2018-19 Laval Rocket & ECHL Thread

[Adam Michaels]

And now confirmed:

 

[teamfirst]

Calling out Sherback maybe good tho, nothing to loose there, cant believe some here where saying that we should have give him a chance on the Habs roster last week, must be some posters who havent watch pre-season games

 

[1909]

Where did I say that? Maybe both he and Bouchard are bad coaches. Or maybe the players just suck. But clearly the problem wasn’t just Lefebvre.

Every single seasons, Lefebvre had to deal with 50 some players, lots of ECHL talent... Lots of them on few games tryouts. No miracles to be made there. Bad scouting and bad drafting make the difference. Look at Nashville and TB. They know their stuff.

 

[admiralcadillac]

Bring back Lefebvre, fire Bouchard.

While we're at it fire everybody in management. Amirite.

 

[montreal]

Is the team really garbage again this year???

no I don't think they are unless they continue to struggle to score which would be surprising with the vets they have. I think they will be in the playoffs.

I wrote before the season started that I did not share everyone's optimism about the team. Coaching perhaps may be better, but the talent is just not there. Very weak group of AHL veterans, almost no drafted prospects on the team, not impressive group of undrafted players signed as free agents.

don't agree at all. So far they have looked very good aside from the last 2 games where they looked like shit in the 1st, got better in the 2nd and looked their usual self in the 3rd. Now if they continue to struggle to score goals, and clearly they lack offensive skill on the blueline along with having 4 rookies but in their games they have dominated teams, getting a lot of shots and not giving up many but their PP is just so bad and right now the Chaput's, Shinkaruk's, etc.. just aren't scoring like they should be.

Seems like the team would have been better off keeping Rychel (8 pts in 9 games) than trade for Shinkaruk (2 pts in 11 games).

Shinkaruk has been mostly terrible, I know it was said he wanted to one of the Euro leagues so he looks to be on his way there at some point. I assume Rychel wanted a one way perhaps? Either way it's looking like they should have kept him as he was impressive in Laval in a small sample size.

 

[Rapala]

Glad I didn't watch this one. The organizational depth hasn't reached Laval yet?

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

I don't watch the games but I'm interested in following the progress of: Kulak, Fleury, the Czechs, Evans, Vejdemo, Alain, McCarron and a few other guys. Hopefully some players emerge from the team!

 

[Adam Michaels]

McCarron is out due to injury (or so they say).

Grenier just returned from injury last night so it makes sense they don't want him to play two games in less than 24 hours.

Shinkaruk deserves to be out.

Also bringing Sklenicka and Lernout back in and sitting Plant and Sproul.

So the D will be Kulak, Lernout, Fleury, Sklenicka, Moravcik, and Lamarche.

 

[montreal]

Alex Belzile being at the top of the scorers in Laval should tell you all you need to know about the level of talent of this team. Mostly badly build because of scouting.

Guys on that team that were drafted: Evans, Vejdemo, Pezzetta, Audette, McCarron, Lernout and Fleury. How this is not self-explanatory....I don't know.

I guess I need it explained. I don't follow. Belzile has been good, he's usually on the top line, it's Chaput, Froese, Shinkaruk, Grenier, Audette. These guys should be doing much better offensively then what they have done so far. Then you have Alain, 0 goals, Vejdemo/Jevpalovs 1 goal. Now Vejdemo has been pretty solid just hasn't been able to produce much. Granted he's adjusting to the smaller ice so we'll see if he picks it up or not.

When both of your goaltenders are playing for .875 and below it is hard to win hockey games.

They are 2nd in the league in PK, top 10 in goals against, and I heard one of the announcers say that they are among the top teams in the league in lowest shots given up. So the problem starts with the offense and a defense that doesn't have much offensive skill. The defense with 4 rookies and a weak top pairing is going to be tougher on the goalies but they don't face many shots and for the most part have been really good. In several games I'd say the goalies were our best player.

Every single seasons, Lefebvre had to deal with 50 some players, lots of ECHL talent... Lots of them on few games tryouts. No miracles to be made there. Bad scouting and bad drafting make the difference. Look at Nashville and TB. They know their stuff.

Lefebvre made terrible decisions, which is why he sucked. If your team is terrible and you have the worst PP in the league, why take your most skilled player off the top line and PP and replace him with no talent grinders. I could go on but people will believe what they want, I know what i saw then and what I see now.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Love it. Fleury with Kulak.

Evans with Agostino and Alain. Scherbak with Vejdemo and Jevpalovs.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[ProspectsFanatic]

They are 2nd in the league in PK, top 10 in goals against, and I heard one of the announcers say that they are among the top teams in the league in lowest shots given up. So the problem starts with the offense and a defense that doesn't have much offensive skill. The defense with 4 rookies and a weak top pairing is going to be tougher on the goalies but they don't face many shots and for the most part have been really good. In several games I'd say the goalies were our best player.

Why argue with factual data? .875 is just bad, .890 maybe you can stretch it and say it is ok because somehow he gets much higher quality shots than average, but .875 is too far of a stretch. Laval was the best team on the ice many games this season but the opponent goaltender was better than ours so we lost more than we should (last night was one the few case it wasn't the case)

 

[Adam Michaels]

Scherbak went back in the dressing room while the rest of the team warms up. Commentators guessing it may be equipment related.

 

[montreal]

Why argue with factual data? .875 is just bad, .890 maybe you can stretch it and say it is ok because somehow he gets much higher quality shots than average, but .875 is too far of a stretch. Laval was the best team on the ice many games this season but the opponent goaltender was better than ours so we lost more than we should (last night was one the few case it wasn't the case)

because I'm watching every game, they haven't given up bad goals for the most part despite the numbers. McNiven's only played 2 games and half but he's got a 2.16 gaa so clearly that's not bad just that he faced just 38 shots so far. We'll see what happens as their seasons go on but imo the goalies haven't been the problem.

 

[montreal]

Bouchard's not messing around, Shinkaruk has been terrible so glad he sits the vet. The problem is Audette hasn't been very good either and I don't think Alain has been very impressive.

 

[Adam Michaels]

I forgot that former Habs camp invite Petrus Palmu is with the Canucks organization. He's scratched tonight, though.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Love having the 91.9 Sports FM on AHL TV because when they're on commercial on the radio, you hear them chatting about anything and everything. Never caught them talking about anything bad or using foul language. But it's just fun to hear what they say during commercial breaks.

And Doucet JUST told his colleague that on AHL TV, they hear them during commercial breaks so to be careful.

Solid first shift by Waked, Pezzetta, and Chaput.

Very nice play by Laval to send Audette on his own but Kulbalov with a great save on him.

Laval headed on the PP.

No goals but Laval distributed the puck nicely. Something they should build on.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Lernout headed to the box on a boarding call. Made a dangerous hit from behind near the boards.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Excellent PK. Belzile with a great shot block at point blank in the end of Utica's PP.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Adam Michaels]

Decent first period by Laval. Nothing exciting happened on either end. Both teams had very few chances.

Right off the start in the 2nd period, Pezzetta to the box for charging. It didn't look like much, but refs called it.

Oh man, what did Laval miss there. Vejdemo with an amazing forecheck on Kulbakov while shorthanded and he missed his wrap-around and Jevpalovs didn't get a shot off on the rebound.

And then they had another scoring chance next.

What an amazing penalty kill. And just as Pezzetta steps out of the box, Utica gets called. Laval headed to the PP.

Laval is knocking on the door. Another scoring chance on the PP.

Real good second PP. No goal. But again some good chances. Laval has come into this period with a mission.

Attaboy Lernout. Knocking Arseneau on his ass in a fight. It wouldn't surprise me if Lernout wanting to give Arseneau a fight after he dropped the gloves against Fleury last night (15 year difference between the two).

 

[Whitesnake]

I guess I need it explained. I don't follow. Belzile has been good, he's usually on the top line, it's Chaput, Froese, Shinkaruk, Grenier, Audette. These guys should be doing much better offensively then what they have done so far. Then you have Alain, 0 goals, Vejdemo/Jevpalovs 1 goal. Now Vejdemo has been pretty solid just hasn't been able to produce much. Granted he's adjusting to the smaller ice so we'll see if he picks it up or not.

Not blaming Belzile. Just saying....for him to be on top of our scorer list says a lot about how our other kids are doing. Which is what you said in your post anyway. Belzile has no NHL future. He has 27 years old actually. He is a vet. Just like Agostino and Froese. He is suppose to be good. But yes, that's the point, the rest is just incredibly bad.

 

[Whitesnake]

Every single seasons, Lefebvre had to deal with 50 some players, lots of ECHL talent... Lots of them on few games tryouts. No miracles to be made there. Bad scouting and bad drafting make the difference. Look at Nashville and TB. They know their stuff.

That's half of a mirage. I looked at that before. MOST AHL team dresses 45 to 50 players if not more. And MOST of those teams finished higher than us. Now....yes, drafting is freakin key.....and I also keep saying that. There is NO WAY you can solely pinpoint to development or to drafting to explain a problem. When things don't go as well as it did for our NHL team and for our AHL team, BOTH need to pay the price. The Development and the drafting. You had to move from Timmins at one point. And if somebody will come out in 4 years to show me the great 2017u or 2018 drafts to explain to me that Timmins is finally a god, I'd ask them if they are absolutely sure that it didn't happen to other teams. Every team has fired their head scout or scouts at one point. Do we know FOR SURE if they didn't produce great NHL'ers after being fired?

 

[Whitesnake]

Bring back Lefebvre, fire Bouchard.

While we're at it fire everybody in management. Amirite.

Unutrite. We started to be tough on Lefebvre at year 4. Some of you guys are starting to be tough on Bouchard at game 10. Yeah....same freakin thing.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Utice makes it 1-0. But McNiven was bumped into by another player.

But refs seemed to judge he was pushed into him by Kulak. So 1-0 for Utica.