Prospect Info: Joshua Roy Part 2

[Fatbiggie]

Impressive tournament from him. He showed his complete array of skills and smarts everywhere on the ice.

That golden goal play will live on.

 

[sharknado]

It's what I was thinking as well. I haven't much of him previously except in highlights but based on what I've seen in this tournament, he seems to have the same type of on ice intelligence and awareness. "Pourvu que ça dure" against the Czechs.

Tabarnac what a setup. Reminded me of Danult to Leky in the semi finals. I really like this kid.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I knew at some point he was going to come up with a big play.. I thought he might score the OT winner but he might as well have. Guenther had an empty net.

 

[Vachon23]

Futur Justin Williams

 

[Habs Icing]

Except when Roy wins, he wears a fedora. When Kucherov wins, he shows up drunk and shirtless.

And insults the opposing fans.

Futur Justin Williams

Nice comparison.

 

[Habs Icing]

I don't follow the CHL so I don't watch these kids like some of our posters.

When I saw Roy this summer at the 22 juniors, I thought he was okay, had a lot to improve if he wanted to have a coffee in the NHL, nothing to get excited about.

In a mere few months this kid has grown into his talent. He impressed the heck out of me and I'm not talking about comparing point totals. I'm talking about his play. Roy is the kind of player you win with. He plays the whole 200 ft. And more than his hockey IQ, his calmness impressed me the most. This kid has ice running in his veins. He'll always keep his head. And his goal celebration is a tipoff to his character. He is calm, deliberate, and clinical. We have an iceman on our soccer national team, Jonathan David. But I predict Roy will be the true Iceman.

 

[Sagikev]

Engels was on Marinaro's podcast last night and he shared a story about Roy and giving an example of the Habs' new development and analytics team.

He said before the World Juniors, the Habs' development team went to watch Roy at Sherbrooke. They already know he's producing at will there. But when they went to watch him and in addition to the data they've gathered on him, they saw that he was producing, but he wasn't doing much else. He wasn't getting his nose dirty or going in the corners or to the net front traffic enough.

So they spoke to him and explained to him that they don't care about his production. They already know he can produce. But what they want to do is make him into an NHL player. So they explained to him what they want him to work on. And credit to Roy, he started to do that more. And his production didn't take a hit. He just became a more complete player.

And what we're seeing from him at the WJC is things the Canadiens asked him to do more of.

And Engels said they've done that with other prospects, as well.



Bedard is a big fan of Roy's. He said that Roy is someone he loves watching.

If this is the new approach of this new development team... then it's absolutely mind boggling that the previous crew wouldn't do this. Isn't this, like, the basic of development? Telling prospects what they need to work on?

 

[WeThreeKings]

If this is the new approach of this new development team... then it's absolutely mind boggling that the previous crew wouldn't do this. Isn't this, like, the basic of development? Telling prospects what they need to work on?

Yes. They just let the player do whatever.

 

[Habs Halifax]

If this is the new approach of this new development team... then it's absolutely mind boggling that the previous crew wouldn't do this. Isn't this, like, the basic of development? Telling prospects what they need to work on?

Our development management should have been better but thinking that they didn't talk to the players on what they need to work on in the past is clearly Bergevin hate and spinning things. It's mind boggling only because it's just not true. Truth is in the middle

 

[Sagikev]

Yes. They just let the player do whatever.

Insane how a billion dollar company invested so few in it's product...

 

[Sam de Mtl]

Our development management should have been better but thinking that they didn't talk to the players on what they need to work on in the past is clearly Bergevin hate and spinning things. It's mind boggling only because it's just not true. Truth is in the middle

Exactly.

The development team (Ramage, Lapointe and others) were all hired by Bergevin. They followed prospects, talked to them and all. These guys were kept on by the new management because they were doing well. Hugo added Poulin and Nicholas on top of it for the training sessions, which seem to be nice additions.

The hate is over the top when you feel the need to twist reality to fit your narrative. There were missing pieces in development during the MB era, but there were things in place.

Before MB, there was noone to go see the prospects and keep tabs with them. Believe it or not, it was even worse before MB era.

 

[crosbyshow]

Next Summer could be huge for Roy's career.

He will have 4.months to still working in his skating etc..

He admit that he was not training too hard 2 years ago and everything changed.when he was traded.to Sherbrooke.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

He played the two on one perfectly. Made the goalie commit to him until the last second. Great pass… Awesome tournament from him.

 

[SwiftyHab]

He played the two on one perfectly. Made the goalie commit to him until the last second. Great pass… Awesome tournament from him.

At a minimum, you can say he’s a gamer.

 

[ChesterNimitz]

Next Summer could be huge for Roy's career.

He will have 4.months to still working in his skating etc..

He admit that he was not training too hard 2 years ago and everything changed.when he was traded.to Sherbrooke.

Roy now has a taste of winning. It’s an infectious condition and will spur on his drive to elevate his skills and conditioning. Roy showed a lot of his detractors, like this writer, that he has the stuff to play in the NHL. But Roy is a classic case that shows that the pace of a player’s development is never certain whether in the ascendancy or in the descent.

 

[Habs Halifax]

Exactly.

The development team (Ramage, Lapointe and others) were all hired by Bergevin. They followed prospects, talked to them and all. These guys were kept on by the new management because they were doing well. Hugo added Poulin and Nicholas on top of it for the training sessions, which seem to be nice additions.

The hate is over the top when you feel the need to twist reality to fit your narrative. There were missing pieces in development during the MB era, but there were things in place.

Before MB, there was noone to go see the prospects and keep tabs with them. Believe it or not, it was even worse before MB era.

You see it the same as me. Because Bergevin had long term vision flaws and didn't get us where we wanted to go, it's spinned into him being horrible at everything. Same with Timmins.

Why can't the truth be in the middle vs it being overly one sided at opposite ends? I just don't get it. There is always someone in the target window I guess. Someone has to always be "blamed"

 

[junyab]

I see similarities between Roy and Point - and if he gets anywhere near Point we'll be ecstatic.

 

[McGuires Corndog]

I see similarities between Roy and Point - and if he gets anywhere near Point we'll be ecstatic.

I don’t see it personally.

I still think the best comp is Toffoli, it’s also a fairly realistic projection of what his production may look like.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I see similarities between Roy and Point - and if he gets anywhere near Point we'll be ecstatic.

He is nothing like Point as speed and agility are two major pillars in Point's game that Roy will never have.

Toffoli is an obvious comparison as is a smaller version of Mark Stone and a winger version of Ryan O'Reilly especially if Roy continues to fill out.

 

[WeThreeKings]

He is nothing like Point as speed and agility are two major pillars in Point's game that Roy will never have.

Toffoli is an obvious comparison as is a smaller version of Mark Stone and a winger version of Ryan O'Reilly especially if Roy continues to fill out.

Well, Point after being drafted was a weak skater.. they worked hard and had development programs/skating coaches for him... turning what kept him drafted low into a strength.

I don't know if we'll see the same thing here with Roy, but it's an important distinction.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

Well, Point after being drafted was a weak skater.. they worked hard and had development programs/skating coaches for him... turning what kept him drafted low into a strength.

I don't know if we'll see the same thing here with Roy, but it's an important distinction.

I am aware of Point significantly improving his skating but Roy is mid way through his D+2 and is still a below average skater, and to be honest Point was never a poor skater like Roy was when Roy joined the Q. Point just wasn't fast enough for his diminutive size (His 5'11" listing is laughable, he was measured at 5'9" when he was drafted and is clearly a short player still) but was a relatively average skater. The narrative of him being a poor skater is overblown by fans and media but Point at his worst was a better skater than Roy is right now.

Quote from John Cooper:

Cooper said. “He had all the attributes. He had the hockey sense, the competitiveness, he had all the hockey player traits you need, except shockingly enough, he didn’t have the speed he has now. All he did was improve his skating. He’s gone from an OK, decent skater to an exceptional skater.”

This should put to rest the notion that he ever was a poor skater. Point dropped because he was a 5'9" forward with average speed at a time when teams were still very wary about using high picks on smaller players.

My point was more predicated on the fact that Point is an elite skater and much of his game is based on this strength. There is zero chance that Joshua Roy ever skate's like Brayden Point and very little chance that his skating ever even becomes a strength. I think Roy has a good chance to be a productive NHLer but it will be because of his hands and his brain and not his feet.

 

[Runner77]

Well, Point after being drafted was a weak skater.. they worked hard and had development programs/skating coaches for him... turning what kept him drafted low into a strength.

I don't know if we'll see the same thing here with Roy, but it's an important distinction.

Where would you peg Roy’s progress in terms of skating ability? He didn’t seem overwhelmed by the blistering pace of opponents in the WJC. Also, how much of his skating improvement would you say, is imputable to the Habs’ development contingent?

 

[ChesterNimitz]

I see similarities between Roy and Point - and if he gets anywhere near Point we'll be ecstatic.

I think we have to be realistic here. In the 2018 NHL All-Star Fastest Skater Competition, Point finished second to Conner McDavid by about 1/10th of a second. I think any sane person would agree that Roy, despite his recent progress, is not only 1/10th a second slower than McDavid. The attempted comparisons between Roy and Point, is charitably, misguided. I'm an old timer, I think Roy reminds me of Danny Grant, another smart, skilled player, who, though not blessed with blazing speed, used guile, anticipation and strong hand skills to carve out a nice NHL career. But to talk about Roy and Point as being somewhat similar, is frankly: embarrassing.

 

[JadedRandom]

Where would you peg Roy’s progress in terms of skating ability? He didn’t seem overwhelmed by the blistering pace of opponents in the WJC. Also, how much of his skating improvement would you say, is imputable to the Habs’ development contingent?

He has progressed a great deal compared to where he was less than two years ago. But if Roy was put in the NHL right now he'd be clearly below-average in basically every facet of pure skating skills, be it acceleration, agility, pivots, and straight-line speed.

His technique also isn't the cleanest, so if he played pro right now then Roy would expend more energy than your average NHLer to compensate for that weakness, leading to him having less "juice" to execute plays all over the ice.

To be completely frank, I think that the only facet of Roy's skating that would be "NHL average" right now would be his edges, but that's not enough to go on and enjoy real success at that level. Not unless you're a physical freak and big as an ox, which Roy clearly is not.

But in his draft year, Roy was much more than "below-average" for the NHL level as far as his skating went. For those who remember, I personally think that Douglas Murray from when he played with us would have been seen as a "Fast Boiii" in comparison to Roy's skating ability back at the summer of the 2021 draft.

So yeah, the difference is quite striking when you compare Joshua Roy's skating now as opposed to where it was before he fixed his conditioning, trained under a power-skating coach, and started going to the gym more.

But he still has tons of things to improve in that aspect before he ever makes it into the pro leagues. I believe that he still has lots of gains to go through physically that should help him be a faster, more explosive skater on the ice, but he will also need to clean up that skating technique of his quite a bit before he can be an effective NHLer.

More specifically, I'm talking about less torso rotation, a lower skating stance, increased ankle flexion, more fluid cross-overs/less choppy stride, and more still when it comes to technique.

Accessorily, as far as how much current Habs development team helps him, we don't have the inside story so it's very tough to gauge really. But, as I've said, difference is quite striking between now and 18 months ago, and progression seems to be ongoing so Montreal (and Sherbrooke too) must be doing something right.

As far as I see it, I think/hope Joshua Roy might in fact be one of those guys who manages to actually fully mitigate a skating weakness that he had when drafted. And those types of guys generally go on to enjoy long and very successful careers in the NHL, so let's hope it is indeed the case with Roy.

 

[jfm133]

You believe that cr*p. Anyway, Ramage and Bouillon are still there and they are from the Bergevin era. There is a lot of magical thinking from the anti-Bergevin crowd since HuGo took over. We see it with Saint-Louis now, the magician is a mere human. Also, Adman Nicholas has no secret recipe to turn average AHL players into good NHL ones. I am not taking anything away from the new people, except Bobrov, but this idea that a seismic change happened in hockey ops is BS. Except for Bobrov allthe scouts are the same, as I said, Ramage and Bouillon are still there, Burrows, Letowski, J-F Houle are still there. So give us a break.

If this is the new approach of this new development team... then it's absolutely mind boggling that the previous crew wouldn't do this. Isn't this, like, the basic of development? Telling prospects what they need to work on?