A young Canadiens forward admits he is ready to leave the organization in the middle of the playoffs
Joshua Roy just made Martin St-Louis' summer a little more complicated in Montreal.
The Canadiens prospect didn't dance around the issue in his end-of-season comments.
He said he wants to play in the NHL next season, whether that chance comes in Montreal or somewhere else.
That's the real story here, not just frustration after a rough finish in Laval.
It's a young forward looking at the depth chart and making it clear he doesn't want another year stuck in the same spot.
The timing matters. Laval's season ended with a collapse against the Toronto Marlies, a game the Rocket led for most of the night before letting it slip away on home ice.
Once that loss hit, the offseason questions showed up fast.
Roy's future became one of the biggest ones because his place in the organization no longer looks secure.
He has already had a taste of the NHL, which makes patience harder to sell. For a player trying to grab a full-time job, hearing promises is one thing. Getting real shifts is another.
Montreal may be running out of room for Joshua Roy
The clearest sign came during the playoff stretch.
Roy was not recalled as a reserve around the Canadiens, while Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj moved closer to the big-club picture.
That says plenty about the internal pecking order. It also says Roy may already be losing ground in a race that keeps getting tighter on the wings.
For Kent Hughes, this is where the file gets interesting. Roy is still young enough to hold value, and frustrated enough that a change of scenery no longer feels far-fetched.
He is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, which gives Montreal control.
But control and fit are not the same thing, especially when the player has now sent such a direct message.
If the Canadiens believe Roy still fits their top-6 picture, they need to show it soon. If they don't, this starts to look like the kind of asset they move before the value softens.
Either way, Roy didn't leave much room for doubt. He wants an NHL job next season, and he sounds ready to chase it beyond Montreal if that's what it takes.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 14, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nick Suzuki | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Juraj Slafkovsky | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Shea Theodore | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Phillip Danault | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Josh Anderson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Josh Doan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mikael Granlund | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Alexandre Texier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||