Montreal Canadiens: It Is Time To Send Ryan Poehling Back To Laval Rocket
The Montreal Canadiens are barely using Ryan Poehling at the NHL level. They recently send Jesperi Kotkaniemi down to the Laval Rocket and it is time they do the same with Poehling.
The Montreal Canadiens have decided in the past few days to move a pair of young NHL players to the Laval Rocket. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Cale Fleury found themselves being healthy scratched at times. They 19 year old centre and 20 year old defenseman were both then demoted to the American Hockey League.
It makes sense to have a young player play a big role in the AHL rather than sit in the press box and watch veteran players suit up in the NHL. Kotkaniemi hadn’t played an AHL game in his career before this weekend and Fleury had avoided the minors all season. Yet, the correct decision was made to move them both down to Laval where they will get far more ice time.
The same thing could be said for Ryan Poehling. The 21 year old centre started the year with the Rocket and played fine. When injuries swarmed the Canadiens roster, Poehling was called up in November for a handful of games, and then recalled once again for good in December.
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Poehling now has played 26 games with the Habs this season and has just one point. His lone point came when he scored against the Calgary Flames on January, 13th at the Bell Centre. He played 13:21 that night but has not received that amount of ice time since.
Poehling served as the team’s healthy scratch on Saturday when the Habs beat the Florida Panthers 4-0. Yesterday, he played just 7:04, his lowest ice time of the season, as the Canadiens trailed most of the game and lost 4-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
In his last five games, Poehling has played less than ten minutes on three occasions. Add in the fact he was also a healthy scratch recently, and he isn’t playing a very important role for the Canadiens.
Poehling was a first round pick in 2017 for a reason. He was the most valuable player at the 2019 World Junior Hockey Championships for a reason. He scored at nearly a point per game pace for St. Cloud State in the NCAA for two years for a reason.
That reason is he is a smart, two-way centre. He isn’t the flashiest player but he has the hockey sense to make the correct reads and be in the right spot defensively. He works hard and is responsible at both ends of the ice which is why he saw some penalty killing duties with the Habs as a rookie.
Poehling has all the tools to become a valuable two-way centre for the Canadiens. He just isn’t ready for the National Hockey League right now.
With a single point in 26 games this season and a fourth line role with Nate Thompson and Dale Weise as his primary linemates, it makes sense to just send Poehling down to the minors. They already decided to ship Kotkaniemi and Fleury to Laval, they need to have Poehling join them.
It is all about long term development for these young players. The Habs are too far out of the postseason to make short sighted decisions in an attempt to chase the 2020 postseason. The best thing for Poehling’s development would be to play far more minutes in Laval than he is getting in Montreal.
If he gets sent to Laval, Poehling could centre a line with scoring wingers Riley Barber and Phil Varone. Or, he could even play the wing with Kotkaniemi and Charles Hudon if the organization plans on having him play the left side. I’d rather see him stay at centre where I think he has the most value. He has the potential to be a great two-way centre and should be developing in that role.
Playing fourth line left wing in Montreal isn’t preparing him for what his future role will be on this team. Playing second line centre behind Kotkaniemi and joining him on the power play, while being a go to guy on the penalty kill for Laval is the best spot for Poehling – for now.
Next. Jesperi Kotkaniemi following Max Pacioretty's Development Path. dark
It won’t be long before Poehling is playing a much bigger role for the Canadiens. However, he just isn’t quite ready for it yet in his first pro season after playing college hockey. It is time to send him to Laval and let him develop his offensive game and bring him back when he is ready to at least be a third line centre and key penalty killer.