Zack Bolduc is on the ice with Ivan Demidov this week, and the Canadiens have to be paying attention.
A clip surfaced Monday of the two skating together at the team's Brossard facility, just the pair of them working through drills.
No coaches. No cameras beyond a fan's phone. Just two guys who might be onto something.
Demidov finished last season with 62 points in 82 games, including 19 goals and 43 assists as a 20 year old. That is not a typical rookie stat line.
Bolduc, by contrast, put up 30 points over 78 games, a quieter year that included a minus-6 rating.
Different paths, same building. And now, apparently, the same ice sheet on a random summer afternoon.
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Here is the thing about Bolduc. He has speed, a heavy shot, and enough offensive instinct to play in a team's top six when things click.
Why this pairing could actually solve a problem
What he has lacked in Montreal is a set partner who forces the puck to him in dangerous spots. Demidov does exactly that.
The winger racked up 13 power play assists last season, tied for the club lead among forwards, and his vision through the neutral zone is not subtle. It jumps off the tape.
Bolduc has the shot to cash those looks in. He scored 12 goals last season on a Canadiens team that finished plus-27 in goal differential, sixth overall in the league.
Is this an actual line combination Martin St-Louis is planning, or two teammates burning an afternoon before camp? The files do not say, and neither does the video.
But informal skates like this have a way of turning into real chemistry once training camp opens. Ask any coach who has watched a pairing click before it was ever drawn up on a whiteboard.
Bolduc's last 10 games of the season told a rougher story, two points and a minus-8 rating, the kind of stretch that makes a winger expendable in a competitive lineup.
Pairing him with a player who created offense at Demidov's rate might be exactly what resets that. Or it might be nothing more than two Quebec kids skating on a Monday.
Either way, Habs fans watching that video already have their hopes up. Training camp is going to answer the question the footage can not.
Should the Canadiens commit to a Bolduc-Demidov line at training camp?
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