A disastrous third period saw the Montreal Canadiens turn their Saturday night tilt with the Boston Bruins into a laugher. They went into that frame trailing by just a goal, and left it with a 9-4 loss, proving just how important it is to maintain your effort level for 60 minutes in the NHL. Though it is tempting to dwell on those abysmal 20 minutes, it seems preferable to try and focus on some positives from the preceding 40.
For instance, the emergence of Joshua Roy as a legitimate NHL player, and one who probably deserves to remain in Montreal for the rest of the season.
Does this look like a player who lacks the speed to compete in the NHL? Does he look at all like a player who needs more time in the AHL to adjust to pro hockey? This goal showed elements that have always been present in his game: anticipation, positioning, puck protection, vision, and touch to feather a perfect pass into the slot. He combines many elements to make up for his lack of foot speed, and while many doubted his ability to continue that in the NHL, here he is doing precisely that.
The majority of hockey prospects have flaws, most of all those who slide into the later rounds of the draft. Barring a sharp correction, the question with many of those players will then become whether a combination of other skills can allow them to succeed despite those flaws. Roy’s biggest flaw has, and likely will always be his skating, while my contention has always been that he does so many other things well, his skating won’t hurt his NHL chances. We’re only five games in, but I’d argue he’s proven precisely that.
At this point, the decision to send him back to Laval is only getting harder. They’re getting solid production from his line with Sean Monahan and Joel Armia, to the point where he’s even helping to increase their respective values leading up to the trade deadline. If anything, there is a stronger argument to start getting Roy and his line more minutes, than there is to ship him back to the AHL.
He’s getting better by the game, and this team should be doing everything they can to find out how good he can be.
Click the play button below to listen to your full Bottom Six Minutes, also available wherever you get your podcasts. We will return this Tuesday, when the Habs will have a chance to avenge their previous loss against the Ottawa Sentators.
