The American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, the brand new farm team of the Montreal Canadiens, are starting their first training camp on Monday, led by the returning coaching staff of Sylvain Lefebvre, Donald Dufresne, and Nick Carriere.

The Rocket will hit the ice at La Place Bell for training camp with the following roster:

Forwards (14)

Audette, Daniel

Boucher, Jordan, tryout

Broll, David, AHL contract

Dufour, Kevin, ECHL contracted tryout

Ebbing, Thomas, AHL/ECHL contract

Eisenschmid, Markus

Goulet, Alexandre, tryout

Grégoire, Jérémy

McEwan, James, tryout

Petti, Niki, AHL contract

Réway, Martin

Scherbak, Nikita

Veilleux, Yannick, AHL/ECHL contract

Waked, Antoine

Defencemen (7)

Bourque, Simon

Corrin, William, ECHL contracted tryout

Leblanc, Stefan, AHL contract

Lernout, Brett

Parisi, Tom

Posa, Sam, ECHL contracted tryout

Redmond, Zach

Goalies (3)

Fucale, Zachary

McNiven, Michael

Spano, Patrick, tryout

The key storylines will be the battle between Zachary Fucale and Michael McNiven, though the team has introduced tryout Patrick Spano to the fold as well. One will remain in Laval as backup to Charlie Lindgren, while the others will vie for spots on the roster of the ECHL’s Brampton Beast.

The Rocket will also be looking for a new captain, as Max Friberg has moved on to the Swedish Hockey League. Leading candidates to be emblazoned with the C are not evident at this point, as the team may be looking for a francophone team spokesman. Last season’s alternate captains — Jacob de la Rose, Chris Terry, and Zach Redmond — must be the early favourites.

The Rocket have the potential to be loaded with veteran players, but for the time being many of them are still with the Canadiens at their training camp. For now the Rocket will contend with several tryout players that have been with the Canadiens since development camp, such as Alexandre Goulet, Jordan Boucher, and James McEwan as well as several ECHL-contracted players.

The Rocket play two pre-season games at La Place Bell against the Belleville Senators on September 30 and October 1, in preparation for their October 6 season opener.

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