At this point in the rebuild, the Montreal Canadiens have plenty of prospects to be excited about.
Among them is 20-year-old forward Joshua Roy, who made his AHL debut with the Laval Rocket earlier this month. And although it’s early, he already looks to be dominating the league.
With a hat-trick and two assists in Friday night’s game against the Rochester Americans, and another pair of assists on Saturday against Belleville, Roy’s point total has risen to 11, making him the current AHL scoring leader.
3 rondelles pour 3 buts! Premier tour du chapeau chez les pros pour Joshua Roy!
3 pucks for 3 goals! First pro hat trick! pic.twitter.com/ewBxHNNZo3— Rocket de Laval (@RocketLaval) October 21, 2023
Accentuating his importance to his team, the Rocket have scored 22 goals this season, which means Roy has points on 50% of those goals.
But point streaks for him don’t seem to be anything new.
Selected 150th overall by the Canadiens in the 2021 draft, Roy’s stock rose rapidly after being given an opportunity by his childhood team. His last two seasons in the QMJHL saw him net 119 points over 66 games and 99 points over 55 games.
Roy was also a key factor in Canada capturing gold at this year’s World Juniors, finishing the tournament with better offensive production than any Quebec-born player with 19 points over 14 games. He even got a primary assist on the tournament’s “golden goal.”
With all these accolades in his back pocket, Roy was watched closely throughout training camp this year.
And when the Saint-Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec, native got the nod from the coach, he wasted no time, netting the first goal of the Habs’ preseason about five minutes into a home game against the New Jersey Devils.
Roy may not have cracked the Canadiens’ final 23-man roster, but if the Habs suffer a similar injury-riddle fate to last season, they don’t have to look far for some offensive firepower.
Some are in favour of letting the young winger continue to dominate the AHL in order to develop his confidence; but with his current trajectory, a call-up for Roy will be more of a matter of “when” than “if.”