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Dans les coulisses

Joshua Roy: a spell on the sidelines shows the importance of patience

Two weeks ago, Joshua Roy looked like a guy too good for the AHL. The young Tricolore prospect had amassed 11 points in his first five games of the season with the Laval Rocket, and already, many people wanted to see the CH give the kid a shot in the NHL.

The balloon began to swell rather quickly.

And as much as I love the kid, I couldn’t help but think it was too soon to call him back. Merit-wise, he was definitely there, but sometimes a player’s development is made by making decisions motivated by factors other than merit.

Because even though he was off to a great start this season, and had even been named the AHL’s Rookie of the Month for October, there were bound to be some rough patches, and as it happens…

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Roy has now completed a second “five-game stretch”. The first had gone well (11 points), but the second was much quieter, with just one point. In fact, he’s been blanked in his last four games.

And you know what? That’s just fine. Learning to be a better player is about learning to be successful on a regular basis, but it’s also about learning to deal with the bad streaks. Because in the end, they’re pretty much inevitable.

The good news is that the youngster knows he’s in a good place right now. He knows that patience is required and that Laval is a good place to foster his development.

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In defense of the youngster, he continues to create things in the offensive zone and the Rocket is having a pretty painful season (and the loss of Lias Andersson won’t help). That said, once again, this is a great opportunity for Roy to learn how to deal with adversity and find ways to adjust.

A hockey season isn’t five games, it’s 82 games (in the NHL, at least). It’s extremely difficult to be consistent throughout a campaign and it’s never going to be a smooth ride, and the youngsters have to learn that one way or another.

The last five games haven’t diminished Roy’s potential, far from it. However, they have shown that patience is the key with youngsters, because in the end, this isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon.

Let’s let the kid develop and learn the rudiments of the AHL trade for a few more weeks or months… and when another big sequence comes his way (because it will come eventually, I’ve no doubt), be careful before you run away in fear and want to recall him as quickly as possible.

In brief

– Carter Hart, a name to watch in Edmonton?

– Great opportunity to see Pierre-Luc Dubois and Phillip Danault in the Kings’ Habs uniform, hehe.

– This would be quite a haul for the Jays.

– Great read.

– Read more.