Joshua Roy faces Toronto Marlies, in back-to-back after returning from injury

The Montreal Canadiens have one of the National Hockey League's formidable prospect pools, and somewhere near the top sits Joshua Roy.

Unfortunately for Roy, his second season with the Laval Rocket, while it started pretty well, turned sour when the forward suffered an injury. Roy, at the time of his injury, had 27 points (14 goals, and 13 assists) in 34 AHL games. On January 20, the Rocket announced that Roy would be sidelined for four-to-six weeks to nurse an upper-body injury.

Roy made his return on Friday night, in a 5-2 win over the Toronto Marlies, he registered one shot, and I think was feeling things out. But I expect that the second half of the weekend back-to-back will be better. Roy will assume his second-line role alongside Luca Condotta and Rafael Harvey-Pinard.

I think, if not for his injury, Roy would be up with the Canadiens instead of Owen Beck, but I don't want to confuse anybody. Beck fully deserves to be up with the Habs, and has been brilliant since being recalled by the team. But Roy has more experience, and for my money is the best player for the Rocket.

Next season, the Canadiens are going to have many fresh faces looking to establish themselves as NHL players. The obvious Ivan Demidov and Logan Mailloux will be atop the list, but I think that Roy will stick with the club. Having said that, I believe that Beck will also be there, and Oliver Kapanen, who is currently playing in Sweden with Timrå IK, will also be in the mix.

Back to Roy, though, he has all the tools to become a very good top-nine winger, with immense potential to push for a top-six role. The Canadiens are trying to turn a corner and establish themselves as contenders, and having the youth join the club will only help with that progression. With Roy in the mix, the Habs have another pure shooter, along with Emil Heineman, who will play bottom-six roles.

Cole Caufield and Patrik Laine are also pure shooters, but neither are going to play in the bottom six unless a real issue arises. Roy, however, is a Swiss Army knife player, who will fit anywhere in the bottom three lines, because of how smart he is. Defensively, he is always prodding to force turnovers, using a smart defensive stick and positioning to give the opposition headaches.

Roy is also great in the offensive zone, because he keeps his head up, and makes difficult passes. His off-puck routes are also polished, so if he doesn't have the puck, he is going somewhere to take advantage of the open ice. When he emerges in pockets of space, he has the shooting ability to devastate goalies, and the patience to look off defenders before finding the open man.

He isn't the speediest skater, but he is competitive and smart enough to get to where he needs to be to make an impact.

The Rocket and Marlies played from the 5:44 mark of the second frame through a period of overtime, and neither goalie could be solved. It took a shootout, and Roy was waiting for his moment to seal the win after Jared Davidson scored on his attempt. Both Marlies shooters missed their shots, and the game was on Roy's stick, who iced the game.

Florian Xhekaj is an assist short of a 'Gordie Howe' hat trick

The Laval Rocket - Toronto Marlies game is just over 10 minutes old, and Canadiens prospect Florian Xhekaj has asserted himself against the Marlies. Xhekaj dropped the gloves early in the game against Zach Solow, at the 2:43 mark of the opening frame. Arber talked about Florian's toughness, and the younger Xhekaj hasn't shied away from AHL opponents.

Xhekaj was feeling plenty of wind beneath his sails entering the second meeting between the Marlies and Rocket this weekend. Jared Davidson, who has been impressive in his own right, found Xhekaj wide open with a cross-crease feed. Xhekaj fired home the pass, putting himself to two-thirds of the way to a 'Gordie Howe' hat trick.

Xhekaj finished the game with a fighting major, a goal and six total shots registered on net.