Will Shoukri and Patrik Bexell recorded a 35-minute episode that briefly touched upon the Olympics (it’s hard not to, with the women’s tournament underway and the Marie-Philip Poulin injury news hanging over Team Canada) but the point of the show wasn’t the Games, it was Laval. With the AHL All-Star break here, I wanted to use the moment to zoom out to see what this event actually means, how often it turns into NHL opportunity, and why this year’s All-Star group is more prospect-heavy than people might assume. Then we got into the real meat of it: how key Canadiens prospects are trending right now, and what I’m watching for next.

Filip Mešár

We’ve both been harsh on Filip Mešár at times, wanting more from him, but over the last two weeks he’s shown up in a way that matters. The biggest factor wasn’t some magical switch; it was usage. He spent time on the fourth line, and that simply isn’t a role he’s ever going to thrive in. Mešár is a skilled playmaker who needs touches, puck possession, and offensive-zone time. Once Pascal Vincent moved him up to the second line, he popped immediately: four points in three games. He looked happier, more confident, and more like himself.

Joshua Roy

The story is always about engagement for Roy. The talent is obvious, the NHL path is there, the question is whether he brings it every shift. This past stretch, he did. He was engaged the entire game, shift after shift, and when Roy plays that way, good things follow. He has three goals and an assist in his last three games, but the numbers are secondary to the confidence, energy, and purpose he’s playing with.

Owen Beck has helped him a lot as the centreman’s stability lets Roy play more freely, and adding Mešár to that mix gave them a line that really looked like Laval’s best last week.

Florian Xhekaj

Will says that he is seeing Xhekaj’s confidence come back. When players go up to Montreal and come back down, they often try to do too much, and Florian was guilty of that for a bit. He wanted to take over shifts offensively, carry the puck, force plays. When things are clicking, he sees the ice at a level a lot of AHL players don’t, but that can also turn into overextension; the “fifth shift” problem where he tries to do everything and has his blinders on. Still, the tools are real. For a big man who hits like he does, he can skate, and he’s a true north-south player. Long-term, there is an NHL career for him. His floor feels like a regular bottom-six piece.

David Reinbacher

The word that we keep circling back to is reps. Reinbacher has missed so much time that it’s hard to evaluate him the way we’d like, because he simply needs games. That’s why I was both terrified and relieved watching the sequence around that nasty-looking hit he took recently: terrified in the moment, relieved by how Laval handled it afterward. They didn’t rush him back into action, but also weren’t overcautious is holding him out for a long period trying to protect him.

When he came back after missing two weeks of action, he looked solid, and what stood out most was how quickly he settled in. The first couple of shifts you could see a bit of tentativeness, which is normal coming off any injury, but then it opened up for him. I also liked that he wasn’t paired with Adam Engström. It put more responsibility on Reinbacher to drive the two-way play instead of leaning on a partner’s strengths.

Adam Engström

Engström is more NHL-ready right now than Reinbacher, and I don’t think that should be controversial. He’s played more, he’s been a regular, and you can see what that workload has done for his comfort level. I’m very confident he’s going to have an NHL career, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s pushing for a real role sooner rather than later.

The other point we make is important: Engström and Reinbacher complement each other, but splitting them helps both guys. If you’re always leaning on someone else, you don’t have to confront your own weak spots the same way.

Jacob Fowler

Fowler has steadied himself again after a stretch that felt a little touch-and-go when he came back from Montreal. Overall, I still see him as one of the best goaltenders in the AHL. But we also have to be specific about what comes next in his development. He gets beat over the shoulder too often, and that’s a problem that will only get exploited even more by NHL shooters.

The encouraging part is that we’re already seeing him address another weakness: his mobility. After he was drafted, he talked about becoming more mobile and a bit lighter, and the work he put in is paying off in a noticeable way. He’s more athletic and more acrobatic than he was a year ago. Now it’s about tightening the high-shot exposure and continuing to build the habits that translate upward.

Coming out of the All-Star break, Laval is right back into game action at home. The Rocket host Hershey on Friday, then Toronto on Saturday. I’m especially curious about the Marlies game, as those matchups always have a bit of extra edge, and they tend to show you who’s ready to play through chaos and emotion.

Even with the NHL paused for a bit, there’s still plenty of hockey worth watching, and this is a good weekend to check back in on how Laval carries its momentum into the next stretch.