Canadiens taking their time with Arber Xhekaj and Zachary Bolduc new contracts
Jim Biringer of NHLRumors.com and Full Press NHL was on TSN Radio in Montreal and was asked why players like Zachary Bolduc and Arber Xhekaj haven’t signed yet, and whether there is a rush to get these deals done.
Full Press Media Transcriptions
Host: “Let’s keep local here for a second, Jim. We had this conversation about 15 minutes ago. I’m a little bit surprised that Zachary Bolduc is still not on their contract. Arber Xhekaj as well, still not under contract with the Canadiens. Are either one of those surprising to you that here we are on August 24?”
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Jim Biringer: “Yes, I’m very surprised that Zach Bolduc is not signed. Especially since I heard your conversation. I agree with you. For what they gave up for him, he should have been signed by now, right? Bottom-six forward. Played well when he was in the lineup. Again, you want more consistency from him. He played well when he was in St. Louis, but again, first-year transition coming over, I get it.
But this should have been signed. I mean, his market value is around $3 million. I’m surprised this isn’t done. You get him signed, but again, as I heard in your conversation, they’re on the bottom of the Montreal Canadiens priority list, and this one probably should have gotten done relatively early. They usually take care of their guys right on July 1st. We saw that with Ivan Demidov, but this one is strange.
The Arber Xhekaj guy one, yeah, the defensive market has changed, but it’s not changed that much for Arber Xhekaj, right? Like he’s a sixth, seventh, maybe eighth defenseman depending on who’s coming in, right? And I would be very, very shocked that they go higher than like $2 million, even more than that, because you’re not paying a guy to be a healthy scratch that often.
And look, (Adam) Engström’s coming up. You have David Reinbacher. You need to see where he’s at. That pushes Xhekaj down the lineup. They love what he brings. They love his physicality. When he was in the lineup and he played within himself, we talked about this all year; he was very effective.
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That’s worth more than the $2 million AAV, unless these guys aren’t part of the future for the Canadiens; I’m very surprised this isn’t done. Maybe this is something done when they open training camp because you can clearly see Xhekaj is a fan favorite with everybody.”
Host: “Yeah, I mean, I just don’t see the rush from the Canadiens perspective to overpay guys that aren’t higher up in the lineup. (Arber) Xhekaj’s a six-seven, (Zachary) Bolduc a bottom-six. Their agents probably expect more of them. They want to push a little bit, being an RFA, but they really have no power here. That’s, I think, why nothing’s really happening. And once training camp rolls around, they’re like, okay, sign for what’s there. Let’s get it going.”
Biringer: “Yeah, that’s probably what’s going to happen. I agree with you, Sean. Like, I do believe that once training camp opens, we’ll see this with a lot of other players around the league as well. Some of the RFAs that didn’t sign yet. Once training camp opens, we’ve seen this in the past, they sign.
Take Adam Fantilli. We’re going to take care of it. Okay, four or five times $13 million. Yeah, in the Canadiens case, yeah. Hey guys, this is what we’re giving you. This is what the deal is. Take it, and if you want to leave it, that’s fine too. Because we’ll try to find replacements, no problem.
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But again, the Buldoc one for what they gave up for him, Logan Mailloux, I think you want to see progress in Buldoc. You want to keep him around because it seems like Mailloux has taken a step the Canadiens expected when they drafted him, and what he’s doing in St. Louis.”
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