Confirmed with Link: Pascal Vincent Named Laval Rocket Head Coach

[Habster33]

The goal of the AHL is to develop our young players. Doing anything else would be the complete opposite of what HuGo have been doing since their arrival!

 

[MarkovsKnee]

The real hope is that he doesn't go the same route he did in his one season in Columbus, where he wasn't the best for the young guys on a team that is rebuilding.

But for HuGo and Sedgwick to hire him for Laval, he obviously has the specific mandate to prioritize the development of the prospects. And to be fair to his time with the Manitoba Moose, he does have a better quality of prospects to work with.

Not to mention I do have faith in Daniel Jacob for the D.

Huge difference between NHL & AHL coaching. Columbus was a terrible situation for him.

Columbus had a ton of injuries and majority of their young guys played. Johnson & Jiricek are management decisions, and frankly Jiricek sucked in his NHL games. Johnson was busting before Vincent ever showed up. But, he played other young players like Sillinger, Fantili, Voronkov, and Marchanko.

In the AHL, he's going to be expected to help develop the young players while instilling a winning culture.

He did well with Winnipeg's far team. Connor, Copp, B. Lemieux, B. Tanev, Roslovic, Appleton, etc all played for him in AHL. In fact, he easily had 1-3 AHL players develop into NHL players every year as coach of Moose.

 

[Treb]

Not my pick at all. I hope Hughes/Sedgwick knows what they are doing.

Hopefully Favreau still comes in as assistant coach either in the AHL or NHL.

 

[le_sean]

He's an ancient Q coach, which was basically a developmental wasteland. Was the coach when LeBlanc was there and offense died ceremoniously on that roster and he did very little to develop LeBlanc positively.

Fast forward to him being in Columbus and all the young guys stagnated, regressed or are pissed off. David Jiricek was incensed. Kent Johnson didn't progress at all.

I mean he was made Head Coach like a week before the season started. It caught everyone off guard. It’s not his fault the Blue Jackets are a dogshit organization.

He did help develop solid NHL players when he coached the Moose. Perfetti, Roslovic, Connor, Appleton, Stanley, Kovacevic, Heinola all had good AHL development under him.

 

[Whitesnake]

Wow....and not in a good way. The guy I didn't want. Perfect.

 

[Whitesnake]

No stone left unturned.....and that has NOTHING to do with language. Cause there were others francos with a fresher voice, with proven records. I don't understand how this guy got the job....

 

[Treal]

Does he speak french?

Like a lot already mentionnned here, some of the hearsay coming out of Columbus last season is a bit worrisome but I trust that HuGo have done their homework and that Vincent is aware of and believes in the process of what is currently being built for our prospect pipeline.

 

[MarkovsKnee]

He's an ancient Q coach, which was basically a developmental wasteland. Was the coach when LeBlanc was there and offense died ceremoniously on that roster and he did very little to develop LeBlanc positively.

Fast forward to him being in Columbus and all the young guys stagnated, regressed or are pissed off. David Jiricek was incensed. Kent Johnson didn't progress at all.

Dude, the last time he coached junior hockey was 2011. That was 13 years ago! People can grow & learn, you know.

Johnson isn't his problem. He was busting before he got there. Jiricek was shit in NHL, and is a management decision not a coaching one. If the G.M wanted Jiricek to play in NHL, he would have played.

He did extremely well coaching Winnipeg's minor league team. A lot of quality NHLers came up while being coached by him, including Connor, Perfetti, Copp, Roslovic, Appleton, B. Tanev, and more.

 

[Seb]

They're definitely not going to hire someone who doesn't share the same views as them as far as development goes considering how vital it is to the Habs becoming competitive in the next few years.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Not my pick at all. I hope Hughes/Sedgwick knows what they are doing.

Hopefully Favreau still comes in as assistant coach either in the AHL or NHL.

No room for Favreau as an assistant in the AHL. Laval still has Laperriere and they hired Jacob not long ago.

Maybe NHL assistant. But as Hughes mentioned, with Burrows no longer behind the bench, it'll be up to MSL if he wants to add another assistant coach or if he will be happy with it being him, Letowski and Robidas only.

 

[B1g B1rd]

They're definitely not going to hire someone who doesn't share the same views as them as far as development goes considering how vital it is to the Habs becoming competitive in the next few years.

Exactly. Aucun souci for me, he´s an excellent choice. Experience, dedication and drive.

 

[Captain Mountain]

He's an ancient Q coach, which was basically a developmental wasteland. Was the coach when LeBlanc was there and offense died ceremoniously on that roster and he did very little to develop LeBlanc positively.

Fast forward to him being in Columbus and all the young guys stagnated, regressed or are pissed off. David Jiricek was incensed. Kent Johnson didn't progress at all.

I kind of get this argument, but by that argument I'm not sure there is any not-awful bilingual coaching candidate. As bad as the Q was from 1999 to 2011 when it comes to development and producing prospects, it is significantly worse right now. So they better have not been look at any current or recent Q coaches.

 

[Adam Michaels]

They're definitely not going to hire someone who doesn't share the same views as them as far as development goes considering how vital it is to the Habs becoming competitive in the next few years.

Pretty much what I believe also. Vincent isn't coming in without knowing what the management has as a vision. He wasn't hired and told, "Here are the keys, do what needs to be done and we'll be over here."

He is fully aware of what management wants as the mandate.

 

[le_sean]

Also, compared to JF Houle, anyone is better.

 

[habsterr]

Gorton and Hughes have shown to consistently make the best choice possible. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Habs]

Nice. Not bad at all of ask me! He have NHL experience and have good reputation before this season aswell.

That's a good hire!

You will never say a bad thing about Kent and his homies, you are like the CBC covering the political landscape in Canada.

 

[Vachon23]

Personally, I actually thought he was going to get the assistant job. Surprise he went back in the AHL

 

[Treb]

No room for Favreau as an assistant in the AHL. Laval still has Laperriere and they hired Jacob not long ago.

Maybe NHL assistant. But as Hughes mentioned, with Burrows no longer behind the bench, it'll be up to MSL if he wants to add another assistant coach or if he will be happy with it being him, Letowski and Robidas only.

I don't see anywhere that you can only have two assistant coaches in the AHL.

Also, compared to JF Houle, anyone is better.

Kind of a lateral move in my opinion.

 

[Adam Michaels]

No stone left unturned.....and that has NOTHING to do with language. Cause there were others francos with a fresher voice, with proven records. I don't understand how this guy got the job....

I'm sure there are others with a fresher voice. And if someone else was hired, I'd be good with it because I believe this management group has a good enough track record to trust their decision.

But they clearly wanted someone with a lot of experience coaching in the pros. There are a lot of young prospects who will either play their first or second year in the pros, and having a vet coach is probably something they see as more beneficial than having a rookie coach develop at the same time as the prospects. Just my guess, of course.

As @MarkovsKnee mentioned, his time in Manitoba also proves he's helped Winnipeg prospects develop into full-time NHL'ers. He listed a few: Kyle Connor, Cole Perfetti, Jack Roslovic, Mason Appleton, Brandon Tanev, and Brendan Lemieux are just a few names.

But also, in fairness to Manitoba, he didn't have the quantity and quality or prospects he has coming into Laval. From Beck to Mesar to Mailloux to Engstrom to Heineman to Farrell. Then you have the potential to have Reinbacher, Hutson and Roy.

 

[Vachon23]

No room for Favreau as an assistant in the AHL. Laval still has Laperriere and they hired Jacob not long ago.

Maybe NHL assistant. But as Hughes mentioned, with Burrows no longer behind the bench, it'll be up to MSL if he wants to add another assistant coach or if he will be happy with it being him, Letowski and Robidas only.

Laperrière and Vincent actually together in 98 in the Midget AAA

 

[Adam Michaels]

I don't see anywhere that you can only have two assistant coaches in the AHL.

It's not written anywhere. But I highly doubt an experienced coach like Vincent will want to crowd the bench.

I understood MSL wanting to have extra staff because he was a rookie coach coming in. But we'll see if he'll want to replace Burrows or since he's entering his 4th year, he might go with the more traditional a head coach and two assistants. But you never know there also. He might prefer to operate with 2 assistans and Letowski right next to him.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Dude, the last time he coached junior hockey was 2011. That was 13 years ago! People can grow & learn, you know.

Johnson isn't his problem. He was busting before he got there. Jiricek was shit in NHL, and is a management decision not a coaching one. If the G.M wanted Jiricek to play in NHL, he would have played.

He did extremely well coaching Winnipeg's minor league team. A lot of quality NHLers came up while being coached by him, including Connor, Perfetti, Copp, Roslovic, Appleton, B. Tanev, and more.

That's my problem. He's dealing with the newer generation of players and they're all pissed off. If I'm bringing in a coach for this group of players, I'm making sure i got a guy that can connect with them and know what they need, how to communicate with them, etc.

It's why I didn't want Houle back, and now we got Vincent who grew up learning the same shit from the same time period of Quebec anti hockey.

Would much much much have preferred a guy who had success coaching and developing kids born before y2k.

 

[morhilane]

Not sure what to think.

I guess I'll wait until the season is a few games in before having an opinion. I don't think last season with Columbus shit-show should be indicative of anything.

 

[Adam Michaels]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1813232997107183859

Marcotte mentions that the Habs approached Benoit Groulx to be a potential candidate before he took the KHL job. However, Groulx obviously saw a better opportunity there. But it proves that experience was a factor in the Habs' research.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

He's 5ft9, too small, pass.

not to mention bald...