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De La Rose's Permanent Demotion, by Andrew Saadalla |
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Montreal Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien made a very interesting point two seasons ago. In describing Jacob De La Rose’s playing style and if he expected the (now) 21-year-old to develop his offensive game, Therrien pointed out that DLR was ahead of the curb defensively. He felt that the young Swede could eventually break out and chip in with the occasional point production and that his maturity in playing responsibly at both ends of the ice is something that cannot be taught.
Said Therrien (via Sportsnet.ca):
[De La Rose] is a talented defensive player, but we want him to gain confidence on the offensive side of the puck. It comes with time, it comes with experience—and he doesn’t have a lot of it. With the additions of [Alex] Semin and [Tomas] Fleischmann, he was playing in a fourth line role and we’d rather him go to the AHL and play in different situations — power play, penalty kill, so he can return. There are a lot of things that happen over the course of a season.
The expectations are outlined very clearly in this statement made during a press conference in October of 2015. The organization hoped that DLR would find his scoring touch through added responsibilities in St. John’s of the American Hockey League. Oddly, he was never one to light up the score sheet:
Once the Habs claimed the more talented yet diminutive forward in Paul Byron off of waivers, the 6’3” De La Rose found himself shipped back to the Ice Caps in order to further improve on his overall game. His 4 goals and 6 points in a 33-game trial during the 2014-2015 regular season were insufficient in convincing management that he had earned himself a permanent spot on the roster. A subsequent 22-game stint in 2015-2016 was inconclusive as well, as the left-wing-turned-center registered a single assist and finished the season with a -6 plus-minus rating.
While watching the youngster play in 2014-2015, I appreciated his skating and vision of the ice. He was adept at winning faceoffs in the defensive zone and was hardly ever caught out of place in his coverage. He instantly and seamlessly adapted to the speed of the National Hockey League and could anticipate plays before they occurred. Sadly, he looked completely lost on the ice during the last season.
He’s become somewhat expendable thanks to an overabundance of bottom-six players on the Canadiens’ lineup, and I cannot imagine him making waves during the upcoming training camp. In a perfect world, he would have fit nicely on a fourth line with strictly defensive mandates, though Habs fans know full well that those types of players are a dime a dozen on this team. Perhaps another year of AHL experience could provide him with enough tools to make the jump in 2017-2018, but that looks unlikely...
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