Laval Rocket: 2023-24 Laval Rocket Thread
- Thread starter Adam Michaels
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Habs Halifax
Loyal Habs Fan
He helped Norlinder alot as well. Every player recalled last season showed up ready to play.
Gaylord Q Tinkledink
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Estimated_Prophet
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Houle has done a great job and there's just a lot of people squinting their eyes trying to find the boogeyman in the closet. It is getting really annoying....
Ylonen? A few good spurts by a 24 year old perimeter player is nothing to brag about . In fact, I’ll go on record as saying here won’t be with this team next year
Norlinder? What exactly has he done? For a supposed offensive dman he had 19 points last year and he’s terrible defensively.
Pezzetta - really?
I honestly don’t see this supposed great job Houle is doing
Estimated_Prophet
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Was he supposed to make them into stars lol. He has had almost nothing to work with yet his graduates have seamlessly joined the Habs and fit in as well as broad acknowledgement that he has helped to improve the players.
The criticisms are weak offerings from hyperbolic, emotion driven fans who look to assign agency in places where the evidence doesn't support such assertions. No different than simple folk blaming deities or conspiracy theorists blaming the government......the real issue is on a human level where those who are lacking answers like nothing more than to blame powers that are/they perceive to be in control. Blame authority or invent one in it's absence....nothing new here.
His job is to replicate the systems that MSL is employing and to provide support, guidance and leadership to these players. There is zero evidence that he has in any way done anything short of what is expected him. If your argument is that he should have shoved magic beans up their a***s and stars would have then magically sprout then your then your disappointment is ill placed as this is essentially the miracle that he would have had to perform in order to meet the standard that you appear to expect.
Why not mention RHP, curious that you omitted his name from the discussion?
Perhaps this doesn't apply to you as maybe you are a casual follower of the team and are just working your way through the land mines in this thread. I will certainly grant you the benefit of the doubt but I can assure you that I would be all over Houle if he failed an objective analysis/audit of his work which imo he certainly has not and has actually done the very opposite. Maybe he does something foolish tomorrow or the day after or next month that gives me cause for concern but I have no issues with the guy right now.
There are certainly question marks on Houle, namely keeping Norlinder off the PP and his treatment of Mysak.
He's not Lefebvre, but he isn't free of criticism.
admiralcadillac
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Is anyone watching the games rather than criticizing the coach? Kulich scored 3 goals while Mesar played on the fourth line last night. Fantastic.
Adam Michaels
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Just to clarify that Mesar started the game on the 3rd line with Andersson and Kidney. JF Houle juggled the lines as the game went on to get something going. Mesar might have gotten some shifts on the 4th, but he mostly played 3rd line.
He was more comfortable as the game went on, creating some chances and breaking up some plays. He created some turnovers, with one leading up to a high danger scoring chance for Kidney that Amerks' goalie had to be spectacular to make the save.
We know Kulich is real good and definitely has the leg up on Mesar right now, but I think many people are throwing Mesar out and talk about him like he's some scrub and it's already decided he won't live up to expectations.
It will take Mesar some time to get more comfortable. And in his first game, you saw glimpses into what he can offer. Kulich was good for the Amerks last year in his first year in the AHL, but it wasn't all sunshines, rainbows, and waterfalls all year long. He had his struggles and had his dry spells.
I think Mesar should play more AHL games before they decide if he should stay or be sent down to Junior. I think he is ready for the AHL.
admiralcadillac
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I have hopes for Mesar myself. I just wonder where Kulich slotted in the totem pole for habs scouts.
montreal
Go Habs Go
i've got highlight vids in every game day thread.
admiralcadillac
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Trust me they’re well appreciated! I was just surprised no one talked about the game.
Estimated_Prophet
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Nobody should be free of criticism but I don't think he has treated Mysak unfairly in any sense and Norlinder is getting some PP time now. There is no question that Norlinder has improved under Houle and Mysak is a player with very limited offensive skills and just as Hughes and MSL pointed out, each player needs to find their chair. Houle is only doing exactly what is asked of him and the narrative that he is picking on a player or is not playing a player is nonsense as his decisions are in lock step with upper management and people are drawing incorrect and hyperbolic conclusions from limited information entirely devoid of nuance or context.
Norlinder should have ended up getting more PP time last year instead of being blocked by vets who were not producing on the PP. He's getting PP time now because there's almost no vet D this year.
I'm not asking for Mysak to play 1st line, but he's been glued to the 4th line (or the pressbox) unless Houle is missing half his team. Last year there were plenty of opportunities to give a shot to Mysak with slightly better linemates but opportunities went to ECHLers or AHL contract players instead.
How do you know every decision Houle is making are in line with what the upper management want? Is it based on "limited information"?
For the record, I am not on the fire Houle train (yet), but he makes some decisions I disagree with and thus need to show results, which he hasn't really yet except his run on red hot Primeau and Martel.
His contract is up after this year I believe, so we will see what upper management really think of the job he's been doing.
I wouldn't be against getting a new gen coach a la MSL for the Rocket instead of a classical coach like Houle.
Estimated_Prophet
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He is doing a good job of developing the kids and anyone who thinks he is making developmental decisions that are not endorsed by upper management are just delusional and making emotion bases comments.
Imo the topic is so ridiculous that it is not even worth discussing. My opinion is not every other poster's opinion but It is based in rational thought and comments from both upper management and Houle about continuity between the Habs and Rocket. Anything that fans conjure up that contradicts that is entirely rooted in unsupported speculation and understandably in emotion/frustration with the results as they perceive them.
If people think that Houle is a rogue coach making his own decisions about prospect deployment/development and gameplanning without consultation and endorsement from HuGo they both don't know what they are talking about and have not been paying attention.
WinterLion
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I never said Houle is a rogue coach. I said he made some questionnable decisions. AHL coach make questionnable decisions all the time, hence why they are fired frequently and not kept until retirement.
However, what you are saying is that he is merely a puppet devoid of any free will that just do everything MSL+Hughes+Gorton tell him without any thinking whatsoever.
Coaches are always given some free will regarding how they manage their team. It doesn't mean how they manage their team perfectly align with the upper management vision. However, if it strays too long or too far from it, then they get fired.
Pretty much any company works the same with their management staff. Get general directions, get satisfying results, stay employed.
Not sure why you think NHL organizations are the Borgs.
Kulich was a polarizing prospect. It’s really easy to look back and say it was obvious now that he’s playing well in the ahl but I can understand the habs passing on him. Not so sure Mesar was the right pick, they may have wanted Slaf to have a friend, they might have wanted to add speed.
