Things just took another turn for the Habs...

Things just took another turn for Montreal as a recent article from Anthony Maltino highlights the Zachary Bolduc situation and one thing that is holding this contract off for being signed, but also some big updates from the Habs practice facility as Kirby Doc was back, but so was Caden Gooley, though there's an interesting thing that you can see in that video. He's not skating in normal gear. Final thing that we also got to talk about, one PTO target that was highlighted by a writer as Montreal is heading closer and closer to training camp just over two weeks away. No PTOs yet. Teams often do them, and there's a very interesting opportunity for Montreal to go out and bring in a veteran for this. We're going to dive into all of that coming up on this episode, and I know the Gooley injury maybe is concerning. We'll dive into the video a bit more. What's going on? It's good news that him and Doc are back, but I want to open with just, you know, a PTO kind of talking. Look, the player that was named is James Van Riemsdyk, which to me is not the ideal target, but the idea for Montreal to go get a veteran for a PTO is something we've discussed a little bit in the past, and just to highlight the article, Michael DeRosa, link down below as always, saying, look, the Habs have an interesting one worth considering in JVR. If they sign him, you create more competition at training camp. That's kind of the whole idea. We've talked about guys like Henrique, the name of Tarasenko has been floated around, Regenda, these kind of guys, Jesse, and look, JVR definitely in the twilight days of his career, as is a Henrique, but what do you think of the general idea of Montreal maybe going out and trying to bring in a guy that can add a little extra competition to training camp? Because look, there's no guarantee that they'll get signed or anything like that, but I don't think it's the worst idea in the world to try and instill a little extra effort in some of these guys to really crack that lineup. It's really not, but at the same time, we know like JVR, James Van Riemsdyk, he can score goals, right? Like a minimum of 15 goals over these last few seasons. We know this. You can count on him for it. I think just one of the biggest things for Montreal Canadiens is they're going to be looking to improve that defensive side of the play, which just isn't specifically his calling card in terms of the defensive zone or, you know, maybe the back check and things like that. He's scoring goals. That's what he does best. Some of the best hand-eye coordination in the entire league, but it's just more for the Habs specifically of what they need. They were 16 in goals against per game last year, and so they're going to really look to improve upon that, as well as the PK as well, the penalty kill. So the defensive optimization for the Montreal Canadiens, as good as they've been offensively, really for this next season is going to be key for their success. Yeah, defense is defense is defense. We got a lot of good defensive forwards. Again, like we got guys like Jake Evans. The potential for Kapanen to be a good defensive center is there. Phil Deneau, and even other guys can be physical. Like, Bulldogs had history of being decent defensively. Obviously, the Selke winner Suzuki kind of goes without saying, but yeah, I tend to agree. I don't think goal scoring is the kind of thing we need to go for here, but what do you guys think, right? Whether it's Van Riemsdijk or someone else, what do you think of the idea of bringing in a vet to kind of push some guys on a PTO for training camp? But in training camp, we're going to see a lot of faces back, and we're starting to see him file back into the Broussard facility, and that includes the guys who like to train in Alberta together in Kirby Dock and Caden Gooley. Of course, we showed their videos in the intro. We'll show it again. Nope, that's not the right one. Anyway, we'll have that after. However, Kirby Dock, he's back, and Caden Gooley was too. The problem is, as you saw in the intro, Caden Gooley, is he hurt? As you can see here, Kirby Dock, of course, skating around. Good to see him. He's at least in pretty good health, but it's Caden Gooley here, Jesse. Courtesy of Donald Gooley, who tweeted this out. He's on his own, skating around, which has led to the question, could he be hurt? Now, look, I think it's too early to be making these kind of sweeping claims that it's going to be some big injury. It is, I will say, concerning. It's interesting to see him not with the other guys. I'm hoping it's just a precaution, but you know what? All in all, I am just glad to see him back here because I really think that he's in for a massive season if, and that's been the question for a lot of his career. He can truly stay healthy. And we have to feel like it's probably just something small, probably something precautionary. There is a history, though, and it's making us just a little bit worried because we mentioned recently on the show, the Montreal Canadiens, they need more from Caden Gooley. This isn't the bushy-eyed rookie that we just drafted from just, you know, last year. Like, he's got a couple years in the NHL, and we're going to need to start relying on him, especially with a couple young guys still on our all the same. So for Caden Gooley to truly take that next step up, we're just going to need him in the lineup. Now, that being said, of course, the good news about all this with our boy, your boy, especially, we know Caden Gooley here, you know, is a friend of the channel. We have to say is that, like, when he's in the lineup, this is a guy that's just healthy, that produces every single time. That's really the big thing about him. I'm a big believer that he's going to be a lot healthier this year. He's going to turn the corner because, again, for me, like, a lot of the injuries for him were more like borderline freak accidents. There's some players where you're almost questioning, like, are they, is it like a health, soft, you know, kind of question. With Caden Gooley, that is not it. I do not question him whatsoever in that sort of regard. I think he's going to be able to turn the corner this year. I think this is all maybe just catching us off guard, but I think he's going to be able to really shake this one off and have a great year for the Montreal Canadiens. I love that take, and yeah, it is catching us off guard a bit because, again, like, you know, you see, oh, Doc's back and Gooley's back, and well, but then, like, you know, it's just, it's a bit disheartening, but again, hopefully it's not anything big. I don't think it will be, and regardless, what it does mean is that there's only a couple players left, Suzuki and Slav, and then we'll have the whole squad, right? Rookie Camp starts a week from tomorrow as the recording of this video, a week from Wednesday if you're watching this, maybe on Wednesday, maybe on Tuesday, maybe later, who knows? But we're going to have to keep a close eye on this, regardless. There's going to be a lot of practices. These guys are out there every single day basically skating, so there's going to be a lot of eyes on what's going on in Montreal, and we'll be here with all the latest updates, so make sure you're subscribed if you want all the latest content. You're making it this far in the video. I hope you're enjoying it. If you are, even if you're not, go down, either hit the like button, dislike whether you liked it or not, that's okay. We appreciate you all. Let us know down below how you're liking it, but final thing, we've got to get back to Zachary Bolduc because we had a bit of an update yesterday, and then there was another article that came out today, and I want to preface this by what was said later in the article. It said, look, let's be clear, Bolduc, very humble guy, ouvert d'esprit, ne se voit pas ailleurs. He doesn't see himself going anywhere else. He wants to play for his childhood team. Il fait confiance aux gens actuellement en poste au sein du club. Like, look, people are confident in him. The Habs organization wants him. Zachary Bolduc wants to be a member of the Habs. The question though, it sure seems like, is once again, Jesse, it's reminding me of the Jack guy situation. Now, these are just the words of Anthony Maltz. Check out the article down below. It's a direct quote, but look, he wants to extend with Montreal, ideally long-term, but he wants to have the opportunity to play within his own DNA. That is of an offensive player. Now, there are a lot of people who have made comments about this, right? Okay. Well, he wants to be an offensive player, but maybe we gave him that runway to do so last year. We gave him first power play minutes in the first part of the year. We gave him time on the first line and it just, it never really seemed to work. So is the opportunity just going to be handed to him? No, but also Jesse from Bolduc's perspective, similar to Jack guy, I can't blame the guy for wanting to maybe see a higher position in this organization before agreeing to something very long-term just as a, you know, from a business sense here. Yeah. And the boldness is something I really appreciate from the prospects. And again, this is just part of the negotiating, right? Where they have an opportunity to speak with management and let them know how they want to feel. And you've got to feel like you obviously want them asking a little bit more than, than, than not enough. Cause these are some young players again, like Arbor Jack guy and Zachary Bolduc that could factor in majorly into our plans into the future. So I really like this, this take here from, from Bolduc in his own account. That being said, it's like Zachary Bolduc definitely needs to understand as the Montreal Canadiens are looking to become very competitive. And I think he does that obviously this is going to be a stacked lineup for the Montreal Canadiens to truly be where they want to. I'm sure he's completely aware of Ken Hughes' plans of improving the Montreal Canadiens right on that second line, where he's maybe looking for an opportunity. At the same time, we have to say to Zachary Bolduc, do not worry, do not stress about this. Injuries are going to happen. Opportunities are going to arise and we've stayed on the channel. This is a player where he's got again, the potential to move around depending on the situation. I like him on a third line on a very deep team. I believe in his capabilities in a pinch to be able to contribute on a second line. Why? He's shown a precedent of this Josh, where just in his first full season in the NHL, he was able to net 19 goals. Just the question now is Josh is he's going to need to prove that he's better than some other players on the Montreal Canadiens? People he's looking to compete with such like an Oliver Kapanen who've been able to do the same amount of things in even a shorter amount of time. We know that Oliver Kapanen was able to score 22 goals while still bringing some defensive game to bring context to all of this as well in just his first season in the NHL. So this is the type of hurdles that Zachary Bolduc is going to need to climb if he wants to really move up this lineup. He's seeming to signal that he has intentions to do exactly just that. And I would hope so, right? And again, I just want to keep reiterating how good the advanced metrics looked with Zachary Bolduc on the ice in the regular season and the playoffs. And while again, the eye test didn't always pass it, like I think that he played better than his points seem to indicate. Not every game was great. There are a lot of games last year where I was less than impressed with Bolduc, but you could say that about almost anyone, right? It was kind of the same with Kapanen or Dock or whoever. I mean, I'm not ready to give him a chance because he's still very young and the skill is there. So you're right. Kapanen did more with his time. We have to wonder, you know, could Bolduc with a full season, maybe next to Dimitrov, or at least a good chunk of the season, 20 games, give or take, see what happens. Could that work? But honestly, even in that situation, someone like an Alex Newhook is probably ahead of him in the pecking order, at least for now. So those are two guys who are probably going to try to bring similar energy to their games this year. So it's going to be a battle in training camp. Let us know what you think about this for Bolduc. Do you agree that, yeah, maybe if he wants to play an offensive role, he'd rather see himself in that role long-term before agreeing to a long-term extension? Would you assign him to a short-term? We'd love to hear from you. That'll do it though for this episode. Thank you so much for tuning in every single day. I'm Josh Goss, my co-host Jesse Foggion. We'll catch you in the next one.