As we all know, the Montreal Canadiens relocated their farm team to Laval for the 2017-18 season. This will be the first time that the AHL farm team will be in the province of Quebec since the failed Quebec Citadelles franchise of 1999 to 2002. This time, however, the Habs will own and control the franchise.
The St. John’s IceCaps can consider their last campaign a success given that they qualified for the playoffs, an achievement that had dodged the Canadiens farm team for five season prior.
With the transformation into the Rocket, there should be an expected turnover in on-ice personnel. The IceCaps took the following picture that captures the team of 27 players as it was composed in its final regulation game.
Right off the bat we can eliminate several players from next season’s squad, most notably Max Friberg, the IceCaps captain who already signed a three-year deal with Frolunda.
Backup goaltender Yann Danis won’t return since the Rocket will have congestion in the goal crease with Charlie Lindgren, Zachary Fucale, and Micheal McNiven all vying for the two goaltender positions. There is no room for Danis at this point.
Keegan Lowe, a restricted free agent probably won’t be coming back, but unrestricted free agent Bobby Farnham could potentially return, and can provide the veteran presence that players need to be surrounded with.
In addition most players with AHL contracts can also be assumed to not be returning since they were to one-year deals, which includes forwards Anthony Camara, Guillaume Asselin, and Yannick Veilleux, defencemen Julien Brouillette, and Mathieu Corderre-Gagnon (not pictured).
The final AHL player whose contract expired, defenceman Josiah Didier, might yet still earn a third straight AHL contract, as he became a valuable defensive stalwart for Sylvain Lefebvre, and a top shot-blocker on the team.
Finally, we remove Buddy the Puffin who will be replaced as team mascot by Youppi’s “cousin” Cosmo, IceCaps superfan Andrew Abbott, Mile One Stadium, and the great fans that showed fantastic support in St.John’s.
Normally restricted free agents, for the most part, remain with the team until they reach unrestricted free agency, but last season there was a turn in the tide, and many RFAs were not given qualifying offers by their teams across the League. This included the Canadiens, who failed to qualify Morgan Ellis, Darren Dietz, and Victor Bartley among others. This season we could see the same situation.
At the top of the list are two players who are not pictured because they finished their season with the Brampton Beast of the ECHL: Connor Crisp and Dalton Thrower. We can also add Mark MacMillan, Joel Hanley, and Ryan Johnston as RFAs who possibly won’t be returning.
Two RFAs who might perhaps obtain new deals are Stefan Matteau and Jacob de la Rose. They were both instrumental in the IceCaps push to the playoffs and the best players for the team during the four post-season games.
Two RFAs who are definitely signing new deals will include forward Charles Hudon and goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Lindgren is the heir apparent to the backup role at the NHL level, and biding his time until Al Montoya falters. We will discuss Hudon in a bit.
Next, for simplicity, let’s parse the players who are contracted for next season, and without the complication of waivers or the expectation of making the Canadiens will definitely be part of the Rocket next season.
First and foremost there is forward David Broll who signed an extension on his AHL contract for next season. There’s also Niki Petti, Stefan Leblanc, and Thomas Ebbing, who all signed AHL deals.
Then there are a few prospects on NHL Entry Level contracts who are not quite on the cusp of competing for spots in the NHL: Tom Parisi, Jeremy Gregoire, Markus Eisenschmid, Daniel Audette, Brett Lernout, and Nikita Scherbak.
This leaves us to talk about the following players: Daniel Carr, Zach Redmond, Chris Terry, and Charles Hudon. First of all they all become waivers eligible for next season. Secondly these players all risk being unprotected at the expansion draft (along with Matteau and de La Rose). These players would be the marquee players for the Rocket next season, but each one also deserves a crack at the Canadiens. There is also the case of Michael McCarron (not pictured), who although is not waiver eligible, might crack the Canadiens line-up for good, or might return to the Rocket.
Terry was the MVP for the IceCaps this past season, Redmond was the top defender and is a proven asset at the NHL level, just like Carr, and finally Hudon is probably the brightest prospect, or at least the most hyped, in the Habs cupboard, and he might finally get his chance next season.
Out of the 27 players who finished the regular season with the IceCaps, only nine are certain to be back. The following rookies will also be part of the Rocket: Noah Juulsen, Simon Bourque, Jeremiah Addison, Antoine Waked, and Michael McNiven.
Add Micheal McCarron to the blue group of players who may start the season with the Canadiens plus four others without contracts at the moment, and that’s just nine others who might potentially return with the Rocket.
As for Victor Mete, his contract will probably slide by a year as he is returned to junior for more seasoning. In the case of Mikhail Sergachev, he is too young to play in the AHL next season, so it’s either the Canadiens or a return to the Windsor Spitfires for him.
Gone from last year’s team
Mark MacMillan (C), Anthony Camara (LW), Connor Crisp (LW), Mathieu Gagnon (LW), Yannick Veilleux (LW), Guillaume Asselin (RW), Max Friberg (RW), Joel Hanley (LD), Ryan Johnston (RD), Julien Brouillette (RD), Keegan Lowe (RD), Dalton Thrower (RD)
Uncertain
Jacob de la Rose (C), Josiah Didier (RD), Bobby Farnham (LW), Stefan Matteau (LW)
Might be back (subject to waivers)
Daniel Carr (LW), Charles Hudon (LW), Chris Terry (RW), Zach Redmond (RD)
Likely to be on the roster
*Michael McCarron (C), Daniel Audette (C), Markus Eisenschmid (C), Jeremiah Addison (LW), David Broll (LW), Martin Reway (LW), Jeremy Gregoire (RW), Nikki Petti (RW), Nikita Scherbak (RW), Antoine Waked (RW), Thomas Ebbing (F), Simon Bourque (LD), Stefan Leblanc (LD), Tom Parisi (LD), Noah Juulsen (RD), Brett Lernout (RD), Zach Fucale (G), Charlie Lindgren (G), Michael McNiven (G),
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