Pascal Vincent: his final week will keep him in the American League

No, Carolina is not soft on the Rocket. #SweetCaroline

5 to 1, 5 to 2, then 5 to 1; Pascal Vincent’s (too young) men have just suffered three humiliating defeats at the hands of the Florida Panthers club-school. No, it’s not only in the NHL that clubs from the American Southeast are more successful than Québécois teams..

And I wasn’t even referring to Inter Miami and CF Montreal!

Back to the Rocket.

A few things stand out from these first three defeats.

1. Logan Mailloux, Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj, Sean Farrell and Alex Barré-Boulet aren’t playing like guys who are doing everything they can to make the NHL in October. It’s a shame to see them all crash at the same time at such an important moment..

2. Injuries are hurting the Rocket. Big players are missing, and the guys called up to replace them aren’t up to snuff.

3. Cayden Primeau bounced back in the best possible way when he was sent back to Laval in the middle of the season… but he crashed out of the playoffs just fine.

He took part in eight playoff games this year… and only completed two of them with a save percentage over .900.

Against the Charlotte Checkers, it was .789, .778 and .750, and he was thrown out of the game twice.

He is the worst goaltender to have played at least four games in the playoffs this year.

I wrote it on Friday and I’ll say it again this morning: it’s time to turn the page on Cayden Primeau. I would have turned the page before yesterday’s game, but..

Pascal Vincent has already announced that Jacob Fowler will be defending his club’s cage tomorrow night. No, Fowler won’t win four games in a row, but as long as he wins, he’ll get the next start.

This means that, barring injury, Primeau won’t get another start in this series. Because as soon as Fowler loses, the Rocket are out. And if Fowler does manage four consecutive wins, he’ll get to play in the Grand Finals, we agree..

Primeau, 25 years old and RFA with arbitration rights, needs to get another chance somewhere other than Montreal. We’ve seen too much of the guy’s shortcomings in Montreal/Laval. Especially under pressure..

4. The Rocket’s long playoff run didn’t allow Pascal Vincent to interview for NHL vacancies.

It’s now June 2 and only two jobs remain unfilled: Boston and Pittsburgh.

And both organizations are in the process of making their final decisions, according to Pierre LeBrun.

Expect the Bruins to announce their coaching hire early this week. My understanding is that they’re down to 2 candidates.
They did in-person, final interviews with candidates last week.

– Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 2, 2025

The Bruins have completed their final interviews and reportedly have two candidates still in the running. An announcement is expected early this week. According to the latest information, Marco Sturm seems to be the favourite to succeed Joe Sacco. Mitch Love, Jay Leach and Jay Woodcroft have also been interviewed for the job, according to Elliotte Friedman.

In Pittsburgh, it’s the same story according to David Pagnotta: only two candidates remain, including D.J. Smith. Mitch Love and Jay Woodcroft have also been interviewed, according to Elliotte Friedman. An announcement could even be made today, according to Pagnotta, but Friedman believes it could take a little longer.

Same goes for Pittsburgh. Believe Penguins were in similar boat over the weekend (down to 2 candidates – believe DJ Smith is one). Announcement could come as early as today on their hire. https://t.co/YOZESWwJCA

– David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) June 2, 2025

In short, everything points to Pascal Vincent not returning to the NHL next season. Unless, of course, the Stars fire Peter DeBoer and replace him with Pascal Vincent, but I have big doubts..

Let’s just say that his goaltending choices in the semi-finals and his team’s recent results don’t argue in his favor right now.

Vincent signed a three-year contract with the Rocket just under a year ago. He therefore has two years left on his contract (now fully paid by the Rocket).

Wecan’t wait to see if he can have as good a season next year. Even though the Rocket completely crashed out against the Checkers, they still finished the regular season at the top of the AHL overall standings.