One thing you learn quickly about Laval Rocket head coach Joël Bouchard when you speak to him is that he doesn’t play many things close to his vest. On more than one occasion this season he has told the media covering the Rocket that he doesn’t play games because he isn’t smart enough to keep track of what he tells which person.
So when he was asked about how he handles coaching in the American Hockey League on a conference call regarding the cancellation of the AHL season, he not only expressed relief that he was asked a hockey question, he opened the door wide into his philosophy. It was a welcome wave (or several waves) of honesty, but, really, that’s Bouchard: He’s honest, sometimes brutally so.
In two years of coaching the Rocket, Bouchard has given the team an identity, and it happens to come just as the importance of his job is increasing.
When he was hired in 2018, there were questions about how he would adjust to coaching at the professional level. Bouchard is as honest with his players as he is when talking to the media, and his demanding, yet fair style doesn’t work with everyone.
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When Phil Varone, Riley Barber, and Matthew Peca were traded within four days of each other, completely overhauling the Rocket’s roster in the middle of what was a playoff push, the message was clear that Bouchard was starting to understand team building at the AHL level.
But just because it doesn’t work for some players doesn’t mean he needs to change. For every Varone or Barber, there’s a Charles Hudon and Laurent Dauphin. For every Alexandre Grenier and Hunter Shinkaruk, there’s Alex Belzile and Yannick Veilleux. Xavier Ouellet, Karl Alzner, and Gustav Olofsson are others who have been key — and successful — members of the Rocket.
It’s no coincidence that Belzile, Dauphin, and Olofsson already have new contracts for next season even if their path to the NHL is questionable. When you have guys who work in the system, and who want to be part of the system, you lock them in.
“When you build a program, you need to have a way of doing business which I feel is what we’ve been doing over the last two years slowly. It doesn’t come overnight. You need to not only have the right [number] of veterans but the right veterans,” Bouchard said.
“We’re blessed and lucky to have guys where it’s not their dream to come play for the Laval Rocket. A lot of them had experience in the NHL but they embrace what we’re doing. It was not always easy for them because the reality of the NHL and AHL is not the same, but some of them made unbelievable efforts to be better on the ice and it’s remarkable to see guys who are that deep into their careers or who had a different lifestyle a few years back to go back, progress, and keep pushing.”
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The right veterans also extends to players on AHL contracts. Players like Kevin Lynch, Joe Cox, and others still have their futures up in the air, but they are examples of players that fit right in with Bouchard. There’s no cheating the coach, and if you put in the effort, the coach will recognize it.
The defining moment of the Rocket’s season may be the story surrounding Jake Evans’ first goal of the season.
Evans had a strong start to the season, but the results and production were not there. Bouchard continued to put him in those situations. Eventually, the lack of results started to play with Evans’ confidence. His play deteriorated as a result. He had a meeting with Bouchard on the morning of November 16 that he was going to be a healthy scratch to take a breath and re-adjust.
That morning, the Montreal Canadiens recalled Hudon, forcing Evans into the lineup. He scored his first goal into an empty net, prompting one of the best team moments of the year.
Not only was Joël Bouchard the first person to greet Jake Evans at the bench after his first goal of the season, he also made sure to do this when he sat down. pic.twitter.com/bVH1FhlrIz
— Jared Book (@jaredbook) November 17, 2019
The rest is history. Evans, in his second professional season, earned his first NHL call-up, and scored his first NHL goal. If not for the pandemic, he would have finished the season with the Canadiens.
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That’s the second part of Bouchard’s job: developing prospects for the NHL team. Players like Cayden Primeau, Ryan Poehling, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Cale Fleury, Victor Mete, and Lukas Vejdemo have all spent time in the NHL and AHL over the last two seasons. There are plenty more on the way. Bouchard also has a hand in development before the AHL as he is in charge of the team’s development and rookie camps, where he worked with Poehling, Kotkaniemi, and Nick Suzuki prior to their NHL debuts.
Coaching youngsters that are the future of the NHL team while trying to win is a unique challenge to coaches at the AHL level.
“The young guys need to play. And that’s the challenge of the AHL. There’s no other league like the AHL. Your main job is to develop young guys, make sure your call-ups are ready to play at NHL speed and at an NHL level and then you have some veterans who realize that this is their league and this is their way to live the dream and make a living and you still want them to develop because they may be one of those guys who beat the odds and become an NHL player, and all this has to work together,” Bouchard said.
“It’s a hell of a puzzle and it looks a little bit dysfunctional but what I like is that we’re working and we’re striving towards a good mix and a good identity and good communication with our players because my job is to make sure everyone performs to the best of their capabilities.”
He also says it affects his in-game coaching where he’s forced to balance winning and developing.
“When I’m behind the bench, I would not coach like I would coach in other leagues. It’s not the same purpose. The purpose is to develop the young guys in a winning environment and to make sure the chemistry works. If I have a prospect and when I put him on the ice he doesn’t work hard, he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to do but hey he’s a prospect we have to play him, it’s not going to work for me. It’s not going to work for the other guys. My job is to make sure we have the right amount of love and give opportunities but we also need to make the players accountable.”
That can mean putting a player in a position where success is not the main goal. You can’t keep a player away from tough assignments because he may not be prepared, and then expect him to magically be ready. Bouchard is fond of saying there’s no Hockey University. That’s where the AHL comes in.
“If you want him to be able to do it, you need at the right moment to give him some, knowing that it’s going to come with failure. Do you know how many times I leave a centreman in a defensive zone faceoff and I know he’s going to get picked apart by the veteran on the other side? I could change him and the ref looks at me and I say no and I leave him there and he gets picked apart and I could tell you two times this year they scored off it,” Bouchard said.
“But the reality is it’s going to be more harmful for the development of the player to just pull him all the time. I’m going to destroy his confidence, I’m going to show him off in front of the other guys a little too much so I need to let him handle it because if he goes to the NHL he’s going to have to be able to handle it in an icing or in a situation where the coach cannot change him. So now what do we do? We give him better techniques, we guide him, and we work with him. If I was behind the bench in another league, he would be out. But I can’t do that. He’s a young 20-21 year old, he needs to live this. Sometimes it doesn’t cost goals and I can still give him that lesson. It’s a partnership you need to have with the young guys and the veterans understand that.”
Bouchard has settled into his role in Laval and it comes at a time where the scrutiny will be raised. For years, the Canadiens have failed to deliver prospects for the NHL team. Now, it falls on the coach. He’s ready for the challenge.
“I love it,” he said. “My job is to make sure I give the guy the opportunity and sometimes I will take him out and I will explain to him that the timing wasn’t right. This is the difference between the NHL and the AHL, or the AHL and any other league, and it’s a compromise you need to do.”
“I’m demanding of them, but I’m a partner with them for their career.”
The team success came as well. At the time the AHL season stopped, the Rocket were on a four-game winning streak and had won seven of their last 10 games. Their last game of the season was a 3-0 win over the Belleville Senators, who were the best team in the North Division. Laval outshot the Senators 38-15.
“We were by far the best team on the ice,” Bouchard said.
The Rocket were four points out of a playoff spot, but the coach is quick to point out that they had multiple games against the teams ahead of them.
“All the work we put in over the last two years was starting to gel together,” Bouchard said. “If we would have made the playoffs, we would have been a tough matchup for anyone.”
