Laval Rocket: Game #1 vs. Belleville Senators (Laval Lost 6-5 in OT)

[Adam Michaels]

JF Houle says that Mesar needs to play regular season games so the organization can properly evaluate if they need to send him to Kitchener. There is no rush and it will take the time it will take before they decide.



JF Houle giving praise to Simoneau. He said he didn't have him penciled in his line-up at that spot at the start of camp, but to his credit, Simoneau pushed some vets down or out of the line-up.



Some of the vets that helped during Laval's playoff run last year will not play tonight. JF Houle says that some young guys are pushing for spots.

 

[EveryDay]

JF Houle says that Mesar needs to play regular season games so the organization can properly evaluate if they need to send him to Kitchener. There is no rush and it will take the time it will take before they decide.



JF Houle giving praise to Simoneau. He said he didn't have him penciled in his line-up at that spot at the start of camp, but to his credit, Simoneau pushed some vets down or out of the line-up.



Some of the vets that helped during Laval's playoff run last year will not play tonight. JF Houle says that some young guys are pushing for spots.

Simoneau was one of my biggest surprise as well during the camp, he's like a little bulldog.

Good for him to earn that spot.

My prediction, he will score tonight.

 

[Team_Spirit]

Tony Marcotte said it's the best forward group he has seen in his 6 years doing Laval play by play.

Guys like Mesar and Simoneau in the bottom 6 is insane and new guys Richard and Stephans looked good in pre season.

Best bang for the bucks hockey in Montreal!

Go Rocket Go! Let's f***ing goooooo

 

[Adam Michaels]

Simoneau was one of my biggest surprise as well during the camp, he's like a little bulldog.

Good for him to earn that spot.

My prediction, he will score tonight.

Simoneau is indeed a bulldog. He's small, but he's stocky. And he plays with bite in his game. I feel like having him and RHP back-to-back will be hell for the other teams. Condotta also plays with the same kind of bite so having all 3 of them come on one after another won't be fun for them. But fun for us.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Tony Marcotte said it's the best forward group he has seen in his 6 years doing Laval play by play.

Guys like Mesar and Simoneau in the bottom 6 is insane and new guys Richard and Stephans looked good in pre season.

Best bang for the bucks hockey in Montreal!

Go Rocket Go! Let's f***ing goooooo

Laval is truly bang-for-your-buck. Affordable, easily accessible, and every seat in that building is a good seat.

And this year, especially with the presence of more prospects, we will have more fun.

Tonight, we'll have Mesar, RHP, Ylonen, Simoneau, Mysak, Norlinder, Barron & Primeau.

And along the year, we'll see some of the young D in Montreal be sent down.

 

[Paddy17]

One of the Laval followers got mad on me on Twitter cause I said Houle is terrible and shouldn't have told Mysak he's not gonna be a scorer.

He was like "well it's a mistake to think Mysak is going to be a top 6 forward"; okay, yeah, that's how he projects but you still make the young player tell you differently. I don't see any harm in trying to develop as much offense out of Mysak as possible vs have him focus on being a checking line forward. You still want your checking forwards to have offensive confidence and ability developed at the AHL level.

It's not like we need to develop Richard, he is what he is.

I also said, what if we just did the same thing with Beck? We drafted him with a 3C projection, so do we just tell him to not focus on developing his top 6 skills because that's what he thought when we drafted him? You don't limit players, you let players limit themselves.

It's one thing if Mysak is sitting there behind Joshua Roy, Riley Kidney, Sean Farrell, Filip Mesar, and Slafkovsky. Yeah, you'd prioritize those guys ahead of Mysak offensively. But we're not there.

It's the Sylvain Lefevbre way... ask Louis Leblanc!

in all seriousness, that's how this organisation has developped in the past, and over the last year since he's been here, everything I've seen from Houle reflects that backwards traditional mentality. Everything is written in stone for them, and to be honest, 90% of coaches in minor hockey are brought up to think like that too. All they do is follow clichés, formulas, recipes, and things are the way they are because they are like that. There's no real analysis or thought outside of convention. It's everywhere in enterprises as well. The "good-enough" or "tried-and-tested" culture.

I wanted Mesar in the AHL because I thought he'd develop faster there, after what he's shown in preseason. I was still hoping. Now, I'm perfectly fine with him in the OHL.

 

[Habs Halifax]

i know its just the first game but if Mesar isnt gonna be one of the most used forwards i rather see him go to Kitchener be their main guy

Not sure of any truth to this but Hughes wants Mesar to play in the CHL and hopefully at a full time center role where he can put up 80+ pts?

This is a case where Mesar's situation is not the same as others. Hughes/Gorton/MSL seem to have a good handle on managing each of our young talent's development path independently.

Mesar probably wants to play AHL or Europe and get paid to play. Wondering what Hughes and his agent can come to agreement on.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I'm of the opinion that we need to settle down with Mesar being on the 4th line. Let's see how it goes first before we light up the torches and pick up the pitchforks.

I know Evans was a 7th round pick and Mesar is a 1st round pick, but when Evans turned pro, he was one of the Habs' top prospects. He started his first year at 4C. By the end of the season, he was Laval's 1C. And he's been a full-time NHL'er since his 3rd year being pro.

RHP and Ylonen didn't start in the Top-6 in Laval either. But now they're in the Top-6 and oftentimes the top line. RHP was Laval's top scorer last year and Ylonen was 4th top scorer with many less games played, but had a 14-game stint in Montreal.

Suzuki started his pro career on the wing of the 4th line in Montreal. It didn't take long for him to keep moving up the line-up and now we see where he is.

All this to say, let's see how Mesar does first. And not just tonight, but over the course of the games he will play. Either he will push his way higher in the line-up or they will decide that he needs to be sent to the OHL.

 

[HuGort]

Nope. At least not yet. He is listed on Laval's roster right now. We'll see if he'll play. Although at practice the other day, he was centering the 5th line. So I wouldn't expect him to play.

At practice the other day, their centers were:
1C: Belzile
2C: Stephens
3C: Mysak
4C: Gignac

In fact the lines at practice were:

Richard - Belzile - Martel
RHP - Stephens - Ylonen
Condotta - Mysak - Schnarr
Simoneau - Gignac - Bourque

5th line was Teasdale - Mesar - Dubé

And the extras were Saulnier & Abbandonato

Sounds like Mesar be better getting getting first line minutes in junior. Than #5 center in Laval

 

[Adam Michaels]

Sounds like Mesar be better getting getting first line minutes in junior. Than #5 center in Laval

He'll be in the line-up tonight.

He was centering a 5th line at practice the other day. But he will play tonight.

Eventually, it could end up being better for him to play top line minutes in Kitchener, but I'd like to see him in Laval first and see if he can do enough to work his way up the line-up.

Worst case, he doesn't push his way up and is sent down to Kitchener.

 

[Nico Cauzuki]

Not sure of any truth to this but Hughes wants Mesar to play in the CHL and hopefully at a full time center role where he can put up 80+ pts?

This is a case where Mesar's situation is not the same as others. Hughes/Gorton/MSL seem to have a good handle on managing each of our young talent's development path independently.

Mesar probably wants to play AHL or Europe and get paid to play. Wondering what Hughes and his agent can come to agreement on.

yes Hughes said in hes last press conference that hes still in touch with Mesar's agent but that personally he would rather see him get 80 points in the chl then 40 points in the ahl but he didnt talk about him at center unless i missed a part

i can understand that Filip would rather stay here get paid and be next to hes bff but long term i think hes better off dominating the OHL for atleast 1 year and then he can play in Laval next year

 

[Habs Halifax]

yes Hughes said in hes last press conference that hes still in touch with Mesar's agent but that personally he would rather see him get 80 points in the chl then 40 points in the ahl but he didnt talk about him at center unless i missed a part

i can understand that Filip would rather stay here get paid and be next to hes bff but long term i think hes better off dominating the OHL for atleast 1 year and then he can play in Laval next year

Personally, I won't pretend to know what is best. I'll trust what Hughes is thinking with the information he has. What was said makes sense and I think this is about wanting him to play center full time.

 

[Runner77]

He'll be in the line-up tonight.

He was centering a 5th line at practice the other day. But he will play tonight.

Eventually, it could end up being better for him to play top line minutes in Kitchener, but I'd like to see him in Laval first and see if he can do enough to work his way up the line-up.

Worst case, he doesn't push his way up and is sent down to Kitchener.

It’s only one game and a lot of times, pre-game lines don’t stick and hopefully that’s the case here.

Only thing that doesn’t make sense is that if the stated intent is to find out what Mesar can do, then shouldn’t they be giving him a lot of minutes and situations as soon as possible so as to have the requisite data on hand to enable the decision to either having Mesar continue in Laval or to send him to Kitchener?

If he’s playing on a 5th line in practice and on a 3rd line in the game, and that’s how they are going to evaluate the player, then what kind of evaluation is this?

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

The only thing that will hold him back are injuries as he's had some injury issues the last few years. But he will be one of the team's most effective players. He plays in all situations. This will be his 5th season with the organization. He's been among the leadership group all these years. He'll be a great captain.

I think he meant "Center" not "Captain". Belzile has been a RW for us the past few years, no?

 

[Adam Michaels]

It’s only one game and a lot of times, pre-game lines don’t stick and hopefully that’s the case here.

Only thing that doesn’t make sense is that if the stated intent is to find out what Mesar can do, then shouldn’t they be giving him a lot of minutes and situations as soon as possible so as to have the requisite data on hand to enable the decision to either having Mesar continue in Laval or to send him to Kitchener?

If he’s playing on a 5th line in practice and on a 3rd line in the game, and that’s how they are going to evaluate the player, then what kind of evaluation is this?

It wouldn't surprise me if JF Houle had no intention of using Mesar, but management told him to put him in the line-up so they can evaluate him.

 

[EveryDay]

Anyone(Adam) have found the defence pairing for tonight's game?

 

[Runner77]

It wouldn't surprise me if JF Houle had no intention of using Mesar, but management told him to put him in the line-up so they can evaluate him.

Who’s running the show in Laval? Is it Houle? Is the goal to win first and develop, 2nd? I wonder how that HuGo - Houle dynamic is working.

 

[Kobe Armstrong]

Simoneau was one of my biggest surprise as well during the camp, he's like a little bulldog.

Good for him to earn that spot.

My prediction, he will score tonight.

Physically he is ready for the pro game, regardless of his height. He's probably our most shredded prospect, even if it's easier for short guys to get thiccc

 

[Adam Michaels]

For anyone interested, AHL TV is doing their usual opening weekend Freeview.



All you need to do is sign up and you will be able to watch the games for free this weekend.

 

[Beer and Chips]

The players that interest and intrigue me, in order:
1. Mesar
2. Barron
3. Norlinder
4. Primeau
5. Mysak
6. Ylonen
7. H.-Pinard
8. Leskinen
9. Simoneau

I don't care about the rest.

10.Trudeau

 

[Adam Michaels]

Who’s running the show in Laval? Is it Houle? Is the goal to win first and develop, 2nd? I wonder how that HuGo - Houle dynamic is working.

It will be interesting to see how it goes. Will Houle's mandate change this year since Habs put an emphasis on development? And more importantly, will he be able to do that?

Credit to Houle for not only the deep playoff run last spring, but also being able to keep the team afloat and continue to win when the Rocket were depleted from call ups and injuries for a good chunk of the season last year.

For Mesar specifically, I have no issue with him starting on the 4th line. I am excited to see if he will push his way up the line-up and curious if Houle will indeed not deny him that.

 

[morhilane]

Who’s running the show in Laval? Is it Houle? Is the goal to win first and develop, 2nd? I wonder how that HuGo - Houle dynamic is working.

Probably not like either side would like...

It's so evident he was told to play Mesar when he didn't want to. Joel Bouchard knew his priority in the AHL was developing the kids. Houle is running the AHL team as if it was an NHL cup contender.

I have no idea how it's going to work when the Habs decide to send Slaf or one of Ds down to work on specific things.

 

[Adam Michaels]

The players that interest and intrigue me, in order:
1. Mesar
2. Barron
3. Norlinder
4. Primeau
5. Mysak
6. Ylonen
7. H.-Pinard
8. Leskinen
9. Simoneau

I don't care about the rest.

Everyone is interested in the same players, regardless of order.

I love Belzile, Martel, Gignac, Bourque, and all of them, but not a single soul here tunes in to watch those guys.

The fun part is you listed 9 prospects. When was the last time the Habs had 9 prospects in the line-up in the same game?

 

[Runner77]

It will be interesting to see how it goes. Will Houle's mandate change this year since Habs put an emphasis on development? And more importantly, will he be able to do that?

Credit to Houle for not only the deep playoff run last spring, but also being able to keep the team afloat and continue to win when the Rocket were depleted from call ups and injuries for a good chunk of the season last year.

For Mesar specifically, I have no issue with him starting on the 4th line. I am excited to see if he will push his way up the line-up and curious if Houle will indeed not deny him that.

I have no issue with how Mesar is deployed in the one game either.

However, if the goal is to evaluate, you want to see minutes and how he deals in a variety of game situations.

Essentially, you want as much data as you can get and said data mining goal is incompatible with not putting the player in the best position to prove himself, should that be the course of action undertaken.

We’ll see how it unfolds.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Good vet, he will make a great Captain

Pretty sure he meant the position and not the title. He usually plays wing.