line they\u2019ll eventually deal from to address needs at forward and that such a deal could either involve him or create the space for him to have more runway in Montreal.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s the case, I understand Xhekaj\u2019s position, because in either of those scenarios his value would likely increase (even if the increase could \u2014 and probably would \u2014 be marginal).<\/p>\n

Still, I can\u2019t help but wonder just how long Xhekaj is willing to wait. Because waiting too long could cost him valuable preparation time for the season and that cost could outweigh the benefit of holding out, especially since the type of deal Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes is trying to swing rarely materializes in the pre-season.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll find out if Xhekaj agrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I believe his main desire is to keep playing in Montreal, and I believe the Canadiens \u2014 who are in one of the nastiest divisions in hockey \u2014 want to keep him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But we\u2019ll see how much time this takes to get settled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 You know 2026 off-season fatigue has hit its peak when a potential 2029 expansion draft has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":879272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-879271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=879271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}