VINCENT COMES FULL CIRCLE AT CANADIENS' ROOKIE CAMP
Former QMJHL Montreal Juniors coach to push prospects `to be the best they can be'
Pascal Vincent had no problem finding his way to the CN Sports Complex in Brossard when the Canadiens' rookie camp opened Wednesday morning.
Vincent is the new head coach of the AHL'S Laval Rocket and will be running the camp, which started with medical and physical testing for the 23 invited players.
The players will be on the ice at 9:45 a.m. Thursday and Friday and the camp will wrap up with two Prospect Showdown games against Toronto Maple Leafs rookies on Saturday and Sunday at the Bell Centre. Both games start at 1 p.m.
Thirteen years ago, when he was head coach of the QMJHL'S Montreal Juniors, Vincent had a house built about a five-minute drive from the Canadiens' practice facility in Brossard.
“When they put (in) the last brick I got a call from Winnipeg and I got the job in Winnipeg,” Vincent recalled. “So we had to sell it.”
Vincent has had quite a coaching journey since selling that house.
The 52-year-old Laval native spent five seasons as an assistant coach with the Winnipeg Jets, followed by five seasons as head coach of the AHL'S Manitoba Moose. He then spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets before becoming head coach last season. The Blue Jackets fired Vincent after finishing with a 27-43-12 record.
The Canadiens hired Vincent in July to take over the Rocket after Jean-françois Houle left Laval to become head coach at Clarkson University, his alma mater.
When Vincent met with the media Wednesday, he was wearing a blue zip-up sweater with the Canadiens logo on his chest for the first time.
“To be able today to wear that logo on my heart, that's a dream come true,” he said.
Vincent is now renting a home in Montreal with his wife and daughter and is excited about this new chapter in his coaching career.
Vincent said his first objective with the Rocket will be to help the Canadiens by developing players in a positive environment where it's competitive and fun to come to the rink, while also creating good habits. He added that the Rocket will want to win games, but that the No. 1 focus will be having young players progress so that they eventually will be ready to play in the NHL.
When the game starts, the goal will be for the Rocket to win — but that sometimes will come with a price Vincent won't be willing to pay as an AHL coach. He noted that if an NHL team is up 2-1 late in a game the coach is more likely to go with an experienced centre to take a defensive-zone faceoff. With the Rocket, Vincent will more likely to go with a young player, which might end up costing the game but both the player and the Canadiens organization will grow from that experience.
One player Vincent won't be coaching this season is Patrik Laine, who the Canadiens acquired from the Blue Jackets last month. Vincent knows Laine very well after coaching him in Columbus the last three seasons.
As head coach last season, Vincent benched Laine for the final 9:53 of a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes in November and then two games later made him a healthy scratch for a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
“In a hockey season there are highs and lows,” Vincent said when asked about his handling of Laine. “Our job as coaches is to push the players to be the best they can be. My relation with Patrik was always good.”
Vincent added that Laine is probably the most talented player he has ever coached and that he expects him to shine under the bright Montreal spotlight.
“I think he's got this in him that in a market where he's under pressure a little bit, I think he can thrive,” Vincent said.
“If you look at his past — and I'm talking when he was younger (with Winnipeg) — there's a part to him where he was the key guy at key moments. This is the key to become an elite player.
“If you don't have that swagger, that mindset that you're going to be the guy at key times, when it matters you're going to be a good player. But you're not going to be an elite player, a game-changer, and Patrik has that in him. So I think if there's one thing that could be a good thing that he's under the spotlight a little bit more.”
Vincent will be in the spotlight in Laval this season, but on Saturday and Sunday he'll be standing behind the Canadiens bench at the Bell Centre for the first time against the Maple Leafs rookies.
“That's going to be awesome ... that's going to be great,” Vincent said.
“I'm excited for myself — don't get me wrong — but I'm super-excited for the players to live that experience because I think there's going to be a big crowd,” he added.
“So it's going to be awesome.”