Zach Bolduc's High-End Skill
The Habs acquired a young player with a specific strength - can they leverage it?
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Yesterday I shared an archived post about how I helped forward Zach Bolduc improve his shooting in a very small way, back in 2021.
During Bolduc’s 2024-25 season (19 goals), he didn’t end up using the Matthews shot we talked about all that often. Indeed, the entire season he only scored once off the rush using the right-left-right weight shift.
STL76 Bolduc, December 27th 2024 vs Nashville
Something else wound up the catalyst of his breakout campaign.
Bolduc only scored five times in the first half of the season, but made up for the slow start in the second half.
Bolduc had always been a high-end shooter going back to his minor hockey days.
In the spring of 2025, he discovered product-market fit as an NHL scorer.
On March 13, Bolduc scored his first powerplay goal of the season from the bumper spot.
STL76 finds a soft spot in coverage behind PIT penalty killers, then uses a half-slapshot to blast the puck into the net.
March 25th versus Montreal:
STL76, entrenched in the bumper spot, is handcuffed by the quick pass but uses a two-touch shot to beat the goalie.
March 29th versus Colorado:
STL’s right flank player (#89) fades to the back post, which drags the COL PK structure down. Bolduc exploits the space and converts on the cross-slot pass.
April 5th vs Colorado:
Two-touch shot from the bumper for his first goal of the night…
…and a high-slot wrister for his second.
April 15th versus Utah:
Bolduc relocates from the netfront and scores from a bumper on a turn-around shot.
Bolduc’s glow-up as a powerplay bumper specialist is a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, his March-April 2025 production could be a one-off, especially if MTL doesn’t deploy him in the bumper on its top PP unit.
On the other, that hot streak points to Bolduc’s combination of high-end attributes, one that is hard to come by on the open market:
Awareness to maneuver into a shooting location between defenders
Ability to overpower NHL goalies from a standstill
Ability to release the puck accurately in a variety of scenarios (one-timer, two-touch, turn-around, etc.)
Many of the Canadiens’ top scorers are more effective on the flank, either as shooters (Patrick Laine & Cole Caufield) or as distributors (Nick Suzuki & Ivan Demidov). This creates an opportunity for Bolduc to carve out a role in the heart of the offense. If he keeps refining this part of his game, he’ll be a big-time contributor in 2025-26.
Bonus
Check out my Twitter account for a simple off-ice shooting drill that allows players to shoot a bit more like Bolduc does (click through for video).
