What’s Next For Joshua Roy?

Roy was given a prime opportunity to be able to prove himself during his first preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers by playing with Alex Newhook and Zachary Bolduc. However, he and his linemates struggled to find any chemistry in the team’s 4-2 victory. Honestly, that line was the weakest of the 4 lines that night for the Canadiens. To make matters worse, that line looked so much better just by adding Oliver Kapanen on Saturday night. This is a sign that Roy may have just been the problem on Tuesday night that made it not work. Then, on Thursday, with everyone struggling, he wasn’t able to do anything that made him deserve to stick.

It’s very possible that Roy could really be in the best shape of his life, but unfortunately, the work that he put in at the gym hasn’t managed to translate onto the ice when it comes to game time. Before the preseason started, Roy looked really good, which included dominating one of the team scrimmages at the very beginning of camp, alongside Alex Belzile and Vinzenz Rohrer. His performance in the scrimmages is what likely got him the chance to play on the 3rd line with Newhook and Bolduc, but unfortunately, there just wasn’t a fit, making him seem like his future in Montreal is in serious doubt.

It has been clear for a while that Roy has the skill level to eventually become an everyday NHLer, but it has always been his work ethic that has stopped him from taking the next step in his development, as well as why he fell to the 5th Round in the 2021 NHL draft. Roy has had moments where he looks like he could make the jump and put in the work in the right areas of his game. Based on how he approached his summer workouts, it’s possible that work ethic isn’t the problem, but more so, he doesn’t know how to work hard in the right areas to make his game click into an NHL player.

At this point, Roy is looking like he may become another version of Charles Hudon, who seemed like he had every tool to be an NHL player, but when it came time to put it together in the world’s top league he couldn’t put it together and hack it. However, at this point, it seems like Roy and the Habs would both benefit from giving him a change of scenery. The Canadiens should probably work out a trade within the upcoming year so that they can cash in on the value that he has left before it runs

Roy was expecting to have a big camp in the final year of his Entry-level contract, and it sadly didn’t work out. Now, he will be heading back to Laval, not in the situation he and the organization were hoping for. The truth is, he was not likely going to make the team with all the depth the Habs have, but he was expected to make more of a push than he did.

Hopefully, he has a good start to his AHL season and proves that he can overcome the challenge of losing many people’s trust in the organization over the last year on two different occasions.

Do you think the Habs have to trade Josh Roy for him to hit his maximum potential?