These are always the posts that I enjoy writing the least. It means another AHL season has come to a close in the Calder Cup playoffs, and it means that Laval Rocket coverage is winding down until late summer. It is a season coming to a close much sooner than the Laval Rocket, their coach, and their fans would have liked as they lost Game 5 of the division semifinals to the Toronto Marlies.
The loss to the Marlies in the deciding game was a near perfect distillation of all the issues that had plagued the Rocket down the stretch of the regular season and in their series with Toronto. They couldn’t stay out of the box and keep their deep forward group on the ice. With 134 penalty minutes they were second to just the Marlies of all teams through the division semifinal stage, and you cannot expect to win many games when you’re averaging almost 27 penalty minutes. During the regular season they finished second in the entire league with 1208 PIMs, and the next closest team with a winning record was the Syracuse Crunch who had 1042 PIMs. All the best teams around the league find ways to keep their time in the box down, and it’s high time the Rocket start to find a way to do that.
This is not me asking the Rocket to abandon their “take no crap” attitude. I love seeing teammates standing up for each other regardless of their role on the team. However, when you factor in that the Rocket had the 23rd-ranked penalty kill, it paints a picture of a team that could not stop shooting itself in the foot. Pascal Vincent has gotten the Rocket to new heights with his coaching, but he has to find a way to start reining in the penalty minutes to give his offence the best chance to thrive.
I would also be remiss to not mention that the Rocket did deal with some tough injuries down the stretch, and very likely into the playoffs. David Reinbacher was missing from most of the Rocket’s Game 4 win, and wasn’t able to suit up in Game 5, while Marc Del Gaizo was out of the lineup as well. The team went 5-8-3 after clinching a playoff spot, and in that same time frame they were without leading scorer Laurent Dauphin and ever-reliable defenceman Tobie Bisson. With the top line missing Dauphin for most of the final stretch, they sometimes struggled to take over games effectively putting a bigger strain on the bottom six.
That proved to be another trouble spot for the Rocket. Outside of Florian Xhekaj, the bottom six generated very little consistent offence all year. Not everyone has to produce double-digit goals like Xhekaj has, but a few extra would be helpful. His most common linemates in Luke Tuch and Tyler Thorpe had 14 and 16 points, respectively, while Xhekaj had 17 goals on his own. Lucas Condotta finished with eight goals and 10 assists, while Xavier Simoneau posted just four goals and eight assists in 43 games.
The lack of offence was hard to overcome because the goaltending faltered at the worst possible time. While Kaapo Kähkönen wasn’t setting the world on fire through the first half of the year, he and Jacob Fowler formed a highly competent goaltending duo that split the workload perfectly. With Samuel Montembeault turning into an NHL non-option, Fowler was recalled to help stabilize the Montreal Canadiens with Jakub Dobeš. That meant a ton of starts and back-to-back sets for the veteran Kähkönen as ECHL call-up Hunter Jones wasn’t trusted enough. Even after acquiring two-time Calder Cup champion Hunter Shepard, the team leaned primarily on Kähkönen, with Shepard getting just four total games.
Last year Kähkönen had stymied the Rocket, calmly slowing things down in his own zone and making the reliable saves they needed. It’s one thing when quick passes go tic-tac-toe, or a star forward puts a shot in the upper 90s, but on Kähkönen shots that should have been stopped continued to go in the net.
So, with a five-game series loss in their first round of the Calder Cup playoffs, where do the Laval Rocket go next? That’s a loaded question as the roster is likely to see some definite overhaul, and some of their top young stars and vets are likely to be shuffled around heading into next season. Perhaps the easiest position to identify is in net. Jacob Fowler is likely to stick with the NHL club next year alongside Jakub Dobeš. If we take a look at the current depth chart from Elite Prospects we can start to suss out some possible answers.
We can rule out Fowler as mentioned above, along with Quentin Miller, Mikus Vecvanags, Arseni Radkov, and Alexis Cournoyer who are still playing in Major Junior or the NCAA and confirmed for next year. Miller is sliding over to Western Michigan while Cournoyer is bound for Wisconsin as both players look to take the next step in their careers. So who does that leave us with?
It leaves us with Kaapo Kähkönen and Hunter Shepard who are both unrestricted free agents after this season. It also leaves us with Emmett Croteau, a player under 25 who may or may not be leaving the NCAA. Croteau was rumoured to have been sought after by NHL teams closer to the NHL trade deadline after a standout year at Dartmouth.
Shifting gears now to the rest of the lineup, it’s also highly likely that the team in front of the netminders will also look very different as well. Entering this summer, six regular forwards on the Rocket are up for new contracts including several key players in the top six. Alex Belzile and Sammy Blais are both unrestricted free agents, and it would not be surprising to see Blais attract NHL interest while Belzile will soon be 35 years old and entering the twilight years of his career. However, they do have the benefit of both Dauphin and Condotta returning.
Luke Tuch, Jared Davidson, Joshua Roy and Sean Farrell are all restricted free agents as well. For Tuch and Davidson, it’s likely both will be back on one- or two-year deals, similar to how many other prospects have gone with the Rocket. The real question becomes what do the Rocket, and by extension the Montreal Canadiens, do with both Farrell and Roy. Both players have shown themselves to be extremely talented AHL players, with Farrell in particular being part of the leadership core this season. For Joshua Roy it’s a bit more complicated as he’s clearly a skill level above the AHL, but the current composition of the Canadiens leaves him in no man’s land. It might be telling that he wasn’t brought onto the NHL roster when Laval’s season concluded.
It would not be surprising if the Canadiens accommodate a move to allow Roy the opportunity somewhere else, which leaves a massive gap in the top six and top power-play unit, doubly so if Farrell also departs for any reason. What that would mean is the Rocket needing to see more from players like Thorpe, Beck, and Filip Mesar, in addition to seeing what Vinzenz Rohrer can do across a full season. While these players have their talents and strengths, it is a major ask to replace two near point-per-game players. Perhaps the biggest piece in how all of this will work out is if Florian Xhekaj continues to grow his game and step into a bona fide top-six AHL centre, if he isn’t promoted to the Canadiens’ lineup. If he makes that progress in the AHL, then things get much easier for Pascal Vincent.
Finally we come to the defence which might see some of the greatest change heading into next season. Both Adam Engström and David Reinbacher are knocking on the door for potential NHL jobs, leaving the Rocket without their two top defencemen if they make the cut. William Trudeau is a restricted free agent, and could find himself in a similar spot to Farrell and Roy. Veterans Nate Clurman and Marc Del Gaizo are unrestricted free agents, while Josiah Didier and Bisson’s one-year deals expires this summer as well.
What that means is that Laval is looking at a very young defensive group featuring Bryce Pickford, Owen Protz, Luke Mittelstadt and Aiden Dubinsky, all signed and destined for the AHL next year. It is paramount for the Rocket to insulate this young group, even if Reinbacher or Engström is also still with the team going into next season. There are a lot of questions the Rocket need to answer in the off-season, largely because the group of drafted players that has made up the current era of the team is reaching the end of its time as prospects, with a new batch, especially on defence, coming in to claim spots.
The coaching staff and players aren’t happy with their early exit from the playoffs, but the Canadiens will provide them the opportunity to bolster their ranks this summer. The question is whether they can learn from their shortcomings this year and return to the Calder Cup Playoffs with real championship aspirations. It’s hard to bet against the team given their recent years of success, but this summer is crucial for them to continue building on the foundation already in place.
