Laval Rocket: 2026 Off-Season/Free Agency HUB

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Written by Andrew Zadarnowski

@AZadarski on Twitter/X

The Pascal Vincent era is over for the Laval Rocket after two successive divisional championships, but no postseason hardware to show for it.

More importantly, no graduates to the NHL either.

One of the key strengths of the Montreal Canadiens in the Kent Hughes era is the prospects they bring into the organization through the draft, yet few have managed to step up to the NHL level, with the exception of Jakub Dobes.

Time will tell if borderline-ready prospects like Owen Beck, Florian Xhekaj, David Reinbacher, and Adam Engstrom will start the season with the Canadiens or whether they will return to the Laval Rocket. Then Vincent's final legacy will be able to be written.

Losing goaltender Jacob Fowler to the Canadiens was a big blow to the Rocket for their postseason aspirations last year, as Kaapo Kahkonen was unable to repeat his playoff performance from a year prior with Charlotte, and the Rocket lost in the first round against the Toronto Marlies.

The goaltending situation for the Rocket is a big question mark headed into the off-season, and will depend heavily on what the Canadiens decide to do with Samuel Montembault at the NHL level.

The Rocket might be looking at a whole new goaltending tandem, and a new depth goaltender with the Lions, as no one is signed for next season at this point besides Fowler.

Plenty of prospects found their careers stall in the past couple of seasons, most notably first round pick Filip Mesar and forward Sean Farrell.

The former's case, he cannot earn a regular spot on the roster in the playoffs for a second season running, and in the latter's case, solid AHL statistics are failing to translate to an NHL opportunity.

Another enigmatic prospect is Jarred Davidson, who was having himself a great season, earning a brief NHL call-up, following which his play simply cratered for unclear reasons.

With a fresh crop of recruits coming in for the 2026-27 season such as WHL Player of the Year Bryce Pickford, physical defender Owen Protz, and spark plug Vinzenz Rohrer the team will rely more than ever on the veteran leaders Laurent Dauphin and Lucas Condotta, while Alex Belzile, Tobie Paquette-Bisson, Vincent Arseneau, and Josiah Didier wait to see if the Canadiens offer them another contract or not.

With a new head coach yet to be announced, and many question marks surrounding this team, it would be reasonable to expect a regression next season while they wait for some highly touted prospects to join the team for the 2027-28 season.

A strong free agency haul of AHL-contracted veterans will be needed to fill out the roster as the Laval Rocket are facing a potentially rough transition year if no one is able to step up.