“I think the AHL makes or breaks you,” says the 22-year-old forward who was selected in the first round of the draft by Habs in 2017.
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It has been four years since the Canadiens selected Ryan Poehling in the first round (25th overall) of the NHL Draft.
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Shortly after completing his third college season at St. Cloud State in 2019, Poehling made his NHL debut, scoring three goals and adding another in a shootout as the Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in their final game of the season at the Bell Center.
It’s been a bumpy ride for Poehling ever since, beginning with a concussion he suffered during an exhibition game before the start of the 2019-20 season. Poehling ended up starting that season with the Laval Rocket and was 5-8-13 totals in 36 AHL games. He also played 27 games for the Canadiens with totals of 1-1-2.
Poehling spent all of last season with the Rocket, posting totals of 11-14-25 in 28 games.
Now the 22-year-old forward hopes to earn a spot with the Canadiens in training camp after recovering from surgery in May on his left wrist.
“You get out of college and have a great first game and then the sky is the limit for you,” Poehling said Thursday. “Especially in this place, where the media and the organization and the story behind it. … So you have such high expectations for yourself and then the way I fell like that I felt like the world was coming down on you.
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“I think it took me a long time to realize that I am not that important to others,” Poehling added. “You think so highly of yourself and you think so badly of yourself. But for me, I think I finally figured it out: just stay on that path, stay on that path, and that’s where it came down in my second season, which was good. “
Poehling admitted that there has been some frustration along the way.
“I was at the highest peak and then all of a sudden you get off and you just lose everything, you feel like it,” he said. “The expectations of your family, your friends, all that. … It took me a while to realize: Hey, just focus on yourself and make yourself happy and I think that was the most important thing.
“I think the AHL makes or breaks you. There are some guys out there to develop and they’ll be top-tier NHL stars. Most of them are there to improve and (become) guys that the coaches can trust and I think that’s where I see myself right now, at least. “
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Poehling said confidence is the first thing he won last season.
“I think last year was a big step in the right direction for me and I also played the right way,” he said. “(Former Rocket coach) Joël Bouchard did a good job showing that to the guys and teaching you. I mean, you weren’t going to play on their system if you weren’t playing the right way. So I think it was something very important to me and I took a big step forward in that situation.
“I think everyone is on their own path and you can’t get frustrated if someone else’s path is different from yours and yours is different from someone else’s. It is the best way for you. “
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Reference-montrealgazette.com