The Montreal Canadiens are in for a busy week with the NHL Draft coming up on Wednesday and Thursday and free agency beginning on Saturday. Between draft picks, signing and trades, general manager Kent Hughes is going to be a busy man in the next seven days.
While the Canadiens are the main focus in the news, their affiliates will continue to fill out their rosters for the upcoming season as well. The American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket should have an impressive influx of young talent with Joshua Roy, Logan Mailloux, Jared Davidson and Riley Kidney turning pro.
The Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL are also going to be on the search for talent. They recently hired their new head coach when Pascal Rheaume was promoted from his assistant’s chair. They also retained the services of their captain from last season.
Cedric Montminy has been the captain of the Lions for each of the team’s two seasons of existence and will continue in that role in 2023-24. He scored 19 goals and 46 points in 65 games last season. In the Lions inaugural season in 2021-22, Montminy scored 19 goals and 38 points in 61 games.
The Lions missed the playoffs last season, so the 28 year old Montminy will be hoping to lead them to a better regular season. The Sherbrooke, Quebec native did have a solid performance last season, but it wasn’t quite enough to get into the ECHL Playoffs.
The Lions now have a head coach and captain signed up for the 2023-24 campaign. Aside from that, the cupboards are pretty bare, which isn’t unusual for the ECHL where players come and go rather quickly.
Watch for the Lions to be signing plenty of local talent, mainly in the form of graduating college players and QMJHL players who are too old for Junior and are hoping for an AHL contract that doesn’t come their way in early July.
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