The Laval Rocket will be without its best blueliner for some time, announced the Rocket via a social media post on Wednesday morning. 22-year-old Adam Engstrom will miss at least four weeks due to an upper-body injury. Alongside the announcement of losing their top defenseman, the Rocket also stated that top points-getter Laurent Dauphin is listed as day-to-day.
L’attaquant Laurent Dauphin (haut du corps) est évalué sur une base quotidienne. Le défenseur Adam Engström (haut du corps) sera tenu à l’écart du jeu pour quatre semaines.
— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) February 25, 2026
Forward Laurent Dauphin (upper-body) is day-to-day. Defenseman Adam Engström (upper-body) will be out for…
The lineup woes just seem to keep piling on for the top team in the AHL's North Division. David Reinbacher returned from a lengthy stint out of the lineup just a few short weeks ago, and star Rookie netminder Jacob Fowler has been in-and-out with a combination of injury and illness since All Star break.
In fact, Wednesday night, Xavier Simoneau left the game against the Toronto Marlies with an injury, and at the time of writing, there is no update on his timeline.
The Rocket are not just losing the best defenseman on their team, but one of the best in the entire American League. The sophomore AHL'er has 10 goals and 23 assists for 33 points in 40 games, good enough for sixth place in AHL scoring amongst defensemen and 75th amongst all skaters.
Engstom also played 11 games with Montreal earlier in the season, playing fairly sheltered minutes up with the big club. While his defensive play was steady, Engstrom did not record a point at the NHL level.
Laval will most certainly be missing the two-way play of Engstrom as they enter the final stretch of the season. Only 18 games remain in the Rocket's season, and the Syracuse Crunch are hot on their heels. The Crunch have 64 points to the Rocket's 71. Syracuse also has three games in hand on Laval, so the first-seed bye is hardly a guarantee.