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Underrated Habs Players: Jan Bulis

Originally posted on The Sick Podcast | By Nick Lariviere | Last updated Aug 27, 2025 8:51 PM ET

During the early 2000s, the Montreal Canadiens were in a dark time with no direction; however, there were still some players whose game went underrated. One of those guys was forward Jan Bulis.

Bulis will always be remembered for his legendary night against the Philadelphia Flyers, where he scored four goals in a 5-3 victory. The only goal he didn’t score for the Habs was an empty-netter by Steve Begin to ice Bulis’ legendary night.

For me, being a 9-year-old boy at the time, watching that game was special, as to that point it was the most dominating performance I had ever seen a single Habs player have to that point. It only took 6 years for the next time another Habs player would have a similar performance when Lars Eller scored 4 goals and 1 assist in a 7-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on January 4th, 2012. Even today, it seems like fans who watched the Bulis 4-goal game seem to forget it because of Eller’s performance. If anything, Bulis’ one night of stardom was more impressive than Eller’s because his goals mattered more for the win as a whole. Although Eller’s 4th goal will always be memorable.

The reality is that Bulis was so underrated that even his best game was underrated and there is no highlights video on YouTube for this game. This only Habs goal I found was the goal he scored at 5:37 of the video below.

Bulis was clearly among the most underrated players on the Canadiens at the time as his accomplishments were always quiet. He was the type of player who played up and down the lineup. His game on the Habs was very similar to what Dale Weise was for the Canadiens during his first stint.

Bulis got more time in the top 6 during his first few seasons due to the lack of depth with the team at the turn of the millennium. The forward from Czechia played parts of 6 seasons with the Canadiens, after he was acquired at the 2001 Trade Deadline from the Washington Capitals with Richard Zednik and a 1st rounder for forwards Trevor Linden, Dainius Zubrus and a 2nd rounder.

From that point on, Bulis was the type of player who could play both the power-play and the penalty kill when needed. Every successful team has a few players like Bulis who can have big moments when the occasion arises.

Bulis’ best season with the Canadiens was his last one as a Hab, where he scored 20 and 40 points (tied with the 2002-03 season) in 73 games, which of course included that faithful night against the Flyers. He also scored a goal and an assist in 6 playoff games that year.

While, Bulis didn’t have the playoff success previous players on this list had, he did show that he can be clutch or play top-line minutes as a role player, like he did during the 2002-03 season.

During that season, he scored 16 goals and 40 points while often playing with top liners Saku Koivu and Richard Zednik. He may have been the least skilled of that line, but he helped complete the team’s top trio. As a result, he was named the 2002-03 recipient of the Jacques Beauchamp Trophy as the team’s unsung hero.

After the 2005-06 season, Jan Bulis signed as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks, finishing his Habs career with 58 goals and 134 points in 292 games. Bulis will always live in Habs history for his 4-goal game on a night in 2006, but should also be remembered as being a versatile 2-way winger who helped the team’s top players produce by making room for them.

Do you remember watching Jan Bulis’ 4-goal game against the Flyers?

This article first appeared on The Sick Podcast and was syndicated with permission.

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