The Trois-Rivieres Lions announced their 20-man season-ending roster on Saturday evening. The Lions had 26 players on their protected list, which was due to the league last Thursday. Each team is allowed to protect a maximum of 20 players and reserve the rights to eight players; no more than four can be veterans. The ECHL considers any player with 260 professional hockey games played prior to the 2024-25 season a veteran. The list does not include players on NHL or AHL Contracts.
The Roster
Lukash Matthews (Defence)
Jacob Paquette (Defence)
Cory Thomas (Defence)
Brycen Martin (Defence)
Kirby Proctor (Defence)
Eric Hjorth (Defence)
Markuss Komuls (Defence)
Charles-Antoine Paiement (Forward)
Matthew Boucher (Forward)
Mason Kohn (Forward)
Nicolas Larivière (Forward)
Cedric Montminy (Forward)
Jonathan Yantsis (Forward)
Tyler Hylland (Forward)
Anthony Beauregard (Forward)
Justin Ducharme (Forward)
Nicolas Guay (Forward)
William Lemay (Forward)
Maxime Trépanier (Forward)
Ty Smilanic (Forward)
Thoughts/Surpises as the Lions Begin to Build for the 2024-25 Season
When looking at the Lions season-ending roster, the first thing that stands out is that they don’t have a goaltender listed. Most ECHL teams tend to have at least one goalie signed to an ECHL deal, but the Lions got a lot of help last year from Laval when it came to goaltending, as Joe Vrbetic and Zachary Emond were both on AHL deals. Strauss Mann has decided to take the overseas route. Rylan Parenteau and Zachary Bouthillier were the only two goalies on the Lions on ECHL deals, but neither of them made it onto the Lions season-ending roster. I would expect Trois-Rivieres to at least go out and sign at least one goaltender to an ECHL deal this Summer.
The Lions blueline doesn’t have much experience with players like Kirby Proctor, Lukash Matthews and Jacob Paquette who all played in less than 20 games last season with Trois-Rivieres. There’s no doubt that the Lions will need to go out and find some more experience on the blueline but I do expect a lot of big things out the Lions blueline in the next year or two if their young D-Men can develop into solid long-term pieces not only for the Lions but for the Montreal Canadiens organization. I would expect Laval to help TR out on the blueline wherever they can.
Trois-Rivieres looks really strong up front with the Captain Cedric Montminy on the season ending roster along with Anthony Beauregard and Justin Ducharme which already present a strong core that the Lions will look to bring back next season. The Lions should also look at getting Jakov Novak back he led the team in scoring last season with 30 goals as he was on a one-year deal with Laval, it has yet to be seen if the team will bring him back for next season but it is still very early in the off-season. TR has only lost two forwards that are heading overseas next season in Nolan Yaremko and Nicolas Guay but the Lions should have no problem plugging those holes during the off-season.
