![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2025-votes-20.png\")
<\/p>\nIntroduction<\/p>\n
There was little fanfare when the Montreal Canadiens selected Joshua Roy in the fifth round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. As any avid follower of the sport knows, the odds of finding impact players that late aren\u2019t remotely good. Most players in this range will never see a game in the NHL, let alone experience long careers in the show.<\/p>\n
The fanfare came later, as he blossomed into one of the best scorers in the CHL over his next two seasons. He put up over 200 regular-season points and led the Sherbrooke Phoenix on two impressive playoff runs. His performance with Sherbrooke earned him a big role on two separate gold medal-winning teams at the World Juniors. He may have started as a late-round pick with little chance of becoming a professional, but he became one of the top prospects in the Canadiens\u2019 system.<\/p>\n
After his exceptional Junior career, Roy turned professional for the 2023-24 season. He excelled with the Laval Rocket immediately, which precipitated a promotion for 23 games with the injury-riddled big club. Putting up four goals and five assists during that time, he was looking like a real option for a permanent roster spot in Montreal for the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n
That didn\u2019t materialize in camp, and he started last year with the Rocket yet again. Still producing, albeit at a slightly reduced points-per-game clip, he earned another 12-game stint with the Habs, this time mustering only two points over those games in limited ice time. He finished the year strong, tied for the second-most points on the team during Laval\u2019s playoff run, but finds himself at a crossroads heading into his third professional season.<\/p>\n
Voting<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Roy had the second-largest range \u2014 16 places between his highest and lowest positions \u2014 of anyone to make the Top 25 this year. Two votes had him outside the Top 25 altogether. For reasons I\u2019ll get to in this article, our panel is quite torn on where he belongs in a very strong group of prospects.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20-Roy-C.png\")
<\/p>\n
I was the high vote at 12, and while more than a few will likely question why I\u2019m that high, I\u2019ll point out that he was in my top five on the previous two years\u2019 ballots. Even his biggest supporters will acknowledge that he\u2019s being passed by a number of players in a very strong under-25 cohort.<\/p>\n
Top 25 Under 25 History<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Roy-2021-25.png\")
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s quite the curve we see here. Roy debuted on our list at 22nd back in 2021, spent the next three years in the top 10, and has now fallen almost all the way back to his debut position.<\/p>\n
History of #20<\/p>\n
Year
\n #20<\/p>\n
2025
\n Joshua Roy<\/p>\n
2024
\n Filip Mesar<\/p>\n
2023
\n Jesse Yl\u00f6nen<\/p>\n
2022
\n Logan Mailloux<\/p>\n
2021
\n Michael McNiven<\/p>\n
2020
\n Brett Stapley<\/p>\n
2019
\n Jayden Struble \/ Joni Ikonen<\/p>\n
2018
\n Joni Ikonen<\/p>\n
2017
\n Joe Morrow<\/p>\n
2016
\n Jake Evans<\/p>\n
2015
\n Jeremy Gr\u00e9goire<\/p>\n
2014
\n Daniel Audette<\/p>\n
2013
\n Gabriel Dumont<\/p>\n
2012
\n Blake Geoffrion<\/p>\n
2011
\n Mark Mitera<\/p>\n
2010
\n Ian Schultz<\/p>\n
Strengths<\/p>\n
The things that Roy does well have not changed. First and foremost, he has an excellent shot, one which could be described as elite against AHL competition, and a plus tool in the NHL, if not among the best. He\u2019s accurate, gets excellent velocity, and can beat goaltenders from a variety of spots in the offensive zone. He now has a 20-goal professional season under his belt, with reason to believe he can improve upon that number.<\/p>\n
Joshua Roy with the PP snipe<\/p>\n
Sean Farrell collects his third point of the night with a primary assist<\/p>\n
[image or embed]<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social<\/a>) May 25, 2025 at 7:17 PM<\/a><\/p>\n He\u2019s a sound defender, a somewhat rare quality among wingers, and can thus be trusted with tougher minutes. He anticipates plays and cuts off passing lanes to disrupt the opposing team\u2019s transition, which creates odd-man rushes and scoring chances for his team. When he\u2019s on the ice, the opposition has to be very careful with the puck, because a small mistake can immediately lead to the puck being in their net. <\/p>\n Physical tools are also a big plus. He\u2019s not the biggest player, but very solid on his skates, and capable of winning puck battles against bigger defenders. With strong awareness and hockey IQ, once he wins those battles, he\u2019s able to quickly locate and hit teammates on the tape to turn those wins into offensive opportunities. <\/p>\n Weaknesses<\/p>\n What has always been touted as the thing that would hold Roy back is his skating. But that hasn\u2019t been the case, as his anticipation and positioning has made his skating perfectly fine among professionals. The thing that seems to be holding Roy back more than anything at this point of his career is consistency, or lack thereof. <\/p>\n There were plenty of games last season when he looked like the best player on the ice in the AHL. Plenty of games when he looked like he belonged in the NHL. Then, there were nights when he looked like he\u2019d rather be doing his taxes. As part of a prospect group that has done nothing but improve around him, he simply can\u2019t afford to be having those games if the NHL is his goal.<\/p>\n Concerningly, this isn\u2019t the first time his effort level has come into question. Back in his Junior days, he started out as the first-overall pick for the Saint John Sea Dogs, and some similar things were said about the consistency of his effort leading up to an eventual trade to the Sherbrooke Phoenix. The talent is there, and for him to get a chance to show it at the highest level in the world, he needs to maintain the same effort level night in and night out.<\/p>\n Projection<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a thing I said in last year\u2019s article about Roy: <\/p>\n It would be quite surprising to see him back in Laval. It wouldn\u2019t hurt his development if it happens, but he proved he belongs in the NHL when he was called up last season. He can\u2019t walk into camp and act like a lineup spot is a given\u2026<\/p>\n That last sentence is what I think he ended up doing, which resulted in a lacklustre showing at camp and a ticket back to Laval. This year, I\u2019d say the opposite: it would be a big surprise if he won a starting spot in Montreal. He\u2019d need an unbelievable camp and pre-season, and even if that materializes, his waiver-exempt status could make him a casualty of simple contract math.<\/p>\n If his lack of consistency has anything to do with a desire to be in the NHL, he has to put that aside and focus on being undeniable as the first name on the call-up list. Opportunities may come during the season, but he\u2019ll need to show that he\u2019s ahead of the players around him. He needs to emerge as a real leader with the Rocket, one that doesn\u2019t take a single night off.<\/p>\n This is a significant crossroads in his career. We know that the Canadiens have reached a point in their rebuild where they\u2019re ready and willing to package prospects and picks to improve the roster immediately. Roy has the talent to be a part of the finished product in Montreal, but he needs to show consistency in order to make that happen, or he could find himself in one of those packages before this season\u2019s trade deadline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Introduction There was little fanfare when the Montreal Canadiens selected Joshua Roy in the fifth round of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-78616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}