I was at both of the week-end's games and here are some thoughts and observations. Note that for sunday's games, I was sitting in row A, visitor side so it's pretty hard to evaluate properly (it's fun to get a feeling of the pace, but for a global appreciation of the game, it's not ideal).
Overall impression
The Monsters were really aggressive, especially their defensemen. It seemed to bother the Rocket players. They had a really hard time controlling the play and getting out of their own zone. They had very few controlled zone entries. The forecheck gave them trouble at time too. Laval was much more passive in their style of play. Quite a few players seemed disinterested. It was a pretty bad week-end for the Rocket. With the amount of talent on that roster, their performances were very disappointing.
The positive
I thought Hudon played well. He was pretty aggressive. He feuded a bit with Gerbe and Fix-Wolanski and showed passion. He has some great qualities in the AHL but you can tell why he's not "there" yet. His shot is good, not great. His release is too slow. He's smart at cutting passing lanes and retrieving pucks but then he doesn't convert those recoveries into scoring chances or long possessions for his team.
Belzile was, in my opinion, the best player for the Rocket this week-end. He's the best forechecker, he plays with a lot of intensity, had good speed and a decent shot. He doesn't have a lot of NHL-level qualities but he could be a good 4th-line energy player that hammers the opposition in their own zone. He's a lot of fun to watch at this level too. He scored a great goal on a breakaway on the PK.
Jake Evans was good, not great. The thing that stood out in his play is his ability to steal pucks without engaging in board battles. He does the dirty work once in a while but he plays an energy efficient game. He's still a wild card to me : he has some really strong abilities, but I'm not sure if that will translate to the NHL. It will be a big season for him in the AHL and this time, he'll have much more help around him, offensively.
On defense, the only guy that really stood out is Xavier Ouellet. He looks a step above everyone. He had a good week-end and made some nice plays. Otherwise, I like Lamarche as the #6 guy in the AHL. He's huge and he can play the game at a decent level.
Jevpalovs was his usual self. Good forecheck, some decent plays, but he has limited talent. He does well within his limits. Dale Weise was alright as well. I think he's going to be a useful player in the AHL. He's really annoying to play against.
The goalies were good too. Lindgren was his usual self: some great saves and a bad goal. He was better than most of his performances last year though. He could've saved that third goal. But the defense kind of left him out to dry on most of these goals.
I really like Primeau. His positioning is great. He follows the play very thoroughly and he, like Price, is great at controlling his rebounds. He sends pucks to the corners, never in front of him. I thought he could've saved the one-timer (I think it was the 2nd goal), but it was a good scoring chance. Again, the defense was really sloppy on the goals.
The negative
The new vets, Barber and Varone, were really disappointing. I don't know if it's because of the demotion but they didn't have the intensity they showed in camp.
Karl Alzner looks like he's just waiting for his contract to end. Then again, I thought he looked pretty disinterested in the NHL too. He's not bad... but at this level, he should be way more dominant. He had some pretty bad shifts, his skating is still deficient (which is not as problematic in the AHL) and his shot is pretty bad.
I really liked Otto Leskinen in camp but this first week-end was not great for him. He still shows flashes of what makes him an intriguing player : great first pass, good skater, but he made some really bad plays that lead to turnovers. He had a pretty rough time handling the intense forecheck.
Josh Brook is just starting at the AHL and we need to be patient with him. He was pretty timid. He had some good plays, you can see the potential, but he lacks the confidence to execute his usual high-risk, high-reward game.
Ryan Poehling had a rough week-end too. Couldn't get anything going offensively. Didn't play with the energy level I expect out of him. He missed many opportunities to throw body checks. He didn't look as fast and as implicated in the plays as we've seen him do in the NHL. He actually looked kind of lost at times. Again... It was his second and third professional games. He's super young. We need to give him time.
Matthew Peca was probably my biggest dud for the week-end. I don't even wanna get into it. This guy should be way better.
It should be a big year for Lukas Vejdemo. He needs to take a step and become a leader on this team. These first two games were not great for him. He couldn't get anything going offensively. He's mostly a defensive center at this point but he needs to get the offense going if he wants a shot at the NHL.