Kent Hughes about to send big reinforcements to the Laval Rocket?

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MarcO
January 30, 2023 (3:36 PM)

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On Tuesday, the CH will play their last game before taking a 10 day break. The team will not see any action until the Super Bowl weekend when they will play back to back games on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

It's a rather strange decision by the league, and Geoff Molson who agreed to it, to impose this break on the CH. It's a good thing that the current season of the club is one of misery! Imagine the CH in the middle of a playoff race, losing momentum for 10 consecutive days. It's no wonder, Martin St-Louis will almost have to do a mini training camp to make sure his club is back in shape.

During the bye week, it is almost certain that Alex Belzile, Jesse Ylonen and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard will all return to Laval to help the Rocket. But will they be the only ones?

Such a long period of inactivity in the middle of the season could be very detrimental to the development of certain players. It would have been the perfect time for Kent Hughes to give some confidence to Juraj Slafkovsky, but he is currently injured. The CH could however be tempted to send one of Justin Barron, Jordan Harris or even Arber Xhekaj as a backup. They don't have to go through waivers to join Laval and could benefit from playing even more games.

During the long break from the parent team, the Rocket will only play three games, February 3rd and 4th in Toronto against the Marlies, and February 10th in Laval against the Syracuse Crunsh. A short trip to Toronto could be very beneficial for the CH's young defensemen, without being too exhausting either, since they could also have a short break afterwards.

The Rocket, who are in the thick of the race for a playoff spot, could benefit greatly from the presence of one or all three defensemen. Laval's defense currently includes Corey Schueneman, Mattias Norlinder, Eric Williams, Olivier Galipeau, Santino Centorame and William Trudeau. Without taking anything away from Williams, Galipeau and Centorame, Barron, Harris and Xhekaj could give Jean-Francois Houle's team a good boost.

Another point to watch after this long break is to see who will be back with the big club afterwards. When Kent Hughes returns, he will have 11 games before the trade deadline. While many injured players will benefit from the break and may return to the game afterwards, it is certain that others will jump ship. We'll have to see if the team will give the Rocket a chance by not recalling all of their best players or if they'll focus on the development of young prospects.

It should be noted that the CH could benefit from Sean Farrell and Emil Heineman at the end of the season, which would add two more players to their roster. That's not counting Joshua Roy and Owen Beck who could also join the club if their season ends early with their junior team.
Kent Hughes could leave his players with the Rocket and benefit from their presence to hope for a long playoff run.

A file to follow closely!