The Laval Rocket Have Clinched A Playoff Spot

Despite all of the roster turnover where top players have either been called up or are dealing with injuries, the Rocket have continued to stay near the top of the AHL and have been running away with the North Division with 10 games left in the regular season. While there are key veterans like Dauphin, Sammy Blais, and Alex Belzile, the majority of the Rocket’s top players are under 25 years old, which is a good sign for the Montreal Canadiens organization going forward. Sure, there are no forwards that are likely to become top 6 forwards on the roster, but there are multiple guys who could fill out the Habs roster to form a solid bottom six, such as Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj, Tyler Thorpe, and Luke Tuch, to name a few. The Rocket also have great young scorers like Joshua Roy, Sean Farrell, and Jared Davidson, who have played a huge part in why they are at the top of the North Division this season.

Meanwhile, on defence, the team currently has both Adam Engstrom, who just came back from injury, and David Reinbacher, who have a chance to play big roles with the Habs in the near future, leading the team on the back end. In Reinbacher’s case, the last few weeks have been really crucial for the 21-year-old Austrian’s development, as he’s been given the opportunity to be the main guy on defence at both ends of the ice with Engstrom being out with an injury. This has allowed him to grow into a 2-way beast in the AHL, and as long as he can stay healthy the rest of the year, he could have progressed enough to finally become a full-time NHLer. What Reinbacher brings is a strong defenseman who can do a little bit of everything, but he often doesn’t use his physical side enough. Still, he has the ability to cut off his opponents by pinning them to the boards and knocking pucks loose for his teammates.

As for Engstrom, he is borderline NHL-ready already; it’s just due to a logjam on defence he wasn’t able to stay up in the NHL this season. If he were healthy over the past few weeks, it is possible that he’d be up in the NHL right now given that the Canadiens are having an issue with their 6th defenseman. However, at the same time, getting big minutes in Laval is probably better for his game anyways.

In nets, they’ve been pretty much using a tandem of Fowler and Kaapo Kahkonen all year long aside from a few games for Samuel Montembeault during a conditioning stint in December. Fowler would get a few more games when they were both healthy or in the AHL, but they proved to be a huge part of the team’s success as a tandem. However, now that Fowler is back with the big club for the 2nd time this season, the Rocket will likely look to Kahkonen to be the full-time starter going forward. Given Kahkonen’s veteran experience, this bodes very well for the Rocket, hoping for a big playoff run for the 2nd year in a row.

With 10 games left and just needing a few more wins to clinch the division, don’t be surprised if someone like Reinbacher gets a shot in the NHL to end the season as well as some important veterans getting a few games off to be fresh for a Calder Cup run. You can listen to all the Rocket home games by clicking here.

Do you think the Rocket will have a long playoff run again this year?