Rocket: four QMJHL coaches interviewed

The signing of Pascal Vincent as coach of the Laval Rocket was clearly a prime opportunity for the Canadiens, who appointed the former Blue Jackets head coach to lead their training club.

After all, the Laval native has been in hockey for a long time and in the pros for 13 years.

Whether as a coach in the AHL, as an assistant in the NHL or as a driver in Columbus last year, Vincent knows what prospects need to get to the next level.

When you look at it, he’s only been fired once in his coaching life and that was last year. Otherwise, he’s a guy who’s always risen through the ranks and that’s undoubtedly caught the habs’ eye.

And when you look at the list of AHL coaches, there aren’t many former NHL chief pilots in the bunch. That’s clearly a plus for the Habs.

But hey. All this to say that, in the end, all the other names that circulated didn’t get the job. They had one up against them, given that they don’t have Vincent’s résumé.

Here are four Q candidates who got a meeting with the Habs to see if they had what it took to manage the Laval Rocket:

Sylvain Favreau – Drummondville
Carl Mallette – Victoriaville
Gilles Bouchard – Sherbrooke
Louis Robitaille – Cape Breton

It’s worth remembering that Favreau’s name has been bandied about quite a bit, and for a moment, it looked like the Habs were going to offer him the head coaching job at Laval.

But even though we met him often (three times), he didn’t get the job.

The Habs went through a rigorous process to hire the best possible person to lead the Rocket. Some candidates, including Sylvain Favreau, have even met three times in recent weeks. Clearly, development is a priority. – Anthony Marcotte

It will be up to Vincent, then, to develop the youngsters. And since his mandate will be different from that of the Blue Jackets, where he had to play veterans, he should be better perceived in Laval than he was in Ohio in 2023-2024.

We’ll see in due course.

Overtime

– Oh well.

CZECH LEGENDS!

Jaromir Jagr took the ice with David Pastrnak, Martin Necas, and Roman Cervenka, apparently for a little 2v2 action.

(: @68Jagr) pic.twitter.com/feDVb6iNUJ

– BarDown (@BarDown) July 17, 2024