2020-21 Laval General Discussion Thread

[dlbalr]

7 hours ago, Trizzak said:

Being that Weal is not one of the Black Aces can we add a touch more creedence to the speculation?

 

Certainly doesn't hurt the chances of it happening but I don't think it's why he wasn't invited.  I don't have enough concrete info about it but I believe the bridge was burned back in the bubble; his days with the Habs were numbered then but they couldn't give him away last offseason because of the extra year on his contract.

[Commandant]

Wonder why Brook isnt with the aces.

[alfredoh2009]

22 minutes ago, Commandant said:

Wonder why Brook isnt with the aces.

🙃 we already have enough forwards 🤪

[dlbalr]

7 hours ago, Commandant said:

Wonder why Brook isnt with the aces.

 

He suffered a knee injury in Saturday's game.

[dlbalr]

As expected, Vasili Demchenko isn't sticking around for another year.  He signed a one-year deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

[Commandant]

45 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

He suffered a knee injury in Saturday's game.

Thanks

[alfredoh2009]

1 hour ago, dlbalr said:

 

He suffered a knee injury in Saturday's game.

yeah, thanks for the update. I saw him limp out but didn't pick up at the time that he was seriously injured. I remember the commentators were saying it looked like a charlie horse

[Neech]

Why isn't Bouchard re-signed?

[GHT120]

2 hours ago, Neech said:

Why isn't Bouchard re-signed?

 

He has to be willing to sign ... expect he is waiting to see if any NHL opportunities emerge (likely as an assistant) and/or to see what the situation is in Montreal ... Is MB still GM? ... Is DD still HC? ... What role is he offered to re-sign?

[dlbalr]

4 hours ago, Neech said:

Why isn't Bouchard re-signed?

 

I touched on this in my last Laval column on the main site.  If he wants to come back and coach Laval, I'm sure they'll want to keep him; he'd be a must-keep in that circumstance.  But what if he wants to move up?  I'm not sure he's going to get NHL head coaching attention but there are already several assistant jobs available and as things stand, I'm not sure there's one that's going to be open in Montreal unless it's a complete housecleaning.  If he thinks an assistant job is a better stepping stone to an NHL head coaching position, he's going to take that and it's probably going to have to be outside the organization.

[Commandant]

6 minutes ago, dlbalr said:

 

I touched on this in my last Laval column on the main site.  If he wants to come back and coach Laval, I'm sure they'll want to keep him; he'd be a must-keep in that circumstance.  But what if he wants to move up?  I'm not sure he's going to get NHL head coaching attention but there are already several assistant jobs available and as things stand, I'm not sure there's one that's going to be open in Montreal unless it's a complete housecleaning.  If he thinks an assistant job is a better stepping stone to an NHL head coaching position, he's going to take that and it's probably going to have to be outside the organization.

 

This organization cannot afford to let Bouchard go, especially given the requirements that coaches/GMs be french.  

Earlier this year, the Habs had Julien, with Ducharme, Muller and Richardson as the assistants. 

Now they have Ducharme with Burrows and Richardson as the assistants.

You can find him an assistant job if you need to... but you can't let a good hockey guy like this who speaks french get outside the organization.

[Prime Minister Koivu]

2 hours ago, GHT120 said:

 

He has to be willing to sign ... expect he is waiting to see if any NHL opportunities emerge (likely as an assistant) and/or to see what the situation is in Montreal ... Is MB still GM? ... Is DD still HC? ... What role is he offered to re-sign?

Made me tingle thinking about MB not being GM anymore 

[dlbalr]

3 minutes ago, Commandant said:

This organization cannot afford to let Bouchard go, especially given the requirements that coaches/GMs be french.  

Earlier this year, the Habs had Julien, with Ducharme, Muller and Richardson as the assistants. 

Now they have Ducharme with Burrows and Richardson as the assistants.

You can find him an assistant job if you need to... but you can't let a good hockey guy like this who speaks french get outside the organization.

 

Yes, they have the vacancy available but is it just a token one at that point?  Sure, we'll put you on the bench but you'll be the extra assistant.  If there's one available where he's higher on the pecking order, that could be more appealing.  (On the other hand, he'd be in the spot that Ducharme had and he went from being the extra guy to head coach which is the easy counterpoint to make).

[Commandant]

If its a question of Bouchard leaving and which one do you keep... I let Ducharme go and make Bouchard the head coach. 

I have a lot of faith in Bouchard. 

[Prime Minister Koivu]

13 hours ago, Commandant said:

If its a question of Bouchard leaving and which one do you keep... I let Ducharme go and make Bouchard the head coach. 

I have a lot of faith in Bouchard. 

Im 100% behind this and we would be foolish to let Bouchard go. 

[tomh009]

15 hours ago, dlbalr said:

Yes, they have the vacancy available but is it just a token one at that point?  Sure, we'll put you on the bench but you'll be the extra assistant.  If there's one available where he's higher on the pecking order, that could be more appealing.  (On the other hand, he'd be in the spot that Ducharme had and he went from being the extra guy to head coach which is the easy counterpoint to make).

A key question is what is Bouchard's long-term goal -- NHL head coach? NHL GM?

 

If he wants to get on the GM track, I say we give him a role running player development for the organization. We need to be better at that anyway, and now we'll be adding ECHL to the mix as well.

[revvvrob]

I don’t know where I got this in my head - but I had thot Ducharme was GM in waiting and Bouchard was HC in waiting. 

 

What if Ducharme replaces MB and Bouchard replaces Ducharme?

 

or - if MB gets a 2 year extension, make Ducharme Assistant GM. 

[GHT120]

15 minutes ago, revvvrob said:

I don’t know where I got this in my head - but I had thot Ducharme was GM in waiting and Bouchard was HC in waiting. 

 

What if Ducharme replaces MB and Bouchard replaces Ducharme?

 

or - if MB gets a 2 year extension, make Ducharme Assistant GM. 

I've always thought it was the opposite ... while Ducharme had a couple of seasons as GM/HC in Drummondville, Bouchard has broader management experience ... including as GM in both the QMJHL and the ECHL, and part-owner of the  Armada de Blainville-Boisbriand.

[alfredoh2009]

1 hour ago, revvvrob said:

I don’t know where I got this in my head - but I had thot Ducharme was GM in waiting and Bouchard was HC in waiting. 

 

What if Ducharme replaces MB and Bouchard replaces Ducharme?

 

or - if MB gets a 2 year extension, make Ducharme Assistant GM. 

It’s the other way around 

[revvvrob]

2 hours ago, GHT120 said:

I've always thought it was the opposite ... while Ducharme had a couple of seasons as GM/HC in Drummondville, Bouchard has broader management experience ... including as GM in both the QMJHL and the ECHL, and part-owner of the  Armada de Blainville-Boisbriand.

Ah. Ok. Well - I definitely agree that we need to keep Bouchard in the system. Somehow!

[dlbalr]

Cayden Primeau and Otto Leskinen made the North Division All-Star team.

 

Terrance Amorosa signed a one-year, two-way deal for next season.  He spent most of the year as a healthy scratch and feels like someone ticketed for Trois-Rivieres in 2021-22.

[DON]

1 minute ago, dlbalr said:

Cayden Primeau and Otto Leskinen made the North Division All-Star team.

 

Will Habs keep Leskinen?

Or is he likely headed back home or free agency?

[dlbalr]

19 minutes ago, DON said:

Will Habs keep Leskinen?

Or is he likely headed back home or free agency?

 

I've been thinking ahead to my usual Qualify or Cut series (to see if there are enough players worth covering) and his is the biggest question mark.  I think he has shown enough in Laval to warrant a qualifying offer but he was terrible in Montreal and that could resonate, especially with the other LD in the system.  And does Leskinen want to play in the AHL at his age (he turns 25 next season) or go back home, probably for more money?

[tomh009]

17 hours ago, dlbalr said:

I've been thinking ahead to my usual Qualify or Cut series (to see if there are enough players worth covering) and his is the biggest question mark.  I think he has shown enough in Laval to warrant a qualifying offer but he was terrible in Montreal and that could resonate, especially with the other LD in the system.  And does Leskinen want to play in the AHL at his age (he turns 25 next season) or go back home, probably for more money?

I expect he would need more than the minimum AHL contract to stay. He only had a single game with the Habs this year, in the late-season Ducharme blender, so it's hard to draw a definitive conclusion on that.

[dlbalr]

4 hours ago, tomh009 said:

I expect he would need more than the minimum AHL contract to stay. He only had a single game with the Habs this year, in the late-season Ducharme blender, so it's hard to draw a definitive conclusion on that.

 

They wouldn't be giving him a minimum AHL salary.  They could offer a two-way deal with an AHL salary of $175K and a guarantee of $200K (they tend to have that language in their contracts) but if they feel he's too weak defensively to recall, even that type of offer may not be justifiable.