There are two important truths that must be acknowledged: the Montreal Canadiens are stuck in a miasma of mediocrity with a 5-9-2 record and a lease in the basement of the Atlantic Division; the second is that their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Laval Rocket, is having a great season with 10-2-0 record, good for first place in the North Division. This begs the question: is there anyone in Laval who could provide the Habs with a spark?
Laval Rockets to the Top
What a difference a season can make. On second thought, I should proceed with caution when writing such statements. The AHL season only began a few weeks ago. Laval looks good at 10-2-0, but it’s early days in a campaign that lasts 72 games. The club missed the postseason in 2023-24, albeit with a decent record of 33-31-6. That’s right, extra-time defeats aside, the Rocket were above .500 in regulation but were on the outside looking in when the Calder Cup playoffs began.
All this is to say that the jury is still out on where the chips will land by the time the regular season winds down. Nevertheless, head coach Pascal Vincent – formerly behind the bench with the Columbus Blue Jackets – is doing a fine job this season.
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The club’s stats speak for themselves. Laval has netted 40 goals, ranked ninth in the AHL. Conversely, they’ve only conceded 27. No rivals other than the Milwaukee Admirals (24) and Chicago Wolves (26) have allowed fewer. What’s more, Laval has four players who have already attained double-digits in points. Even though the season is young, there are plenty of reasons for fans to be excited about the Rocket.
Canadiens Need Help
The flip side is that the Canadiens have not merited nearly as much praise as the Rocket. Things are so bad at the Bell Centre that, despite all the pleas for patience, fans are concerned. Montreal’s predicament inspired a terrific conversation on a recent episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast. Should the Canadiens tank? Should they make a trade? Is this a franchise that would even consider tanking? Have a listen. It’s quite interesting.
Only General Manager (GM) Kent Hughes knows what’s percolating in his mind. How much patience does he have? None of that changes the fact that the team has played very poorly through most of their 16 games. Some might say that, even with tempered expectations, the quality of play has been too bad too often.
Christian Dvorak, Josh Anderson, Arber Xhekaj, Jake Evans, Alex Newhook, and Joel Armia have all received their share of criticism. To varying degrees, each has deserved it. It’s sometimes difficult to discern what Dvorak is doing to earn his $4.45 million per season contract. Even this author feels somewhat foolish for including Newhook in the “best case” section of a Habs season preview article published in early October. Four points in 16 games and a minus-12 rating is not what we had in mind.
If those who preach patience want supporters to stop thinking about trades, what other options are there? First, there is sticking with the current roster. It hasn’t performed well, but a huge injury to Patrik Laine in the preseason derailed their plans, to say nothing of the fact that even with a healthy Laine, nobody around the organization was predicting a deep playoff run. The plan might have been to see who develops into an NHL stud and next summer make bigger decisions based on the results.
The other option is sending a player or two down to the AHL in favour of some Rockets.
Joshua Roy, Owen Beck, and Connor Hughes Are Options
It’s easy to sit behind a computer and proverbially yell, via uppercase font, that some Canadiens need to take the orange line up to Laval and for some Rocket players to come hither. Who should be sent down? Why? Who should be called up from the AHL? Why? Those answers are more complex.
Sending down Dvorak sounds like such a simple option, but should someone earning $4.45 million be away from the club? That’s a lot of money to demote to the AHL. Even Newhook is earning a decent $2.9 million per season. But some messages need to be sent. There are also many reasons why such temporary changes can occur. Some players simply need to find their game. Doing so in limited minutes against extremely competitive NHL opposition can make that more challenging than it needs to be for a job that’s tough enough to begin with.
Who is playing well in Laval this season? A few names come to mind. Joshua Roy is a standout. Through 12 games, the Québec native has 13 points via seven goals and six assists. He even netted a hat trick on Nov. 2 versus the Providence Bruins. Lest it is forgotten, Roy adorned the Canadiens uniform 23 times in 2023-24, contributing four goals and five assists. That little bit of NHL-level experience would make this decision go down smoother.
Owen Beck is another name that’s been on some lips recently. A 2022 second-round draft selection by the Canadiens, the centre has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) and a plus-9 rating. He has not skated as a Canadien yet, but given his play, the 20-year-old is someone head coach Martin St. Louis might want to keep in mind. He’s also suited up for Team Canada at two IIHF World Junior Championships (2023 and 2024), so stiff competition is not foreign to him.
Arguably, a more pressing selection is someone to back up Samuel Montembeault. Cayden Primeau is not cutting it this season. In seven appearances he has a goals-against average (GAA) of 4.68 and a save percentage (SV%) of .845. No one ever said that being an NHL-calibre netminder was easy, but those are terrible numbers. It’s at the point that if Montembeault has the night off, people start worrying before puck drop.
Laval has a duo of solid crease keepers. Connor Hughes and Jakub Dobes have played six games each. Hughes, 28 years old, has a GAA of 1.99 and a SV% of .931. Dobes, 23 years old, isn’t blowing the competition out of the water, but his GAA (2.32) and SV% (.914). are respectable. Who knows, maybe Hughes can be the Canadiens’ Joey Daccord, the Seattle Kraken netminder who only made it big in his late 20s.
There are other potential candidates for earning ice time in the NHL. Adam Engström, Alex Barré-Boulet (who played two games at the start of the season), and Luke Tuch. Considering any of those players as possible inclusions in the Canadiens lineup for a few games is not pressing the panic button. It’s why the Rocket exist: to help the Canadiens.
When all is said and done in 2024-25, there will be unhappy campers. Many will be displeased because Montreal wasn’t much better than last season, if at all. They will be displeased because the club didn’t make another big trade post-Laine. They will be displeased if St. Louis and Hughes go ahead with what this article is suggesting because the roster should try to jell as is. Any way one cuts it, someone will be unhappy next spring or summer. That said, there are some excellent AHL candidates who can and should give the Canadiens a boost, even if for only a week or two.
