The Montreal Canadiens wrapped up the first week of the regulation season with two wins in three games. It was a good start to the 2025-26 season, especially since they were all road games. Here are a few early Habs observations ahead of the club’s home opener on Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken.
Bolduc Offensive Threat for Habs
Zachary Bolduc leads the way offensively with three goals. He earned the success from going in the dangerous area in front of the opposition’s goaltender. All three goals came from the area. This was what the Canadiens were looking from the 22-year-old when acquiring him from the St. Louis Blues on July 1st.
“I love his game. He’s hungry on the forecheck, wants the puck, make plays, shoot it. He’s scoring some big goals for us. I’m really happy with his addition,” Nick Suzuki said.
During the offseason, most line projections slotted Bolduc on the second or third line. He had an ordinary camp, which included some missed time due to a lower body injury. To start the season, Bolduc has been to the left of Kirby Dach and Brendan Gallagher. The Trois-Rivières, Quebec native leads the team with two even-strength goals, despite receiving the fewest minutes in those situations.
Rocky Habs Power Play
Typically, scoring two power play goals in a game means success. The Canadiens accomplished that on Saturday, but it’s bittersweet result as they did not capitalize on the eight other opportunities against the Chicago Blackhawks. They collected the two points thanks to Kaiden Guhle’s heroics in the final moments, but missed an opportunity to win decisively.
Since the beginning of training camp, Martin St. Louis has repeated about the amount of options available to his disposal. On paper, having Ivan Demidov, Patrik Laine, and Noah Dobson on the second unit, translates to another dangerous wave. It wasn’t apparent in the first two games as the first unit spent almost three times longer on the ice than their teammates. The second unit was on the ice for under one minute total in each of the games.
The coach needs to find a solution to give more ice time with the man advantage to Laine, who led the team with 15 power play goals last season, and Demidov that has high level offensive skills.
Extended Television Rights Deal
On Friday, TSN and RDS announced a new multi-year extension to broadcast Canadiens regional games starting next season. Under the agreement, TSN will carry 50 games, while RDS will air 45. The viewing region includes Belleville, Ontario and extends east up to the Atlantic provinces.
For TSN, the number of regional games remains unchanged from the current deal. Rogers will broadcast 28 national games, primarily on Sportsnet and CBC, while Amazon streams the remaining four on their platform. Rogers holds the national rights for next season but has yet to announce whether it will sublicense a portion of those games to another broadcast partner.
The new deal reduces RDS’s French-language broadcast share from 60 games to 45, even as the NHL schedule expands by two games starting in 2026–27. TVA Sports, which currently carries the remaining 22 regional games, has not confirmed its return. In May, Pierre Karl Peladeau, president of Quebecor and TVA Group, told shareholders the company might pull the plug on TVA Sports at the end of the current agreement. If TVA exits from the picture, a new Canadiens broadcast partner will fill the gap for remaining games.
Rocket Opening Weekend
The Laval Rocket kicked off the 2025-26 season with a pair of games over the weekend against the Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets).
Here are notes some notes from Friday’s 4-1 loss, and Sunday’s 5-2 win:
- Joshua Roy scored three times against the Moose. Two goals on the power play and one empty netter.
- Jacob Fowler’s first start was not his best. He allowed four goals on 31 shots, and there was at least one goal that he’d want back.
- Owen Beck scored one of two Laval shorthanded goals on Sunday by tipping a shot from the blue line.
The Rocket open their home schedule at Place Bell with a doubleheader against the Abbotsford Canucks (Vancouver) on Friday, and Saturday.
