Laval Rocket: Laval Rocket at Charlotte Checkers 7:00 pm RDS/Flo

[ChesterNimitz]

And frankly, most AHL teams don't have forwards like Roy or Beck.

Most top-6 forwards don't spend much or any time in the AHL.

A lot of personnel decisions are directly affected by cap decisions as team need to rely on as many players on ELCs as possible to provide cap flexibility for the balance of their rosters. Bottom 6 forwards play a less demanding role than defencemen and goaltenders. You can hide these players in lesser roles and any production they can provide (while they develop on the big team) is a bonus.

 

[DAChampion]

I would even go further and say every draft you need to draft at least c, rd and G

No.

Because good skaters are almost all found in the top two rounds.

After round 2, draft the best goalie available or the best skater available.

 

[montreal]

 

[MarkovsKnee]

Been saying this for a while... Hughes has built nothing in terms of forward pipeline. His only option is to trade and hope that he gets off sitting on his hands this summer and actually does something that will inject some scoring beyond the first line into the lineup. And some muscle, FFS!

Montreal's best top 6 young players are already in Montreal. Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky & Demidov. We have another potential top 6 forward in Hage, who is NCAA. Not all players will go through the AHL for development.

If anything Montreal needs greater depth behind them in the bottom 6. Habs win with one line & Laine's shot on the PP.

The AHL team is there to help develop depth within the organization.

This is the first year that Hughes draft picks were even eligible to play in AHL except for Davidson who was drafted as an overager.

Xhekaj, Beck, Davidson, have all had good seasons. Mesar spent too much of it injured.

Reinbacher also spent majority of it injured while Fowler will start his career next year.

I have zero issues with any of these players & their development.

 

[Bombshell11]

If you read between the lines, Vincent is complaining that we have too many small forwards on the roster. Direct shot at the Gms.
Puts the blame on the physical strengh of the players?
What kind of non sense is this? You were supposed to develop the players, use the player's talents at your advantage.

Bad coach, next.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

If you read between the lines, Vincent is complaining that we have too many small forwards on the roster. Direct shot at the Gms.
Puts the blame on the physical strengh of the players?
What kind of non sense is this? You were supposed to develop the players, use the player's talents at your advantage.

Bad coach, next.

Actually, to be honest, I've noticed that the whole Canadiens organization seems to have a strength and conditioning problem. Almost all players that should be capable of being physical or that used to be physical seem to bounce off opposing players, be constantly falling on their ass, and more often than not lose battles along the boards.

Guys like Guhle, Slaf, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Heineman, Matheson.

The X boys and Anderson seem to be the only exceptions that I can think of.

I wonder if we have a problem with our strength and conditioning people.

 

[1909]

The absence of Trudeau and Wotherspoon on the backend hurt a lot.

Playoffs hockey is so different than during regular season. Rocket team was too young and too small (physically weak) for those series.

 

[HabsAddict]

Beck first AHL season is very similar to Plekanec 1st AHL season.

It was Plekanec D+2 and it is Beck+3 but Plekanec had much more pro experience than Beck at this point and the age difference was not huge just 8 months age difference.

Plekanec 1st AHL season

Season : 77GP 19G 46P +5
Playoffs : 13GP 3G 5P

Beck 1st AHL season

Season : 64GP 15G 44P +10
Playoffs : 13GP 2G 6P

I think the worst thing we could do atm is overreact. If there's a possibility to acquire a strong top 6 in the middle of his 20ies for picks and young players fine but i would not trade young players for guys close to 30 or over 30.

Just last year most Jays fans were like there's nobody in AAA they all sucks and this season they finally gave Barger a chance and he is looking pretty damn good so far.

That is an interesting comparison.

Back in 2003 when i scouted Komisarek, Pleks kept getting my attention. He was feisty, quick and offensive instincts. At the time i called him Koivu Lite. BTW. this isn't made up hindsight. The scouting report are still available on another site.

Beck does have the same DNA but i don't think he will be as valuable because this version of the Habs is a cut above those painfully bad teams. So he may step up but he's more as a quality bottom 6 on this team.

Having said that, he still needs to get stronger and maybe more seasoning in the AHL. Like most, underimpressive when facing low end NHL/AHL vets.

 

[HabsAddict]

Actually, to be honest, I've noticed that the whole Canadiens organization seems to have a strength and conditioning problem. Almost all players that should be capable of being physical or that used to be physical seem to bounce off opposing players, be constantly falling on their ass, and more often than not lose battles along the boards.

Guys like Guhle, Slaf, Mailloux, Reinbacher, Heineman, Matheson.

The X boys and Anderson seem to be the only exceptions that I can think of.

I wonder if we have a problem with our strength and conditioning people.

Disagree...

Their butt skating when checking is a matter of skating, not stregnth or conditionig.

All those guys are over or well over 200 so there is plenty of stregnth.

I don't know what they need to practice. Maybe it's a matter of throwing s puck.in the corner and whoever comes out is the winner.gets a cookie. Do that a few thousand times...and watch out.

 

[Twisted Sinister]

Disagree...

Their butt skating when checking is a matter of skating, not stregnth or conditionig.

All those guys are over or well over 200 so there is plenty of stregnth.

I don't know what they need to practice. Maybe it's a matter of throwing s puck.in the corner and whoever comes out is the winner.gets a cookie. Do that a few thousand times...and watch out.

Weight and even muscle do not inherently equal strength on skates if those things are improperly distributed. Look at Hutson, for example. Dude is tiny and a beast at shrugging off guys 60-70 lbs bigger than him. Whatever he's doing, the rest of the team isn't doing it, and I've seen a lot of those players be physically dominant before, so something's up.

Of all our issues, I don't think skating is one of them. In fact, that's the one thing this regime is obsessed with.

 

[OldCraig71]

The absence of Trudeau and Wotherspoon on the backend hurt a lot.

Playoffs hockey is so different than during regular season. Rocket team was too young and too small (physically weak) for those series.

I don't watch or follow the AHL for that matter, but I highlighted what has been an issue for the Canadiens for a very long time.

 

[Boss Man Hughes]

Seriously????? With all this bunch of kids accomplished last year you are proposing for a tank year ?

If they were going to trade Mailloux or Reinbacher it would be for a 2c to compete so the post makes no sense in that regard. But if they are unable to add anything of import to the roster in the off season then it would only take an injury or 2 to key players to be in the running for McKenna

 

[HabsAddict]

Weight and even muscle do not inherently equal strength on skates if those things are improperly distributed. Look at Hutson, for example. Dude is tiny and a beast at shrugging off guys 60-70 lbs bigger than him. Whatever he's doing, the rest of the team isn't doing it, and I've seen a lot of those players be physically dominant before, so something's up.

Of all our issues, I don't think skating is one of them. In fact, that's the one thing this regime is obsessed with.

It's not skating in a a straight line, it's keeping their balance on their skaters after they hit someone.

I think we are saying the same thing from different angles.

 

[themilosh]

If you read between the lines, Vincent is complaining that we have too many small forwards on the roster. Direct shot at the Gms.
Puts the blame on the physical strengh of the players?
What kind of non sense is this? You were supposed to develop the players, use the player's talents at your advantage.

Bad coach, next.

sounds like he is asking for Rossi - the saviour 2C

 

[Habs]

Seriously????? With all this bunch of kids accomplished last year you are proposing for a tank year ?

yeah I think we need the draft to get a C and another D, we won't find it via a trade or FA. Without a weak schedule we don't make the playoffs last year, we had a lot of help.

Our goaltending is still SUS, our D is full of holes and questions (especially in our end) and we don't have the size to control the game a long season yet. Our blueline and Goaltending will let us down next year, but we will score a lot of nice goals with Demidov. I don't trust MM for another year, nor Struble and Fatso is gone. Reinbacher isn't ready on a level that they would need him to be to improve much.

Also then you take Laine, and his one way game.. and Dach.. two enormous question marks.

If we had no problem landing FA's, I wouldn't propose a tank, but we do and always have.

 

[HabsAddict]

He's partially right but he's also wrong because it was not "weak guys" but too many small guys playing a prominent role.

1...Through the season his forwards were attacking the net like....hyenas on a kill...GREAT. Because I was watching the defenseman closely, I was trying to figure out how extra stupid were they giving up endless 2 on 1. Then much to my annoyance for missing it, I was ignoring the fact that forwards are the main cause of non-pincing 2 on 1. If a defenseman is not pinching and not out of position but then defends 2 on 1, it's almost always a function of forwards playing deep and losing the puck.

So started my criticism of Vincent for not training the guys to be as aggressive on coming back as they were attacking the net. It got better but only the last quarter of the season. Which magically also saw Maillioux do a 180 degree on his defensive play. The two are linked to as large extend.

2...5'9" barre-Boulet being our top scorer and players like Pinard, Simoneau, Mesar, and Farrell were leading the charge on our offense. With the Checkers series, all of a sudden they couldn't even penetrate the zone on dump ins. Sure, they have heart and were trying but physics is physics and there was no lack of desire on the Checkers side to also work hard.

Vincent gets part of the blame for not having a better defensive system and whoever built the team with drafting and hiring that many small guys are also to blame.

 

[Naslundforever]

oooor maybe he developped their offensive instincts and told those kids to hit the gym instead of training them on grinding the right way..

I don’t mind they got exposed for lack of man-strength; they’re so young.. gives them something clear and quantifiable to work on.

 

[OnTheRun]

Vincent gets part of the blame for not having a better defensive system and whoever built the team with drafting and hiring that many small guys are also to blame.

You guys come with the craziest takes. One team is the farm team of a rebuilding NHL team the other is the overflow of the defending Stanley Cup champion... And whatever happen in the West , Charlotte will face another overflow team in either Texas or Abbotsford.

For comparison sake, in numbers that's what it look like:

AHL Team	Affiliate	# pick (2023-2019)	On the NHL team roster	On the AHL Team roster
Laval	Montreal	47	6	16
Charlotte	Florida	36	2	5
Abbotsford	Vancouver	33	2	5
Texas	Dallas	31	4	5

Laval isn't built to win by designs, they just cram as many prospects as they can on the team to evaluate them before their rights expire.

 

[Quatre Vingt Treize]

This run was good for development. These boards generally overrate draft position and underrate prospect development. Take a look at Tampa? Who have traded crazy amount of first round picks, usually rated
bottom-5 prospect pool yet also consistently have an excellent AHL team. They graduate a lot more players to the NHL than teams with a bunch of high picks. In last 3 years, Tampa graduated 6 guys from Syracuse to the NHL and half their regular blueline (Raddysh/Perbix/Lilleberg). Who were on nobody's draft radar.

 

[Runner77]

Let's see..in his 3 years he has added two top 6 players in Slaf and Demidov.
Go back and look at the pipeline Bergevin built in 10 years before criticizing Hughes. There is also a promising center in Michael Hage who is developing into a great prospect.

Demidov literally fell into their laps. At least Hughes didn’t overthink it.

 

[HabsAddict]

Demidov literally fell into their laps. At least Hughes didn’t overthink it.

In the pre draft video when I think it was HuGo who asked Demi..."if you are up on 5th and we don't pick you, are we crazy?"

"Yup"..said Demi.

It take big ones to say that.

 

[Rapala]

What player wasn't disappointing in this series?
I also think he was told not be draw the ire of the refs (neutered a bit). He is learning.

Bruno Gervais was talking about Florian's play midway through game four he was -5 in the series at the time. That isn't at all what we've became accustomed to. He was hardly ever a - player throughout the season. He got caught out a lot on long shifts and either he was trying to do too much or he was trying to toe the line. Neither works well in pressure games. While none of our players were great some were good and all lacked support overall.

 

[Rapala]

Beck first AHL season is very similar to Plekanec 1st AHL season.

It was Plekanec D+2 and it is Beck+3 but Plekanec had much more pro experience than Beck at this point and the age difference was not huge just 8 months age difference.

Plekanec 1st AHL season

Season : 77GP 19G 46P +5
Playoffs : 13GP 3G 5P

Beck 1st AHL season

Season : 64GP 15G 44P +10
Playoffs : 13GP 2G 6P

I think the worst thing we could do atm is overreact. If there's a possibility to acquire a strong top 6 in the middle of his 20ies for picks and young players fine but i would not trade young players for guys close to 30 or over 30.

Just last year most Jays fans were like there's nobody in AAA they all sucks and this season they finally gave Barger a chance and he is looking pretty damn good so far.

Beck was one of our only players to show up against Charlotte. Unfortunately it took Pascal 3 games to come to that realization. Only line to score in game four yet left on the bench when we pulled the goaltender. This is the same guy who scored the Mem Cup winner with seconds left the year before.
Maybe it's just me but I don't get it.

 

[Rapala]

Montreal's best top 6 young players are already in Montreal. Suzuki, Caufield, Slafkovsky & Demidov. We have another potential top 6 forward in Hage, who is NCAA. Not all players will go through the AHL for development.

If anything Montreal needs greater depth behind them in the bottom 6. Habs win with one line & Laine's shot on the PP.

The AHL team is there to help develop depth within the organization.

This is the first year that Hughes draft picks were even eligible to play in AHL except for Davidson who was drafted as an overager.

Xhekaj, Beck, Davidson, have all had good seasons. Mesar spent too much of it injured.

Reinbacher also spent majority of it injured while Fowler will start his career next year.

I have zero issues with any of these players & their development.

The very good news is they kept us occupied all the way until June 3rd which helps cut down the horribly long off seasons we've suffered through. Management are also getting a handle on what type of a balance our team has to strike to become a true contender. An excellent exercise for both rosters.

 

[The Real Timo]

How many forwards drafted 2022 and onwards would you have expected to have graduated to the NHL?

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