2019-2020 Laval Rocket & ECHL Thread

[Guilliam]

I'll be at the game this afternoon. First Rocket game ever.

I hope they saved some goals for today...

 

[Schwang]

What’s Belziles injury after that big hit he took?

 

[Adam Michaels]

ECHL SCORES FROM RECENTLY

- November 21 -

Jacksonville 1 - 2 Greenville
- Michael McNiven with a .965 SV%

Adirondack 5 - 8 Brampton
- Hayden Verbeek with 1 assist / -1 / 3 SOG

- November 22 -

Maine 6 - 1 Norfolk
- Morgan Adams-Moisan with 2 pts (1G, 1A) / +2 / 1 SOG / 2 PIM
- Ryan Culkin with 4 pts (1G, 3A) / +2 / 6 SOG
- Connor LaCouvee with a .964 SV%

- November 23 -

Maine 2 - 5 Norfolk
- Morgan Adams-Moisand with no points / 1 SOG
- Ryan Culkin with 1 assist / -1
- Connor LaCouvee with a .839 SV%


Season So Far:

MORGAN ADAMS-MOISAN: 3 PTS (1G, 2A) in 14 GP
RYAN CULKIN: 12 PTS (4G, 8A) in 14 GP
CONNOR LACOUVEE: 3-4-0 Record / 2.97 GAA / .910 SV%

HAYDEN VERBEEK: 12 PTS (1G, 11A) in 15 GP

MICHAEL McNIVEN: 3-3-0 Record / 1.83 GAA / .942 SV%​

 

[ahmedou]

#23/11/19(Game21:Comets4-2Rocket)

Pezzetta/Poehling(-1)/Lynch
Peca(2A)/McCarron(+1)/Barber(1G)
Alain/Vejdemo(-1)/Cox(-1)
Jevpalovs(-1)/Evans(-1)/Waked

Olofsson(1A-1)/Sklenicka(1G)
Leskinen(1A)/Lamarche(1A)
Alzner/Brook(-1)

Lindgren(22/25)

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Hope the Rocket are playing well. Is Juulsen hurt again? Who have been the most impressive players so far for the Rocket? I'm hopeful for some of those D to come up and also some scrappy forwards.

I saw a Poehling game in the NHL (the BJs game) at the Bell Centre. I was really down on him for the first half of that game, I felt he wasn't doing anything, but then surprisingly he played pretty well the second half of the game, especially the 3rd period, getting to pucks with hustle, making smart plays. I think he needs some time but I'm hoping he'll be a good player when he gets there.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Treb]

Hope the Rocket are playing well. Is Juulsen hurt again? Who have been the most impressive players so far for the Rocket? I'm hopeful for some of those D to come up and also some scrappy forwards.

I saw a Poehling game in the NHL (the BJs game) at the Bell Centre. I was really down on him for the first half of that game, I felt he wasn't doing anything, but then surprisingly he played pretty well the second half of the game, especially the 3rd period, getting to pucks with hustle, making smart plays. I think he needs some time but I'm hoping he'll be a good player when he gets there.

Juulsen has been sick apparently. Still, he definitely needs to get back to 100%, the clock is ticking as he will be waiver eligible next year.

The most impressive players have been hands down Vejdemo and Primeau. Vejdemo is a two-way beast this year and Primeau's stats speak for themselves.

Leskinen and Olofsson have also been good but not great.

Evans struggled early on, but seems to be playing better as of late.

Poehling and Brook need to find themselves. They are both showing flashes, but they definitely have been disappointing overall.

McCarron is not playing at the level he was last year. He is definitely playing frustrated.

Jevpalovs, Alain, Cox and Lynch have been good filler, but nothing here for the NHL.

Sklenicka and Pezzetta need to play more often.

Belzile, Lindgren, Barber and Peca are doing ok despite a slow start from Lindgren/Barber/Peca.

Weise, Lamarche and Varone (injured) are meh.

Waked and Alzner need to be replaced.

 

[Adam Michaels]

 

[Adam Michaels]

Juulsen going to see a migraine specialist as he's been feeling headaches again. Bouchard says he's not alarmed by this and if all goes well, Juulsen will join the team in Syracuse.

 

[Harry Kakalovich]

Juulsen going to see a migraine specialist as he's been feeling headaches again. Bouchard says he's not alarmed by this and if all goes well, Juulsen will join the team in Syracuse.

Poor guy. Hope he gets better.

 

[CoopersFalls]

Maybe Bouchard isn’t this upcoming genius many purported him to be.

Deep D, established AHL pros up front. Poor results on the scoreboard and in the numbers of many young guys save for Primeau and Vejdomo

 

[The Great Weal]

Ya Bouchard can barely do anything with a stacked AHL team, he isn't coming to the NHL if he keeps this up.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Ya Bouchard can barely do anything with a stacked AHL team, he isn't coming to the NHL if he keeps this up.

stacked? lol

 

[The Great Weal]

stacked? lol

They should be doing pretty damn good. Peca was good in the AHL. So were Barber and and Varone. Those guys should be lighting it up.

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

They should be doing pretty damn good. Peca was good in the AHL. So were Barber and and Varone. Those guys should be lighting it up.

rocket were missing 3 players from the top 6 no?

 

[Treb]

Maybe Bouchard isn’t this upcoming genius many purported him to be.

Deep D, established AHL pros up front. Poor results on the scoreboard and in the numbers of many young guys save for Primeau and Vejdomo

Tied 10th in the league while missing 3/6 of his top 6 (Varone,Belzile, Hudon) and a slow start from Lindgren.

 

[WinterLion]

Tied 10th in the league while missing 3/6 of his top 6 (Varone,Belzile, Hudon) and a slow start from Lindgren.

It's true that they had a slow start...

 

[Treb]

It's true that they had a slow start...

IIRC they lost the first 3, so since then they are 11-5-3.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Maybe Bouchard isn’t this upcoming genius many purported him to be.

Deep D, established AHL pros up front. Poor results on the scoreboard and in the numbers of many young guys save for Primeau and Vejdomo

Bouchard may not be perfect. But in the last 14 games, Laval only lost three games in regulation. They have been 8-3-3 in that span.

It took them a while to get going, for sure. But they started to pick it up since the end of October.

The thing about Laval is that they are in the toughest division in the AHL. So while Laval has been going real well, the other teams in the North Division are, too. They were first in their division a few games ago. They lose two in a row and they're 4th. Meanwhile the 7th place team is 2 points behind. That's how tight it is.

As for the players, particularly the prospects, I think you can look at Fleury as an example of what a year under Bouchard did for him.

Vejdemo is flying so far this year after one year under Bouchard.

Evans' game is a lot more complete. He looked good at camp after one year under Bouchard.

Brook and Poehling haven't been lighting it up, but slowly, slowly, they're playing better and more consistent.

Leskinen is also getting better.

Credit goes to the prospects for it. But you can't discount what Bouchard has been able to accomplish with the kids.

As for the vets, most started off slow. Unfortunate, but it's what happened. The key though is that they started to pick their game up.

Varone started slow, but he picked things up before his injury.

Peca started real slow, got hurt, came back and has been on fire lately.

Barber started slow but he's picked it up lately.

Hudon started slow, but he picked it up before he was called up.

As @Treb mentioned, three of their Top-6, Varone, Belzile, and Hudon, are not in line-up and haven't been for a number of games. At some point, that affects things.

 

[montreal]

Maybe Bouchard isn’t this upcoming genius many purported him to be.

Deep D, established AHL pros up front. Poor results on the scoreboard and in the numbers of many young guys save for Primeau and Vejdomo

I don't know if anyone tabbed him as a genius but to anyone that watched previous teams to the current Bouchard teams can see a vast improvement in their structured defensive play. The main concern with his teams so far has been the offense, so we'll see this year how it goes as last year he had a very legit excuse and this year he does not despite the injuries/call ups as this team was very deep and should be a top 10 team in the AHL, which they are but we'll see where they are at in April.

As for the NHL defense, they have mostly disappointed as Alzner looks even slower and a good bit worse then last year where I thought he was solid at least. He really looks completely done, it's really hard to imagine him playing another 2 years outside of the money as imo he shouldn't even be playing every game if they had a healthy defense. Ouellet was pretty good last year offensively and pretty weak defensively. This year it's tougher to say since he's been injured and before that he was playing RD instead of his usual LD.

There's Olofsson who's been solid considering he missed all of last year to injury outside a 1 full game. But for a former NHLer I expected a little more at the very least so we'll see as the season goes on if he can step it up or not. At this point I would like to see them send Reilly down to help out as he would do wonders for the offense from the blueline which is very lacking overall and he would help the PP which started out great but has been on the decline ever since. Folin it was only 1 game but he was not very good. Juulsen it's only been 11 games and he also missed so much time but he's been very good defensively, though I cringe every time he blocks a shot as he's already blocked at least 3 that caused him to leave the ice in what looked like a lot of pain.

I think the team would be at least a little better had they gone with what I was pushing for in the summer, a Primeau-McNiven duo in net. McNiven is on fire in the ECHL, he's given up just 8 goals in the last 6 games and should be in the AHL. On the other hand I've been giving Bouchard a hard time about the rotating goalies but perhaps he was right to do so as we are seeing chinks in the armor of Primeau after his great start as he's let in 14 goals in his last 4 games after letting in 12 in his first 7 games. Although it could be just struggling verse one team as of the 26 goals he's given up in 11 games, 13 have come in 3 games vs the sens. We'll see how his next few starts go and it's not like he was letting in weak goals but you can't be giving up 4 or 5 goals like Lindgren has done at times.

 

[Adam Michaels]

They should be doing pretty damn good. Peca was good in the AHL. So were Barber and and Varone. Those guys should be lighting it up.

They did get off to a slow start.

Varone was heating up before he got hurt.

Peca has been lighting it up lately. (10 pts in last 11 GP)

Barber has, too (10 pts in the last 9 GP)

Hudon was lighting it up before he was called up.

The team has only lost three games in regulation in their last 14 games. They're 8-3-3 in that span.

They're doing much better than people think they are.

 

[DangerDave]

I'm glad to hear the Brook is playing much better lately. Dmen often take quite a while to adapt and develop. He's a really important player going forward imo

 

[Wats]

I wish Habs just stack their AHL team with their top prospects and let them all do well. It will at least give people some more hope.

 

[Adam Michaels]

Good news, Juulsen is back with the team in Syracuse. He said he met with the specialist, he feels better, and it's just about managing things. He should be good for tomorrow's game.

 

[montreal]

Ya Bouchard can barely do anything with a stacked AHL team, he isn't coming to the NHL if he keeps this up.

they are one of the better teams in the AHL, so we'll see what this team does, they had a very tough schedule to start the year but played well against the top teams. They just suck against the sens though and the offense is a concern but trending up.

I'm glad to hear the Brook is playing much better lately. Dmen often take quite a while to adapt and develop. He's a really important player going forward imo

he is although with him it's been ups and downs all season although it's still very early, he needs to be much more consistent. What I like is it at least appears that he's picking up his confidence and that could be huge, they really need him to step up and be what I think he can be. We saw it last year with Fleury, he certainly had his struggles although I will be very disappointed if he doesn't at least match Fleury's offensive output.

I wish Habs just stack their AHL team with their top prospects and let them all do well. It will at least give people some more hope.

they are since Primeau, Brook and Poehling are some of their to prospects, Caufield could be there next year as I assume he signs at the end of the season and plays a game or two in the NHL ala Poehling. There's a possible large incoming class next year with Fairbrother, Hillis, maybe Harris plus whatever decisions they make on McShane, Fonstad, Houde, LeGuerrier, Norlinder, RHP, Khisamutdinov, Ikonen, Ylonen.