Photo of Zachary Bolduc

Photo credit: La Presse

For Zachary Bolduc, Wednesday night at the Bell Centre was short.

The Quebec forward found himself on the fourth line, and Martin St-Louis used him very little. Less than eight minutes of ice time – only 7:54 – and nine total shifts.

Along with Joe Veleno and Jared Davidson, he was one of the only forwards under 13 minutes, but Bolduc was clearly the one who paid the highest price.

With him, it seems to be all or nothing. Last night, it was nothing. And that context is even more striking when you remember the message St-Louis recently delivered. The coach reiterated that everyone must be responsible without the puck and that those who don’t know how to defend would remain seated.Later that night, after the Jets game, the Canadiens sent another message by assigning Florian Xhekaj to the Laval Rocket– even after a 35-point, 24-goal season in 69 AHL games for the 21-year-old forward. For young players like Bolduc, the margin for error is thin

Oliver Kapanen playing with full confidence

At the other extreme, Oliver Kapanen, who won player of the game, was the most-used forward against the Jets. He logged 20:07 – one second more than Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky – in a 3-2 shootout win.

Kapanen now leads Canadiens rookies in goals with eight and already has a very respectable point total. He makes Ivan Demidov produce – Demidov being among the top NHL rookies in scoring this season – while keeping his own stat line strong.

That helps explain why St-Louis trusts him so much in key situations.

Meanwhile, Bolduc, also 22, must settle for scraps, far from the first line he recently occupied. As long as the mandate remains to play defensively and responsibly, another seven-minute game with Veleno certainly won’t bring him closer to the Maurice Richard Trophy, let’s say.

But the message is clear: with the Canadiens, as Florian Xhekaj already experienced, you play the complete game – or you watch others do it.

Previously on All Montreal Hockey

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Why Martin St-Louis cutting Zachary Bolduc’s ice time is raising questions in Montreal

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