The Montreal Canadiens had a terrific season, going on a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Final before falling short to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Their counterpart in the American Hockey League, the Laval Rocket, also had a phenomenal season. Though there was no playoff action in the AHL, the Rocket dominated the Canadian Division and were awarded the Frank S. Mathers Trophy as the top team in Canada.
The Rocket had a fantastic 2020-21 season, going 23-9-4 in their 36 game schedule and finishing nine points ahead of the Manitoba Moose for first in the division. It was just a five team division for the year, with the Belleville Senators, Toronto Marlies and Stockton Heat playing out of Calgary joining them. They didn’t play teams located outside of the country and did not play any postseason games.
Laval proved to be a very structured and defensively minded team that completely shut other teams down. It was rare for an opponent to have more than 20 shots on goal in the middle of the third period when facing the Rocket. They allowed just 87 goals, or 2.41 per game and a lot of that success from a structured game plan can be attributed to Joel Bouchard.
Bouchard was the head coach of the Rocket for the past three seasons. The team got progressively better under his watchful eye and young players really started to carry the team this season.
Ryan Poehling, Jesse Ylonen, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Joel Teasdale were the team’s most dangerous forwards on an almost nightly basis and all of them suddenly appear to be on the cusp of becoming NHL regulars. Each of them took huge strides in their two-way games this season and again, a lot of that credit has to go to Bouchard.
That’s why it was surprising and unfortunate when it was announced yesterday that Bouchard will be heading west to be head coach of the San Diego Gulls. It is the same position he held with the Rocket, so it’s not really a promotion, but spending winters in San Diego instead of Laval is certainly a step in the right direction in terms of weather.
Also, with Dominique Ducharme performing so well and getting the head coaching duties for the Canadiens for the foreseeable future, Bouchard has a better chance of getting behind an NHL bench elsewhere in the near future.
He will be missed, and Jake Evans said as much in his press conference yesterday. Who can step into that role and take over as the head coach of the Rocket next season? Let’s take a look at three candidates.