Montreal Canadiens Rocket Fire: What to look for the rest of the season

The Montreal Canadiens look playoff-bound but the same can’t be said for the Laval Rocket where growing and developing will be the goal.

Both the Montreal Canadiens and Laval Rocket had poor performances last year. Although the focus will always be on the Habs in the NHL, seeing Laval not build off their success the season before was a bit disappointing.

The team managed to make the playoffs as the St. Johns Ice Caps at the end of the year but were quickly eliminated by the Syracuse Crunch in four games (not a sweep as the first round is a best of three in the AHL). The year after, as the Laval Rocket, saw them finish last in the league. As much as it was poor play and execution, the roster was constantly being picked at thanks to injuries and call-ups without management making moves to replenish the talent.

The Laval Rocket went into this season with a new head coach, mindset, and a bunch of brand new faces. Jake Evans, Lukas Vejdemo, and Cale Fleury are at the head of the rookie class when it comes to draft picks in Laval while the Montreal Canadiens also signed young players such as Hayden Verbeek and Alexandre Alain as free agents out of junior. That goes for the names signed to AHL contracts like Alex Belzile who was the team’s lone representative at the AHL All-Star Game.

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Looking at the standings, the Rocket may be on their way to another season without the playoffs. They’re currently 13th in the Eastern Conference with a 19-19-7 record and 45 points. However, they’re only five points out of a playoff spot behind the Toronto Marlies.

There are a few obstacles here. The Marlies may not be the strong team they were last season with their best players graduating to the NHL after a Calder Cup Championship, but they still have some names that can produce. Additionally, the Springfield Thunderbirds (50 points), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (49 points), Cleaveland Monsters (47 points), and Hershey Bears (45) are in the running for that spot as well.

Laval’s next two games could be impactful turning points for them as they have back-to-back matches against the Marlies. Winning both can bring them within one point of Toronto. Obviously, the rest of the leagues goes on, and those other four teams can raise their stock in the standings at the same time. But the Laval Rocket has to stay focused on what they can control.

The game plan is fairly simple:

1. Score more goals

Byron Froese is leading the team in goals with 14 while Belzile is the only player on the team to exceed 30 points so far this season. It’s going to take more from the team’s forwards to capitalize on their chances and put more pressure on the opposition.

2. Limit the chances

The Laval Rocket have close to an NHL blueline thanks to the Montreal Canadiens. Xavier Ouellet, David Schlemko, and Karl Alzner were all demoted to the AHL. Ouellet has had the biggest impact of the three with 15 points in 19 games helping Laval better their powerplay production. Focusing that into defensive limitation is going to wonders as well especially with Noah Juulsen still out of the lineup.

It’ll be an interesting journey for the Laval Rocket and even if they can’t make it, Joël Bouchard has continued to set a good standard for what is expected of the players and most importantly the Montreal Canadiens prospects.