The news that Jean-Francois Houle is resigning as head coach of the Laval Rocket has made headlines today.
This indicates to the organization that the club’s prospect development has been proceeding satisfactorily. After three seasons as the coach of the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens, Houle is eager for more successful seasons ahead. The contract extension’s terms are simply called “multi-year.”
So far in his role as head coach, J.F. Houle has had success. His record is a respectable 105-86-25. In addition, during his finest season, the team advanced to the Calder Cup playoff semifinals in 2021–2022. He finished the previous season with a 33-31-8 record for Laval, but he was not able to make it into the Calder Cup playoffs.
He hasn’t led as many current Montreal Canadiens players as you might anticipate in his tenure with Laval. That could be the result of several different things coming together. A contributing factor is that a few of the Canadiens’ prospects are still much too young to be playing professionally in North America. You can think of Filip Mesar as an example. The lack of depth on the Canadiens’ NHL roster at the moment is most likely another factor. Additionally, the team needs players to grow in Montreal as opposed to Laval. Conversely, players who have developed well in the NHL and have not need the AHL to do so are Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield.
The players that have been coached by Houle have performed well enough to warrant the extension for the coach. Within the organization, there are certain instances that can be discussed in detail. Sean Farrell comes first. Farrell’s professional development has gone nicely. He scored 28 points in 47 games for the Laval Rocket in 2023–2024. Rafael Harvey-Pinard comes next. Indeed, he is more used to playing for the Canadiens these days, but during his two seasons under Houle, he earned 87 points in 109 games. Joshua Roy, who was a prolific scorer in junior college, is the final intriguing prospect. He recorded an amazing 1.80 PPG in his final two seasons with the Sherbrooke Phoenix in the QMJHL. With 32 points in 41 games in 2023–24, he performed well enough in Laval to be promoted to Montreal. In the upcoming year or so, Farrell, Harvey-Pinard, and Roy all appear to be contenders for middle-six jobs with Montreal.
J.F. Houle has been coaching for a considerable amount of time. He started out as an assistant coach with the NCAA’s Clarkson University back in 2003. Moreover, he has continued to train after then. In addition to the NCAA, he played junior hockey and made a brief appearance in the ECHL before joining the AHL. Since 2015, he has served as the AHL’s head coach or assistant coach.
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