The Montreal Canadiens’ bottom six has held its own for the better part of six weeks going into the Olympic break. They are competent enough to quiet the nightly anxiety but unresolved in a more important way. Come playoff time, competence is not the question. Impact is.
Once you widen the lens to include the injured names — Alex Newhook, Alexandre Texier, and Patrik Laine — it stops being a bottom six altogether. This is a bottom nine. A surplus. And the real debate is not who belongs on an NHL roster, but who actually moves the needle when the games get harder, heavier and meaningful.
Zachary Bolduc’s Offensive Flashes Can’t Hide Defensive Concerns
Zachary Bolduc leads the group in points, though the fine print matters. Much of his offense has come during brief auditions on the top line and the first power-play unit. Strip that away and the evaluation becomes far less generous. Bolduc is an excellent skater, willing to initiate contact and make life uncomfortable for opponents. His shot is elite in velocity and release, even if the accuracy still comes and goes. At 6-foot and 187 pounds, he is not built to bulldoze defenders, though Nikita Zadorov might still be feeling their last meeting in Boston.
The larger concern lives at the other end of the rink. On a team that generally stays on the right side of the ledger, Bolduc sits at minus-11. His career numbers suggest that is an outlier, not a trend, and adapting to a new system is a reasonable explanation. But playoff hockey is not a classroom. Defensive reliability is the admission price for ice time in the playoffs, and right now that is the part of Bolduc’s game that still feels unfinished.
Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher Bring Playoff-Tested Grit
Josh Anderson does not require this level of debate. He is the prototype. Big, fast, mean in the most useful way, and quietly productive this season. He skates well, finishes checks, and forces defenders into rushed decisions. Every playoff team needs a player who drags the game into uncomfortable places and feels perfectly at home there. Anderson is that player, and his role is not up for discussion.
Related: Canadiens and Maple Leafs Could Emerge as Trade Partners
Brendan Gallagher remains harder to define, which is nothing new. Earlier this season, his name floated through trade proposals and press box hypotheticals, and it is fair to say he is no longer the player he was in his prime. But hockey still makes room for stubbornness, and Gallagher has plenty of it. Over the last few weeks, his production has climbed, his game has steadied, and the arrival of Phillip Danault has mattered. Some players age out of roles. Others age into them.
Phillip Danault and Jake Evans Provide Defensive Reliability
Danault, reacquired just over a month ago, has already reminded everyone why coaches trust him. His defensive play is not flawless — no one’s is — but his playoff history speaks clearly. He understands the geometry of the ice when it shrinks, where the puck is going, and more importantly where it cannot go. On a team that will need to survive shifts as much as create chances, Danault feels essential.
Jake Evans will never dazzle, and that is precisely the point. His plus/minus does not sparkle, but it reflects a workload few others are asked to carry. At last check, he led the league in defensive zone faceoffs taken, a statistic that tells you exactly how he is deployed. Add in heavy penalty killing minutes, an area the Canadiens still need to improve, and the picture sharpens. With Evans, you know where he will be, you know what he will give you, and in the playoffs that certainty is often worth more than upside.
Joe Veleno, Newhook, and Texier Create Roster Complications
Joe Veleno skates well and is quietly effective at the dot, sitting at 51.5 percent. Beyond that, the toolbox is light. Limited offense, limited physicality, and no defining trait that demands protection. On a roster this crowded, that matters. If decisions need to be made, his name is the easiest to circle.
And that is where the puzzle sharpens. Newhook may or may not return in time for the playoffs. He is skating again, which keeps the conversation alive, but the fit is awkward. The top six has thrived by pairing skill with size and play driving weight, qualities Newhook does not naturally bring. Slide him into the bottom nine and Veleno exits, but Alex Texier complicates the picture. Recently re-signed and effective on the top line before his injury, Texier does not profile as a classic playoff grinder either. At some point, versatility becomes redundancy.
Patrik Laine’s Future and the Montreal Canadiens’ Playoff Equation
Then there is Laine. His one timer might be the most dangerous isolated weapon on the roster, but hockey games are not won in isolation. At five on five, Laine struggles to keep pace, struggles defensively, and struggles to justify ice time that does not come with a power-play whistle attached. Trade interest appears minimal, and even if there is a market, the return would be modest. Given how little Montreal gave up to acquire him, the cold reality is that sitting him and letting the contract expire may be the least damaging option. It is not kind, but it is professional.
So call it the bottom nine if you want, because that is what it really is, a surplus of NHL players all fighting for ice time that will not be evenly distributed when the games start to matter. Some of these names feel inevitable — Anderson, Danault, Evans, Gallagher — because playoff hockey has a way of exposing who can live without space and who cannot. Others remain theoretical, useful in October, intriguing in January, but replaceable when the game turns heavy and unforgiving. The Canadiens will not win or lose a playoff round because of their stars alone. They will win or lose it because of the quiet decisions made on the bench and in the lineup, about who can be trusted when there is no time, no room, and no forgiveness. That is where this season will really be decided.
The Eastern Conference, tightly packed and merciless, will only sharpen those choices as teams emerge from the Olympic break and drift toward the 1016 Trade Deadline deadline. What the Canadiens do, or refuse to do, could reshape the logjam entirely.
Either way, the season has already exceeded expectations. Whether it becomes something more is the part worth waiting for, and honestly, that is the most interesting question of all.
