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Kicking off another long stretch of games at home, Laval largely took care of business last week, picking up five of a possible six points to give themselves a bit of breathing room as they continue to hold onto first overall.

The Week That Was

Mar. 19: Laval 3, Toronto 0 – This was a bit more of a tighter-checking affair than is typically seen in the AHL with scoring chances few and far between.  Cayden Primeau did well to shut down Toronto’s opportunities while Laurent Dauphin certainly cashed on his, scoring all three goals – one shorthanded, one at five-on-five, and an empty-netter at six-on-five.

Mar. 21: Cleveland 3, Laval 2 (OT) – All the scoring in this one came toward the end of the game as it was still 0-0 early in the third period.  David Reinbacher opened up the scoring but the Monsters popped a pair in less than a minute and a half to take the lead.  Florian Xhekaj restored the tie with a shorthanded goal a few minutes later to force overtime but in the extra session, noted Rocket killer Trey Fix-Wolansky buried the winner for the extra point.

Mar. 22: Laval 6, Cleveland 0 – This felt like a mixture of the Rocket playing a little mad after losing the night before and Cleveland looking ahead to a crucial game against Belleville to cap their three-in-three stretch.  The end result was a rout from start to finish.  Dauphin added two more goals while Jared Davidson also had a pair to pace Laval offensively.

StatPack

Skaters:

Goalies:

Team Leaders:

Goals: Laurent Dauphin (24)
Assists: Alex Barre-Boulet (34)
Points: Alex Barre-Boulet (52)
+/-: Laurent Dauphin (+21)
PIMS: Florian Xhekaj (157)
Shots: Joshua Roy (164)

News and Notes

– Captain Lucas Condotta will be sticking around for a little while longer as the Habs signed him to a two-year, two-way contract extension.  Assuming he clears waivers again next season, he should be wearing the ‘C’ again in 2025-26.

– The back end got some help last week.  David Reinbacher played two of the three games (he was rested for the other), showing there’s no ill effects from being held out for a week.  Meanwhile, Gustav Lindstrom returned on Saturday, giving Laval a capable veteran to help shore things up.  In a corresponding move, Vincent Sevigny was sent back to Trois-Rivieres.

– Florian Xhekaj is now tied for eighth in rookie goals with 18 on the season.  He’s also the league leader in penalty minutes, not just among rookies but everyone.

Last Game’s Lines

Farrell – Dauphin – Barre-Boulet
Kidney – Condotta – Simoneau
Davidson – Beck – Mesar
Arseneau – Xhekaj – Dineen

Wotherspoon – Lindstrom
Hayes – Engstrom
Trudeau – Mailloux

The Week Ahead

Friday vs Toronto – Laval starts the week the same way they did last week with a matchup versus the Marlies.  Not much has changed since their last meeting although one of Toronto’s early college free agent signings could be in the lineup after blueliner John Prokop signed last week.  Winger Alex Steeves sits second in the league in goals with 34, one behind Matej Blumel of Texas.

Saturday vs Lehigh Valley – The long home stand comes to an end against a Phantoms team that is one of the few teams remotely close to Laval in terms of penalty minutes.  They’re right in the thick of the battle for a playoff spot although they’re doing so without top scorer Olle Lycksell who is up with Philadelphia, as is promising young blueliner Emil Andrae.  They did get Anthony Richard back from the big club recently, however, and the former Rocket forward is hovering around the point-per-game mark.

Final Thought

The news that Lucas Condotta signed a two-year extension caught me by some surprise last week.  It’s not that I didn’t think they’d want him back but with how much he has struggled offensively this season, I wondered if they might try to get him back on an AHL deal with the promise they’d convert him to an NHL pact if he earned a recall.  Clearly, the Habs felt differently with the NHL commitment.

The other thing that I wasn’t expecting was the two-year commitment.  Generally, teams prefer to go year-to-year with their veterans.  But that’s the thing.  Although he’s 27 (turning 28 early next season), he’s not technically a veteran by AHL standards.  At the moment, Condotta has 208 pro games in the regular season (playoff games don’t count toward veteran status) and the first threshold is 260 with the full veteran categorization being 320.  That means he’ll still be a ‘development player’ for all of next year and still won’t be a full veteran for 2026-27.

That makes Condotta a lot more valuable and also gave him a fair bit of leverage, allowing him to secure two years and a total guarantee of $800,000 which isn’t too shabby for a minor leaguer.  But don’t expect to see the Habs follow suit with some of their other veteran players in Laval.  Condotta’s lack of games played made him a lot more valuable while with core players like Alex Barre-Boulet, they’ll being going year-to-year as they always do.