Joshua Roy is getting a reset in Utah.
The Canadiens sent the 22-year-old forward to the Utah Mammoth on Monday in a deal that brings 23-year-old defenceman Maksymilian Szuber back to Montreal’s organization. Both players are eligible to become restricted free agents on July 1.
Roy’s path has been all about trying to stick. The Saint-Georges-De-Beauce native was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 QMJHL Draft by the Saint John Sea Dogs, and after Montreal selected him in the fifth round, 150th overall, of the 2021 NHL Draft, he put up 51-68-119 in 66 games with the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix the following season.
But the NHL has been a tougher climb. This year, he played only three games with the Canadiens and didn’t record a point, while in 38 career games with Montreal he finished with 6-5-11.
At the AHL level, Roy had a productive season with the Laval Rocket, posting 23-22-45 in 57 games. Still, the Canadiens’ own assessment this season made clear he was fighting for a role.
When asked about Roy, head coach Martin St. Louis said, “I feel the league has gotten away from just top-six (forwards)," Canadiens head coach Martin St.
Louis said this season when asked about Roy. "I feel like you have a lot of middle six, too.
I don’t know exactly where his chair’s going to be, but I know that there’s a lot of great offensive players that get to the NHL and they have to not necessarily grab a top-six chair because they’re not open, let’s say. So I don’t know what his ceiling is, but I know for him to build his runway he’s just got to grab a chair.
To me, that’s where Josh is and the only way to grab a chair is to have some details in your game that the coach can trust you. We have that and now it’s just stack these actions, stack these shifts, stack these games.
"With everybody healthy, I don’t think he’s a top-six chair right now," St. Louis added. "That doesn’t mean he can’t have a chair.”
Szuber arrives with a different resume. The 6-foot-3, 220-pound left-shot defenceman was a sixth-round pick, 163rd overall, by the Canadiens in the 2022 NHL Draft, and he spent this season with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, putting up 11-16-27 and 67 penalty minutes in 65 games. He has one NHL appearance on his record, that coming with the Arizona Coyotes in 2023-24.
There’s also international pedigree in Szuber’s background. He won a silver medal with Germany at the 2023 IIHF World Championship.
The move gives the Rocket another AHL-experienced defenceman after they dealt 23-year-old William Trudeau to the New York Rangers on Friday in exchange for forward Brett Berard. Roy, meanwhile, heads to Utah looking for exactly what Montreal kept talking about: a chair.
In Other News...
Flames Blue-Line Vision Just Took A Massive Step Forward
Craig Conroys effort to reshape the Flames blue line has been years in the making, and it is starting to look less like a theory and more like a real organizational identity. Since taking over as general manager in 2023, Conroy has leaned hard into stocking the pipeline with right-handed defenders through trades and drafts, giving Calgary a different kind of depth chart than it has carried for most of the cap era.
Carson Carels is the latest and loudest sign of that shift. The highly regarded defense prospect came off the board at No. 6 in the 2026 NHL Draft, a startling jump for a franchise that has long struggled to land elite blue-liners early, and his arrival only adds to the sense that Calgary is trying to build something sturdier from the back end forward. With other young defense pieces also beginning to take shape, the Flames suddenly have a real chance to compare favorably with a lot of the league if this group develops the way the organization believes it can. [Read more 🡒]
Wranglers Could Be Headed For Another Major Leadership Shakeup
The Calgary Wranglers are heading into the summer with the kind of roster uncertainty that usually comes with a new AHL season, but this one carries a little more weight than most. Several players are either up for new deals or may end up elsewhere depending on how the Flames sort out their own lineup, which means the Wranglers could look noticeably different when camp opens for 2025-26.
A few familiar names are at the center of that turnover, and the ripple effects go beyond simple depth-chart shuffling. Calgary already knows it may need to absorb some losses and replace offense from the wings, while also sorting out how much room there is for younger pieces to push in from above or earn bigger roles below. If the summer breaks a certain way, the Wranglers will not just be tweaking the roster - they could be resetting the tone of the room, too. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Camp Just Put A Surprising Spotlight On Their Future Blue Line
The Flames are set to open development camp July 1 at WinSport, and the first glance at this summers prospect group offers a pretty useful snapshot of where the organization is trying to go next. Twenty-five players are slated to take part in three days of on-ice work, with every one of Calgarys nine 2026 draft picks in the mix alongside a few of the most intriguing names in the system.
Among the group, the blue line is drawing as much attention as any other part of the roster. Carson Carels stands out as the kind of defender the Flames can dream on, while Cole Reschny, Cullen Potter and Ethan Wyttenbach are also expected to get a close look before eventually returning to Calgary after their NCAA seasons. Henry Mews is part of the camp list as well, adding another layer of interest to a group that should give the Flames a clearer sense of how much future help they may already have in the pipeline. [Read more 🡒]