Whenever established NHL veterans clear waivers and are sent to the American Hockey League, you are never sure what you will get. Some players take time to adjust back to the disappointment, others can hit the ground running. Any questions on how Joel Armia would react were thrown out the window quickly, as he scored two goals in the Laval Rocket’s 7-4 loss on Friday night to the Abbotsford Canucks.
Armia played on a line with Mitchell Stephens and Sean Farrell as he played his first AHL game since December 2015. His first goal came less than three minutes in. His last AHL goal was November 13, 2015. Farrell, who assisted on the goal, was 14 years old and playing U16 hockey in Boston when Armia last scored at the AHL level.
In addition to performing on the ice, there’s a lot of value in surrounding the many young forwards in Laval with a veteran like Armia.
“Army’s unbelievable,” said Farrell after the game. “[He’s a] really good player and even better person. It’s great to be around him everyday and learn from him. He’s such a great pro and does everything the right way. He shows up, works hard, and a great guy to play with too. He’s skilled and works hard to get pucks back. There’s a lot to learn from a guy like him.”
“He’s involved. He spoke a lot today with the guys next to him in the room and on the bench,” said Rocket head coach Jean-François Houle. “He competed. He scored some big goals, he was good on the penalty kill for us, I’m really happy for him.”
“He’s a veteran down here. Coming down here, he’s going to produce a lot for us,” said Rocket defender Logan Mailloux. “He played his game and it worked. Hopefully we’ll come back tomorrow and the whole team will be better.”
A strong debut
I’ll admit to being skeptical when I first saw the pairing of Mattias Norlinder and Logan Mailloux. I struggled to see how playing with each other would allow each one to bring the offensive game that they both need in order to thrive. I’ll also admit I was wrong.
Other than one shift where they were scored on after a long shift in the defensive zone, the pair was very solid. Both made good decisions on when to attack and covered for each other.
“We thought of maybe switching [Tobie Paquette-Bisson and Jayden Struble],” said Houle. “[Norlinder and Mailloux] are two guys who are offensive but tonight they backed each other pretty well. That pairing was fine for me tonight.”
“I felt like we worked the blue line alright offensively, we weren’t bad defensively either,” Mailloux said. “There was one shift we got scored on, we got hemmed in but other than that I feel like it was good. We’ll build off it today and come back tomorrow.”
Welcome to the AHL, Joshua Roy
The most noticeable player on the ice for the Rocket all game was Joshua Roy. He was playing his first regular season AHL game after making an appearance in a playoff game in the 2021-22 playoff run. He scored his first AHL goal and assisted on Armia’s second goal on the power play.
His goal wasn’t ho-hum, either.
“It was a good feeling,” Roy said. “It’s not like it was an empty net so I’m happy it was a nice goal and I hope there will be others.”
“We saw he has talent, he’s able to make good plays,” said Houle. “Even defensively, he came back a few times. He’s stronger physically than I thought. He protects the puck well, he has good vision. I thought he played a good game.”
Uncharacteristic struggles for William Trudeau
There were high expectations this season for William Trudeau. The second-year defender had a good camp with the Montreal Canadiens, and spent most of his rookie season as one of the steadiest players on the Rocket.
On Friday night, he was on the ice for four goals against at even strength or while Laval was on the power play and finished as a -2. For someone who often is remarkable because they aren’t standing out, it was a different sight.
“Since he came back from Canadiens camp, it’s a bit harder for him,” Houle said. “He doesn’t seem comfortable right now and it’s part of the learning that a player has when he gets sent down from the NHL. Maybe he thought he would stay there longer, there are a lot of things that can play into it but he needs to be better than that and we know that he can be better than that.”
The Rocket play the Abbotsford Canucks on Saturday afternoon with puck drop at 3:00 p.m. Houle says that he expects several sets of fresh legs will rotate into the lineup.
