Montreal Canadiens: Joel Bouchard Pushing All The Right Buttons For Laval Rocket

Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme is new to his role, but he better not get too comfortable.

Joel Bouchard is the head coach of the Laval Rocket, the Habs top farm team and he has them playing a dominating game.

The Rocket are without a doubt the best AHL team in their Canadian Division and are one of the best teams in the entire league this season. There are still questions surrounding a potential AHL Playoffs, but there is little doubt the Rocket would be well prepared for a deep run.

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Bouchard is in his third season as the bench boss for the Rocket and they are looking like a finely tuned machine. Laval is first in the Canadian Division with a 17-4-1-1 record, and are currently on a 11-0-1 run. As the season goes along, this team just seems to get better and better. They are facing the same four teams, as the entire schedule is division based, just like the NHL, but the Rocket have adjusted the best of anyone.

A lot of that is due to Bouchard’s preparation. This team plays such a stifling defensive game that they rarely allow great scoring chances against. At the same time, they run freely in the offensive zone, showing off creativity and setting up chance after chance.

In 23 games this season, the Rocket have allowed just 52 goals, an average of just 2.26 per game. The next stingiest team in the division is the Manitoba Moose who allow 2.9 goals per game. Not surprisingly, the Rocket also have the best penalty kill in the division at 82.9% and a solid power play that converts 20.9% of the time.

The AHL isn’t really known as a defensive, shut it down type of league either. In fact, goaltenders often talk about how it can be easier to play in the NHL in some ways because your defence is so much better and smarter.

Well, Cayden Primeau can’t say that. He has played 14 games this season and has solid numbers, sitting 5th in the league in goals against average. He’s been good but he’s also not been that busy. He has faced 327 shots in 14 games which is an average of just over 23 per game.

Michael McNiven is the team’s backup and he has faced 151 shots in six games which is an average of 25 per game.

Meanwhile, you have goalies like Logan Thompson who has been the league’s best so far and he is facing 34.5 shots per game for the Henderson Silver Knights, the league’s best team.

Bouchard’s Rocket are clearly locking things down defensively. Also, some of their young players are really blossoming offensively.

Ryan Poehling didn’t have a great season last year but has been a two-way force this season. He is now tied for 13th in the league in points with 18. Rafael Harvey-Pinard isn’t far behind with 16 points and Joel Teasdale has 14 in 21 games. Both of those wingers are rookies and have grown leaps and bounds in a short time under Bouchard.

If the Rocket continue to play such a terrific defensive game while pushing the pace offensively, and the young players keep progressing this well, Joel Bouchard will have to be given strong consideration to be the Canadiens next head coach.

Dominique Ducharme is still the interim head coach, but he is going to need to impress to lose that interim tag. If not, he will lose the head coach tag altogether.