The distinctive sound of Zachary Bolduc’s stick hitting the ice was heard throughout the recent Blues prospect camp.
“Hit!…Hit! Hit!”
That’s the universal hockey sign that says, “I’m open. Pass me the disk.
It happened maybe a dozen times or more during the four-day developmental camp at Centene Community Ice Center.
Yes, Bolduc is a confident player with some arrogance. Wouldn’t he be sure after scoring 63 goals in 77 games in one hockey season?
“You know what, I think it comes with every scorer,” said Tim Taylor, the Blues’ director of player personnel. “They have that arrogance because they believe in themselves, right? They think they can score goals. They think they are good hockey players. So that didn’t come out of the blue from having 60-something goals this year. That just comes from the personality of him and who he is.”
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The 19-year-old Bolduc, a native of Trois Rivieres, Quebec, had one of the best 2021-22 seasons in all of youth hockey. In the regular season, his 55 goals for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were tied for second-best in all of junior hockey.
Only William Dufour of the St. John Sea Dogs, also of the QMJHL, had more (56).
If you include the regular season, plus playoff goals, Bolduc’s total of 63 is second behind Patrick Guay of the Charlottetown Islanders, again of the Quebec League (68).
For all of junior hockey, we’re talking about a combined 60 teams in the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League, and the Quebec League. If you throw in the tier 1 United States Hockey League, that’s 76 teams total. That’s a lot of players and a lot of NHL draft picks.
So Bolduc put together a great hockey season, one that has the Blues debating whether it’s him or Jake Neighbors as the organization’s top prospect.
“I had a pretty good season,” Bolduc said understatedly. “I will be honest, we also had a very good team. My linemates really helped me during that year. I don’t think it’s a one-man show.”
The Remparts went 51-15-2 in the regular season with 104 points, the most in the 18-team QMJHL. In the playoffs, the Remparts won their first two series and then were eliminated three games to two in the league semifinals. They were eliminated by the eventual league champions, the Shawinigan Cataractes.
“I think my teammates and I did pretty well during that season,” Bolduc said. “But in the end, it didn’t end with the (Memorial) Cup. It didn’t end the way we wanted.”
Bolduc and Neighbors are already forming a bond as potentially central players in the Blues’ future.
“He’s a great kid first and foremost,” Neighbors said of Bolduc. “That’s the first thing I noticed, he’s an amazing person. We have met in the last few camps here. We communicate during the playoffs (junior). … When he lost, he continued to support me and send me messages. That means a lot for me. He’s obviously a good friend of mine and someone I hope we’ll be together with for a long time.”
On the eve of Blues prospect camp, they had dinner together in St. Louis. Bolduc said he had salmon and salad, the same meal he ate with David Perron last year in training camp. As a fellow French-Canadian and NHL veteran, Perron was shaping up to be Bolduc’s mentor in St. Louis.
Of course, all that changed when Perron recently signed with Detroit as a free agent. It was an early lesson for Bolduc in the business side of hockey. Still, some of Perron’s advice will stand with Bolduc.
“I just know the player that I am,” Bolduc said. “Just work hard and good things will happen. Do not think too much. The way the game is going, you can’t think. You have to play with your feelings.”
It was Perron who told reporters last October when Bolduc was sent back to the juniors that he needed to break out of the Quebec League and return to the Blues. That is exactly what happened.
Bolduc had a pretty simple explanation for his better goal scoring.
“Yes, shoot more,” Bolduc said. “And go to the (sandy) areas, the area where you score. For me, it really changed my production when I focused more on those things.
“The 63 goals, I didn’t think about it at the beginning of the season. Keep shooting and the goals will come.”
And they did. He finished the regular season scoring in six straight games, nine goals in all. In the regular season finale, against Rimouski Oceanic, he recorded his fifth hat-trick of the year.
That’s a lot of hats on the ice, right?
“No, in Quebec, people keep their hats,” said a smiling Bolduc in his French-Canadian accent. “They are keeping their hats to themselves. I had (three) hat-tricks on the road, so there were no hat-tricks on the ice.
Once Bolduc’s junior season was over, he was optioned to the Springfield Thunderbirds, with the idea of participating in a playoff game or two with the Blues’ minor league affiliate. But while he was warming up before a game, apparently about to make his pro debut with the T-birds, he suffered something: a minor injury.
“Once he ‘did something,’ we just wanted to get him home and get him working out and starting his summer,” Taylor said. “We felt that developing him, getting bigger and stronger and spending that time in the gym was more crucial.”
Bolduc was with Springfield for just a week before returning home, his 2021-22 season officially over. He plans to be in St. Louis the second week of August to jump into the 2022-23 campaign.
“I still have a big improvement to make to make it to the National League,” Bolduc said. “Learning from veterans for me is a good way to learn.”
Expectations have risen after Bolduc’s great season. Like almost all prospects, he needs to get bigger, stronger.
“And year after year I want to improve my ‘battle’, one on one,” Bolduc said. “If you have the puck, you have more chances to score goals and everything. So that is one of the most important parts that I want to improve.”
Bolduc is still eligible for the junior category for next season, but he has bigger goals in mind.
“I think I can compete with the best guys in the world,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not me who makes the decision. So I’m going to do everything I can to play in the NHL this year.
“I know I am young. But I also know what I can do.”