The addition of a veteran goaltender to the Laval Rocket will support the development of Montreal Canadiens prospects.
The newly acquired Kasimir Kaskisuo made his Laval Rocket debut on Friday at Place Bell and delivered a solid 36-save performance that earned him the second star of the night.
"It was just fun to be out there. My biggest plan going in was to feel comfortable and play to my strengths and my game and not try to do anything I'm not. It took awhile to get the first shot but once I got one, it was like riding a bike," Kaskisuo said following his start.
Despite allowing the first goal, the Finnish native remained calmed and was key into Laval cutting the deficit and getting the two points.
"You can see that he has experience. When you have a goalie like that make saves and remains calm, it calms everyone else. It buys you time. That's what happened in this game. He bought us time and we managed to score the third goal. That's what an experienced goalie can bring to your team," said Jean-Francois Houle explaining the goalie's contribution to the win.
Kaskisuo's cool approach was noticed by his teammates as well. "He was calm all night. I was going up to him and he was just chilling, leaning on his posts. He was so calm and I was like 'Alright man. You do your thing, I will leave you alone,'" noted Arber Xhekaj.
"We were able to see that he was confident and calm, and I think it was transmitted to us too. It gives us confidence in him. I think it will be good to have a goalie with a lot of experience and a model for (Jakub) Dobes and [Strauss Mann]," added Joshua Roy.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCxNZ76d6BM[/embed]
Learning from a Veteran
The team chose to start the season with minimal AHL experience between the pipes in Laval. Jakub Dobes was a rookie after completing his stint in the NCAA. Strauss Mann had played 20 games for the San Jose Barracuda and Zachary Emond 12 games for the Barracuda.
This approach was different than previous years under Houle's tenure. The last two seasons, Kevin Poulin assumed the role of the veteran goalie to notably help Cayden Primeau develop. In the 2021-22 playoffs, Houle started Poulin in the first game of the post season before turning it over to Primeau for the remainder of the deep playoff run. Poulin retired when the organization decided not to make an offer for his services this season.
Laval's goaltending was inconsistent to begin the season and that is to be expected when the responsibility is given to a 22-year-old rookie. Mann has not been able to stabilize the situation and injuries have limited to Emond to play in four games for the Trois-Rivieres Lions.
Kaskisuo signed his professional tryout contract on December 18th, two days after Laval was blown out 7-1 in Hershey with Mann in goal. Coincidence? Highly unlikely. The team wanted to add experience to help Dobes learn and give them a chance to win every night.
"We were missing that a bit," said Houle when asked about the lack of experience in goal since the start of the year. "It's nothing against Mann and Dobes, they're two young goalies that are trying to learn the league but we're able to see that Kaskisuo has experience under his belt."
The newly-acquired goalie had 95 AHL games experience in his toolbox and played the last two seasons with Emil Heineman for Leksands in the Swedish Hockey League.
"Everybody has been great and nice to me. Maybe that's because I'm old now and everybody is nice to me," joked the 30-year-old about his new home.
It's been a short time frame but Dobes has already been studying from the 'old' guy.
"I had the pleasure to watch him [Friday] and he has a lot of experience in the net. I feel like [Saturday] I took away a couple of things from him and I used for me. I'm really glad he's here to show me how to be a pro. I can see how he plays and take a couple of things from him and that's why he's here. He's a great pro, he has a lot of experience and he can only help me going forward," said the Canadiens fifth round pick in 2020 following his 25-save performance on Saturday.
The organization is hoping that the acquisition of Kaskisuo helps in Dobes' development and allows their AHL affiliate play in meaningful games as late as possible into the season.
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