The Canadian | A new start for the hopes?

(Laval) It was in his third year of eligibility that Rafaël Harvey-Pinard was drafted by a National League team – the Canadiens, in this case. And he had to wait at 201^e rank to hear his name.

Guillaume Lefrançois
Press

There are therefore several teams who have passed their turn several times. Some did inquire, however. Were the New York Rangers one of them?

“No, this is not a team that I had met,” answered candidly Harvey-Pinard, after the morning training Wednesday of the Rocket, for the game against Texas.

If we specifically ask the Rangers question, it is because the Canadiens’ new vice-president of hockey operations, Jeff Gorton, was general manager of the Rangers when Harvey-Pinard was trying to get noticed at Rouyn-Noranda.

Let us not exaggerate the scope of this piece of information either. A GM will usually focus on the higher draft picks, and trust his subordinates for the later rounds. Just because the Rangers haven’t made serious contact with Harvey-Pinard doesn’t mean Gorton will cut ties at the first opportunity.

Still, this is a good reminder that the organization chart has changed, now that the general manager (Marc Bergevin) and the recruiting manager (Trevor Timmins) who believed in Harvey-Pinard are gone. In a sense, everything has to be redone.

“The first impression is always very important. It will be to show what kind of player I am, to continue to work hard and improve, ”said the Quebec striker.

Harvey-Pinard had the chance on Wednesday, since Gorton was present at Place Bell to attend the Stars-Rocket duel.

The new regime that arrives

The arrival of a new leadership will inevitably bring about changes. But that doesn’t mean she’ll make a clean sweep.

Take the arrival of Bergevin, who then succeeded the Gauthier / Gainey regime. It was in May 2012. The last two first-round picks, Nathan Beaulieu and Jarred Tinordi, had every chance to stand out. Beaulieu remained 5 years in the organization and played 225 matches with the CH, while the one who was nicknamed the “Tinner” was traded in January 2016, after having played 46 matches with the CH, and 5 in the playoffs.

“It doesn’t mean that a returning GM doesn’t want the old choices to work. It is not logical! Underlines the former striker Louis Leblanc, on the phone. But maybe the old GM liked the third center, and the new one won’t like it. It’s just normal. It cannot be the status quo, otherwise there would have been no change! ”

Leblanc did not have as many opportunities to show off as Beaulieu and Tinordi. In 2011-2012, last season under Gauthier, the first choice of the Canadian in 2009 was entitled to his first recall and had finally played 42 games with the Habs. In the shortened 2013 season, the first for the Bergevin regime, he had only played eight. Then, none in 2013-2014. His American League stats were also down from his encouraging 22 points in 31 games in his freshman year.

In June 2014, the Canadian cut ties with him. A year earlier, the team had done the same with Danny Kristo, a second round choice of the Habs. Kristo signed a contract with Montreal when he left college in April 2013, but was traded to Rangers three months later.

” When there are changes, there are new opinions, new ways of doing things, Leblanc recalled. I can’t say I wasn’t their guy, but obviously I wasn’t their choice. I was drafted by Bob Gainey and Pierre Gauthier… I’m not in their skin, I don’t know what they were thinking. But when it’s you who draft a player, you better make it work. You want to look good. ”

The Ylönen case

At the Rocket, there are currently seven players drafted by the organization: forwards Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylönen, Cam Hillis and Lukas Vejdemo, defenders Gianni Fairbrother and Josh Brook (injured) and goalkeeper Cayden Primeau.

There is no first-round pick in this group, but Ylönen was claimed at the start of the second round in 2018 (35^e in total). Last year, the Finn played his first NHL game at the end of the season. If Bergevin had remained in office he would have had a good chance of being called up during the season, although Michael Pezzetta, Ryan Poehling and Alex Belzile were promoted before him on offense.

This season, Ylönen has 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in 14 games, but is “dissatisfied” with his game so far, without going into details.

So how does he see change? “It doesn’t really affect us, or at least it hasn’t affected us yet. I mainly focus on playing well and I don’t think too much about it, ”replied the winger.

This is essentially the message hammered out by his head coach, Jean-François Houle. “They don’t have to worry about it, these are things that happen in professional hockey. You have to adapt. They have a job to do and that is to play hockey. ”

In short

New contact for Houle

Jean-François Houle also has a job to do, and that is to train hockey players. However, he indicated that his main interlocutor with the big club has changed, since it was previously Scott Mellanby, who resigned on Saturday, the day before Bergevin’s dismissal. Swell now goes through John Sedgwick, Governor of The Rocket. Houle also said on Wednesday morning that he had not yet spoken to Jeff Gorton, a man he said he had never met. The Rocket head coach signed a three-year contract last summer, so he enjoys some security, unlike his players.

Poehling “will stay”

In this season when nothing is working for CH, the progress of Ryan Poehling is one of the few encouraging elements. The American has 4 goals in 10 games with the Canadian, after starting the season in Laval, where he totaled 6 points in 7 games. “He got here, he was minded, he came to improve, recalled Houle. He played big minutes, won almost all of his faceoffs, scored goals, played on the power play and on the shorthand. He did everything to get back up and he kept the same pace at the top. You see him, he rushes to goal, he doesn’t think, he just plays hockey. This is how he will be successful in the National League. I think he will stay. I think he understands what he has to do to stay. ”