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2020-21 Laval General Discussion Thread


dlbalr

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18 hours ago, tomh009 said:

Agree on the needs assessment. But which one(s) of the lefties is Bouchard using on the right side to fill the gap for now? Is it Leskinen?

LDs (Lefties): Olofsson, Leskinen, Fairbrother/Guhle (before being sent down), Leguerrier

RDs (Righties): Brook, Fleury (before being assigned to taxi squad)

 

Lefty playing RD: Shueneman. Ouellet

New Lefty: G. Brisebois

 

===

I would like to see Fleury playing in Laval:

Olofsson-Brook

Leskinen-Fleury

Shueneman-Ouellet

 

We need Brook and Fleury to develop, although we may lose Fleury in the expansion draft of by some miracle Seattle doesn't pick Allen or Kulak.

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6 hours ago, dlbalr said:

 

Ouellet was there early with the junior guys and last game it was Leskinen. 

I missed Leskinen playing RD, didn't know

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

So, how do the AHL playoffs work this season, with five divisions? I haven't been able to find anything online describing who will play whom.

I'm pretty sure as of this moment there aren't any playoffs at all this year. Might change, but this is probably a pure development season. 

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2 hours ago, Trizzak said:

I'm pretty sure as of this moment there aren't any playoffs at all this year. Might change, but this is probably a pure development season. 

 

Nothing is set but nothing has been ruled out.  About six weeks ago I heard rumblings of best 2 of 3 divisional playoffs for four of the five divisions with the three-team one maybe doing a best of 5 but it was more along the lines of just being on the table.  That would give them a bit of extra development but in terms of a Calder Cup, I can't see it happening unless they pull a Canadian team into the US for a Final Four, much like the NHL playoffs will probably have to do.

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  • 2 weeks later...

NOT my original thought, but it will be interesting to see whether the acquisition of Eric Staal impacts Ryan Poehling ... he has been hot and may have started to think there was a chance to get called up ... not so much now ... he seemed to react poorly when sent down last season ... important for him to keep the proverbial "nose to the grindstone" and show he has matured.

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21 games played out of 36, or almost 60% of the season. Our four goalies?

  • Cayden Primeau 10-3-0, .906. The team's go-to goaltender all season. Only two four-goal games, and one of those was the Marlies, so very consistent. 2.23 GAA but the Rocket doesn't give up many shots so the save percentage doesn't look spectacular.
     
  • Michael McNiven 4-0-1, .910. The positive surprise of the season, has been solid, I expect that getting (kind of) regular ice time has given him a big boost of confidence.
     
  • Charlie Lindgren 1-1-0, .875. Not much of a sample size as Lindgren has spent most of the season on the taxi squad, but he only allowed four goals total in those two games.
     
  • Vasily Demchenko 0-0-1, .880. Has played only a single game, more than month ago, lost 3-2 in OT.

Lindgren is no surprise, he's doing what we're paying him for. And Primeau is showing promise, although not yet readiness to move up to the big leagues. McNiven? Could he be back with the Rocket next year? He's not that old at 23, and he has looked pretty good this year.

 

The mystery, to me, is Demchenko. At this rate he'll be lucky to get a second start before the end of the season. Has he underperformed in practice? Did we sign him just for the scenario where Primeau and/or McNiven would be hurt? I expect that he must be frustrated with sitting in the stands all season, even if he is getting paid -- and likely getting paid less than he was getting in the KHL.

 

I don't expect that there will be a line of teams waiting to sign Demchenko for next season (given that he has only had a single start in the AHL), but surely it can't make sense to pay him for another year of sitting around. Assuming, that is, that he's even willing to sign again with our organization.

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11 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

21 games played out of 36, or almost 60% of the season. Our four goalies?

  • Cayden Primeau 10-3-0, .906. The team's go-to goaltender all season. Only two four-goal games, and one of those was the Marlies, so very consistent. 2.23 GAA but the Rocket doesn't give up many shots so the save percentage doesn't look spectacular.
     
  • Michael McNiven 4-0-1, .910. The positive surprise of the season, has been solid, I expect that getting (kind of) regular ice time has given him a big boost of confidence.
     
  • Charlie Lindgren 1-1-0, .875. Not much of a sample size as Lindgren has spent most of the season on the taxi squad, but he only allowed four goals total in those two games.
     
  • Vasily Demchenko 0-0-1, .880. Has played only a single game, more than month ago, lost 3-2 in OT.

Lindgren is no surprise, he's doing what we're paying him for. And Primeau is showing promise, although not yet readiness to move up to the big leagues. McNiven? Could he be back with the Rocket next year? He's not that old at 23, and he has looked pretty good this year.

 

The mystery, to me, is Demchenko. At this rate he'll be lucky to get a second start before the end of the season. Has he underperformed in practice? Did we sign him just for the scenario where Primeau and/or McNiven would be hurt? I expect that he must be frustrated with sitting in the stands all season, even if he is getting paid -- and likely getting paid less than he was getting in the KHL.

 

I don't expect that there will be a line of teams waiting to sign Demchenko for next season (given that he has only had a single start in the AHL), but surely it can't make sense to pay him for another year of sitting around. Assuming, that is, that he's even willing to sign again with our organization.

Demchenko may be suffering from the lack of an ECHL team this season ... Primeau would have carried the Rocket and Demchenko/McNiven could have rotated and essentially split the ECHL games and AHL backup job, with whichever played better getting the majority of the non-Primeau starts.

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8 minutes ago, GHT120 said:

Demchenko may be suffering from the lack of an ECHL team this season ... Primeau would have carried the Rocket and Demchenko/McNiven could have rotated and essentially split the ECHL games and AHL backup job, with whichever played better getting the majority of the non-Primeau starts.

ECHL would have made sense (though don't know whether Demchenko would have signed up for that). But they knew that wasn't going to be an option this season when they signed Demchenko.

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1 minute ago, tomh009 said:

ECHL would have made sense (though don't know whether Demchenko would have signed up for that). But they knew that wasn't going to be an option this season when they signed Demchenko.

 

They signed Demchenko in what, May or June?  At the time, the hope was that there was going to be an ECHL season; even Demchenko himself acknowledged in an interview that he could go to the ECHL.  I'm not sure how open he'll be towards re-signing.  Lindgren won't be back but I wouldn't be shocked if McNiven sticks around for one more year.  Would Demchenko sign to be a #5?  Hard to think he would.

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17 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

They signed Demchenko in what, May or June?  At the time, the hope was that there was going to be an ECHL season; even Demchenko himself acknowledged in an interview that he could go to the ECHL.  I'm not sure how open he'll be towards re-signing.  Lindgren won't be back but I wouldn't be shocked if McNiven sticks around for one more year.  Would Demchenko sign to be a #5?  Hard to think he would.

May depend on whether Seattle selects Allen and who MB et al plan to use as Price's backup ... Primeau could fill the role, get some NHL starts and AHL starts as well to give him enough games to continue his development) 

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11 hours ago, dlbalr said:

 

They signed Demchenko in what, May or June?  At the time, the hope was that there was going to be an ECHL season; even Demchenko himself acknowledged in an interview that he could go to the ECHL.  I'm not sure how open he'll be towards re-signing.  Lindgren won't be back but I wouldn't be shocked if McNiven sticks around for one more year.  Would Demchenko sign to be a #5?  Hard to think he would.

Right, I was just thinking of the (still unnamed?) TR ECHL team only, I completely forgot that they could have sent him to another ECHL team as well, had there been a season.

 

On a related topic, how do ECHL contracts fit into the 50-contract limit? Does that cover only the NHL and AHL, and ECHL contracts are completely separate?

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5 minutes ago, tomh009 said:

Right, I was just thinking of the (still unnamed?) TR ECHL team only, I completely forgot that they could have sent him to another ECHL team as well, had there been a season.

 

On a related topic, how do ECHL contracts fit into the 50-contract limit? Does that cover only the NHL and AHL, and ECHL contracts are completely separate?

 

50 contract limit is any contract that has an NHL option in it.

 

You often hear players sign AHL only deals or two-way AHL/ECHL deals (as opposed to two way NHL/AHL deals) that fill rosters and dont count against the 50 contract limit.

 

But those guys dont belong to the Habs... and at any time another NHL team could swoop in and give them an NHL deal and take them, so these guys are not usually someone a team considers a serious prospect.

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5 minutes ago, Commandant said:

50 contract limit is any contract that has an NHL option in it.

 

You often hear players sign AHL only deals or two-way AHL/ECHL deals (as opposed to two way NHL/AHL deals) that fill rosters and dont count against the 50 contract limit.

 

But those guys dont belong to the Habs... and at any time another NHL team could swoop in and give them an NHL deal and take them, so these guys are not usually someone a team considers a serious prospect.

Thanks. So if the Rocket signs a player to an AHL-only or AHL/ECHL deal, that deal will always (?) have an out-clause allowing the player to walk away if he gets an NHL contract with another team? Or AHL teams are just willing to tear up contracts in order to give players a chance to play in the NHL?

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1 hour ago, tomh009 said:

Thanks. So if the Rocket signs a player to an AHL-only or AHL/ECHL deal, that deal will always (?) have an out-clause allowing the player to walk away if he gets an NHL contract with another team? Or AHL teams are just willing to tear up contracts in order to give players a chance to play in the NHL?

 

Yes, They always have an out clause for an NHL contract.  

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10 hours ago, tomh009 said:

Right, I was just thinking of the (still unnamed?) TR ECHL team only, I completely forgot that they could have sent him to another ECHL team as well, had there been a season.

 

Technically, there is an ECHL season with a dozen or so teams playing.  But with that leaving so few goalie spots available and the challenges in recalling him due to quarantine, there really wasn't a good situation to try to send him to.

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Leskinen (2nd) and Brook (8th) are both in the top 10 in AHL scoring (for defencemen). Both showing a big leap from 2019-2020.

 

Brook is scoring 0.6 points/game, up from 0.22. Penalties down from 0.7 minutes/game to 0.6, and shooting percentage up from 5.0% to 5.9%. He's now a key contributor for the Rocket.

 

Leskinen is up from 0.4 to 0.6 points/game, and has cut his penalties down from 1.1 minutes/game to 0.65. Shooting a lot helps to create opportunities in front of the net, and he's got 49, tops on the Rocket. His shooting percentage, though, is a Mete-like 2.0%!

 

Both seem to have adjusted to the AHL-level game well now, and will surely be fighting for roster spots next fall -- assuming there is space on the Habs' roster, that is.

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2 hours ago, tomh009 said:

Leskinen (2nd) and Brook (8th) are both in the top 10 in AHL scoring. Both showing a big leap from 2019-2020.

 

Brook is scoring 0.6 points/game, up from 0.22. Penalties down from 0.7 minutes/game to 0.6, and shooting percentage up from 5.0% to 5.9%. He's now a key contributor for the Rocket.

 

Leskinen is up from 0.4 to 0.6 points/game, and has cut his penalties down from 1.1 minutes/game to 0.65. Shooting a lot helps to create opportunities in front of the net, and he's got 49, tops on the Rocket. His shooting percentage, though, is a Mete-like 2.0%!

 

Both seem to have adjusted to the AHL-level game well now, and will surely be fighting for roster spots next fall -- assuming there is space on the Habs' roster, that is.

 

It's also great to see Poehling having a much better year. It looks like he has has matured a bit. A year or two in the AHL is never a bad thing. 

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1 hour ago, DON said:

My guess is he will be the next #13.

image.jpeg

 

OR ... will MB trade Chiarot(+) in a deal that both upgrades the defence and frees up CC's number?

:)  ;)  

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