After taking a deep dive into the Montreal Canadiens' unrestricted free agent situation heading into the summer on Thursday, today we're going to take a look at which members of the organization are set to become restricted free agents in the weeks ahead.
For those that aren't familiar with the difference between the two different types of free agents, it's quite simple. The most common type of unrestricted free agent is a player that is either 27 years of age or old or has seven accrued seasons in the National Hockey League.
Meanwhile, a restricted free agent is a player who has had their contract expire, but remains under control by their team, who holds exclusive signing rights. Should a team not issue a restricted free agent on their roster a qualifying offer, they become an unrestricted free agent. These are younger players in their early-to-mid 20s.
This year for Montreal, the club has 11 players that are set to become restricted free agents, all of whom have varying qualifying offers. The most notable RFA Montreal has this summer is 25-year-old forward Kirby Dach, who some are wonder if he'll still be with the Canadiens next season.
Montreal Canadiens Offseason Preview: The RFAs
Kirby Dach (F) - 25-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $4 million
After being acquired by the Canadiens in the summer of 2022, there was plenty of excitement surrounding Kirby Dach. He fit in age-wise with what General Manager Kent Hughes was building and had the potential to be an impactful top-six player for many years to come. While he has shown glimpses of that potential, injuries ultimately held him back.
In four years with the Canadiens, Dach appeared in 154 of a possible 328 regular season contests, missing a whopping 174 of those due to injuries. The Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta native registered 77 points (32 G, 45 A) in those 154 games with the Canadiens.
Dach's future in Montreal remains a bit of a mystery as of today. Given his injury issues and inconsistent play during his time in Montreal, it feels unlikely that Kent Hughes will extend a qualifying offer to Kirby Dach. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's gone. The Canadiens could try to negotiate for a lower salary than the $4 million qualifying offer, but as the weeks ago by and with the June 29th QO deadline looming, there's a realistic chance he'll become a UFA on July 1st.
Zachary Bolduc (F) - 23-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $874,125
Last summer, the Canadiens added some more youth and skill to their forward group in a trade with the St. Louis Blues, acquiring forward Zachary Bolduc in exchange for defensive prospect Logan Mailloux. Mailloux's path to the National Hockey League was blocked in Montreal, leading to him being an ideal trade chip for Kent Hughes.
Bolduc started off the season hot, scoring his first goal as a Montreal Canadien in their opening game of the 2025-26 campaign against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He followed that up with goals in games two and three of the season against the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively. Away from the puck, Bolduc provided the Canadiens with a bit of snarl and physicality, something that worked wonders for the club during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The only downfall to Bolduc's first season with the Canadiens was that his production was streaky. At one point, Bolduc went 31 games without scoring a goal. Consistency is something the Canadiens need from Bolduc next season, especially if he's going to play a key role in the top-nine and on the second power play unit.
Joe Veleno (F) - 26-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $945,000
Aside from the big additions of Zachary Bolduc and Noah Dobson last summer, Kent Hughes also wanted to prioritize depth and was able to bring in some help down the middle - Joe Veleno. A little less than a month before the Canadiens signed Veleno, the former first round pick was traded from Chicago to the Seattle Kraken, who then bought out his contract, making him a UFA.
It was a low-risk, high-reward signing at the time Veleno put pen-to-paper, however it didn't' work out exactly as the Canadiens were hoping for. Veleno's production continued to dip, as it had been in previous years. The Montreal native finished the season with two goals and five points in 61 games, along with one assist in nine postseason contests.
One area that Veleno did succeed this season was in the faceoff dot. Veleno won 51.6 percent of faceoffs he took this season, which was a new career-high. As for his future as a Montreal Canadien, it's hard to envision the club issuing him a qualifying offer before 5 pm ET on June 29th and the most likely scenario is that he'll hit the open market as a UFA on Canada Day.
Arber Xhekaj (D) - 25-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $1.3 million
Fan favourite Arber Xhekaj is in need of a new contract this summer. The Hamilton, Ontario native's previous contract saw him earn $1.3 million annually across two years and there's no doubt he's in for a slight pay raise at some point over the coming months.
Xhekaj appeared in 65 games for the Canadiens this season, registering four points (1 G, 3 A), along with 116 penalty minutes, but also found himself on the outside looking in on occasion. When at full health, the Canadiens had a bit of a logjam on the blueline and there was plenty of debate on whether Arber Xhekaj or Jayden Struble should be in the lineup, the latter of whom played all five games in the Eastern Conference Final.
It certainly feels like we're heading towards the end of the line for one of Arber Xhekaj or Jayden Struble in Montreal this summer. As the Canadiens look to add more depth-wise to their roster this summer, it's tough to see a scenario where both of them are on Montreal's opening night roster in late September. While it's hard to handicap which one is more likely to be moved, my guess would be Jayden Struble, who has one year remaining on his deal with an average annual value of $1,412,500.
Remaining Montreal Canadiens 2026 RFAs
Now that we've mentioned Montreal's top four restricted free agents this summer, it's time to look at the remaining seven players:
- Jared Davidson (F) - 23-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $813,750.
- Joshua Roy (F) - 22-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $813,750.
- Sean Farrell (F) - 24-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $813,750.
- Luke Tuch (F) - 24-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $874,125.
- Jake Chiasson (F) - 23-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $813,750.
- William Trudeau (D) - 23-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $813,750.
- Gannon Laroque (D) - 22-years-old - Qualifying Offer: $813,750.
Montreal Canadiens General Manager Kent Hughes has a lot to consider over the next few weeks and is going to be quite busy as he looks for ways to improve his club's roster in hopes of another deep playoff run in the spring of 2027.