Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Options Author
As coaching camp opened in September, each Joshua Roy and the Montreal Canadiens had loads of motive for optimism that the 21-year-old ahead might make a robust run for a full-time NHL roster spot.
Roy had, in spite of everything, spent the ultimate two months of the 2023-24 season in Montreal, enjoying 23 video games, registering 9 factors (4 objectives, 5 assists), and averaging 12:08 of ice time per sport. And with the Rocket earlier than that promotion, he had put up 32 factors (13 objectives, 19 assists) in solely 41 AHL video games, serving to to drive Laval again into playoff competition following the staff’s troublesome begin.
Roy took a have a look at his NHL opponents and had a right away takeaway that strengthened the problem forward.
“They’re superb, and so they’re very good,” Roy stated.
Nonetheless, he might go into the summer time completely satisfied together with his first professional season after which get all the way down to his offseason coaching. Roy, a local of Saint-Georges, Que., stayed in Montreal to coach alongside teammates who might present the next pro-level commonplace as properly.
Camp, although, didn’t go Roy’s means. He dressed for 5 preseason video games with the Canadiens and picked up two assists. Was it a poor coaching camp? No. However a participant attempting to nail down an NHL roster spot has to do greater than that, particularly with a bunch of different prospects attempting to push for that very same alternative. He was a part of the ultimate group of cuts to Laval earlier than the beginning of the brand new season.
“I didn’t have the camp I wanted,” Roy admits, “and I believe all people is aware of it. I simply need to show that I’m higher than that.”
Again in Laval, Roy is aware of that he has work to do. He has a lot nonetheless to study, and new Rocket head coach Pascal Vincent might be the perfect trainer. Vincent, who spent three seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets (together with final season as head coach), has returned to the AHL with an intensive teaching resume that goes again three a long time. That breadth of expertise consists of eight seasons in a wide range of NHL teaching roles plus one other 5 campaigns with the Manitoba Moose, and coach-of-the-year honors in each the AHL and the QMJHL.
In junior, a commerce from Saint John to Sherbrooke throughout the 2020-21 season gave his profession a jolt. Roy improved his health, a should for anybody trying to transfer on to the professional stage, and likewise labored to scrub up his defensive sport and grow to be a extra trusted participant. These efforts paid off, together with offensively, as Roy piled up 97 objectives in his remaining 121 regular-season junior video games. Alongside the way in which, the Habs made him a fifth-round choose within the 2021 NHL Draft, and he gained a pair of gold medals for Canada on the IIHF World Junior Championship. He even earned a spot on a line with 2023 NHL first-overall choose Connor Bedard.
One problem is consistency, which is one thing that the majority younger prospects should grasp if they’re to seek out full-time NHL work. Roy is perhaps robust one night time and quiet the next night time. The video games come shortly.
“I’ve acquired to be sharp each sport,” Roy acknowledged. “Simply keep sharp each night time and convey my sport to a different stage.”
Roy’s work is paying off early this season. He leads the Laval membership with seven objectives and 12 factors in 10 video games, together with his second profession hat trick final Saturday towards Windfall. Roy has been capable of generate probabilities with 35 pictures on aim.
After falling wanting the postseason final yr, the Rocket have began far more shortly in 2024-25. They earned their eighth consecutive win with a 4-3 shootout determination in Belleville on Friday night time, enhancing to a league-best 9-1-0-0 (.900).
The offensive manufacturing is there for Roy, however constructing consistency and reliability are what’s going to push him again to the NHL. Within the meantime, he is ready to get ample ice time alongside a rising contingent of Canadiens prospects who could sooner or later skate along with the Habs.
Final season offered an abundance of classes. So will this season. It already has.
“You must know that nothing is assured,” Roy stated. “You must earn your spot day after day.”
On the American Hockey League beat for 20 years, TheAHL.com options author Patrick Williams additionally at present covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is an everyday contributor on SiriusXM NHL Community Radio. He was the recipient of the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his excellent protection of the league in 2016.
