Habs Make Minor League Trade

Ever since joining the Laval Rocket, things haven’t gone well for former 2nd-round pick Riley Kidney, as he hasn’t been able to translate his success in the QMJHL to the next level. Therefore, this trade allows him to get a fresh start elsewhere. In 3 seasons with the Rocket, Kidney played 127 games where he scored 11 goals and 37 points. However, this season, he had played just 6 games, in which he put up 1 assist.

For the majority of the season, Kidney has even been playing in the ECHL, where he has performed well with 11 goals and 33 points in 46 games with the Trois-Rivieres Lions, but given that it’s a 3rd tier pro league and he was expected to be at the very least a good AHL point producer, it isn’t where he should be at this point. Unfortunately over the past 3 years, Kidney kept falling lower and lower in the Rocket’s depth chart as other prospects just fit better with the team. As a result, his game at the pro level is a very far cry from the player that recorded 14 goals and 51 assists for 65 points in 29 games with the Gatineau Olympiques after a mid-season trade from the Acadie-Bathurst Titans back in the 2022-23 season. It will be interesting to see if the change of scenery is what he needs to turn things around in the AHL.

For the Habs, this move brings clear goaltending depth for the Rocket, which could mean that the Habs aren’t expecting to send Jacob Fowler back to the AHL anytime soon. It also seems to put the writing on the wall that Samuel Montembeault’s season with the Canadiens is completely over. The Habs will keep Jacob Fowler up the rest of the way to split games with Jakub Dobes. It’s no secret that the organization did not trust Hunter Jones to play games whenever one of Fowler or Kaapo Kähkönen was out with an injury or illness, causing the other one to play a lot of consecutive games. Shepard provides the Rocket with much-needed goaltending depth that can allow them to give rest to Kahkonen on some nights without worrying about how they don’t trust their backup.

Shepard has played 15 games with the Belleville Senators as the team’s backup, where he’s posted a 6-7-2 record with an .885 save percentage and 3.65 GAA. The numbers are clearly not great, but he will be coming over to a better AHL team that should allow him to play better in general. Shepard likely won’t play one out of every 2 games either, so he will really just be there as depth and security to give Kahkonen a night off. On top of his 15 games in the AHL, there was a time that he was called upon to play in the NHL, where he played 35:47, making 10 saves on 12 shots in a 5-3 loss against the Detroit Red Wings. Barring any disasters, there is no way he’ll play for the Habs, but it’s good to know he has seen some NHL action nonetheless.

The final piece of the trade was Jake Chiasson, who was a former 4th round pick in 2021 by the Edmonton Oilers that really hasn’t panned out either and will likely only be going to join the Lions in the ECHL. He has 2 goals and 8 points in 14 games with the Allen Americans of the ECHL so far this year. Chiasson also put up 1 assist in 22 AHL games with the Belleville Senators earlier this year.

The Rocket also traded defenseman Ryan O’Rourke to the the Belleville Senators for future considerations. Essentially making it Kidney and O’Rourke traded for Shepard and Chiasson.

Today’s move isn’t a huge AHL trade but one that helps give the Rocket much-needed goaltender depth to play behind Kahkonen for the rest of the season, while Fowler can take on goaltending duties in the NHL. They also add a forward that will certainly be a good player in the ECHL. Meanwhile, the Senators get a player that needed a change of scenery in hopes his skill can finally translate to the pro level as well as a veteran defenseman that will only help their AHL blueline.