The American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, the brand new farm team of the Montreal Canadiens, are starting their first training camp on Monday, led by the returning coaching staff of Sylvain Lefebvre, Donald Dufresne, and Nick Carriere.
The Rocket will hit the ice at La Place Bell for training camp with the following roster:
Forwards (14)
- Audette, Daniel
- Boucher, Jordan, tryout
- Broll, David, AHL contract
- Dufour, Kevin, ECHL contracted tryout
- Ebbing, Thomas, AHL/ECHL contract
- Eisenschmid, Markus
- Goulet, Alexandre, tryout
- Grégoire, Jérémy
- McEwan, James, tryout
- Petti, Niki, AHL contract
- Réway, Martin
- Scherbak, Nikita
- Veilleux, Yannick, AHL/ECHL contract
- Waked, Antoine/
Defencemen (7)
- Bourque, Simon
- Corrin, William, ECHL contracted tryout
- Leblanc, Stefan, AHL contract
- Lernout, Brett
- Parisi, Tom
- Posa, Sam, ECHL contracted tryout
- Redmond, Zach/
Goalies (3)
- Fucale, Zachary
- McNiven, Michael
- Spano, Patrick, tryout/
The key storylines will be the battle between Zachary Fucale and Michael McNiven, though the team has introduced tryout Patrick Spano to the fold as well. One will remain in Laval as backup to Charlie Lindgren, while the others will vie for spots on the roster of the ECHL’s Brampton Beast.
The Rocket will also be looking for a new captain, as Max Friberg has moved on to the Swedish Hockey League. Leading candidates to be emblazoned with the C are not evident at this point, as the team may be looking for a francophone team spokesman. Last season’s alternate captains — Jacob de la Rose, Chris Terry, and Zach Redmond — must be the early favourites.
The Rocket have the potential to be loaded with veteran players, but for the time being many of them are still with the Canadiens at their training camp. For now the Rocket will contend with several tryout players that have been with the Canadiens since development camp, such as Alexandre Goulet, Jordan Boucher, and James McEwan as well as several ECHL-contracted players.
The Rocket play two pre-season games at La Place Bell against the Belleville Senators on September 30 and October 1, in preparation for their October 6 season opener.
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