The topic of ice time for some Habs players has been the talk of the town for some time. Zachary Bolduc and Ivan Demidov are two names that come up frequently in this debate.
For example, the fact that they play so little on Thursday night did not exactly please the city fans.
Today he has the worst time on ice among forwards:
– Zach Bolduc: 09:11 min.
– Ivan Demidov: 10:27 min.
– Kirby Duch: 11:37 minutes
– Joe Veleno: 12:44 minutes– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) November 7, 2025
Considering the Habs spent a lot of time shorthanded on Thursday, that's fair enough…except that, generally speaking, that's been the trend since the start of the season.
And this morning, Martin St. Louis was asked a question about Bolduc… and, insisting that the striker must find consistency, the coach deviated from the question for a few minutes (an excerpt is already published below, and it's worth it) to take some of the blame:
I need to manage some players' ice time better. – Martin Saint-Louis
Obviously, the fact that he brought all this up in response to a question about Bolduc suggests that he is one of the players in question. And it’s also hard not to remember Demidov.
The coach explains that he often finds himself caught between the need to manage special units and the desire for precision trios to battle others 5 on 5, meaning he can't always give certain players as much ice time as he'd like.
And maybe he finds himself giving too much away to guys who maybe don't deserve as much.
Still, it's interesting to see the coach admit all this to the media and one has to wonder if he'll eventually want to make changes in this area. He says he wants to improve and try to find solutions, and this is a good step forward.
We'll keep an eye on the next games.
After a while
– In any case, Bolduc uses practice to demonstrate his skills, hehe.
Ping! then in the top corner
Bar ↓#GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/lO7IYZcAPK
– Montreal Canadiens (@CanadiensMTL) November 8, 2025
“He deserves a little more ice time too.”
Did Kirby Dach get a promotion considering how well he's been playing lately??@BWildeMTL: “Kirby Dach should be given a chance to be a 2nd line center.”#GoHabsGo #thesickpodcast @TonyMarinaro pic.twitter.com/JV2EBsjS3X
– The Sick Podcast with Tony Marinaro (@thesickpodcasts) November 8, 2025
– A name to watch.
Jeff Marek: I'm also curious about Juuse Saros. Will the Predators be rebuilding? I think you're having this conversation with the goalkeeper – The Sheet (11/6)
– NHL Rumors Report (@NHLRumourReport) November 8, 2025
– I like it.
Upper deck – respect to Ivan Demidov https://t.co /jdJjx5BH9x
– /r/Habs (@HabsOnReddit) November 8, 2025
– Well deserved.
This time it's the best striker. https://t.co/pwvWAb6lqa
– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) November 8, 2025
