Prospect Poehling hopes bumpy road leads to NHL
It has been four years since the Canadiens selected Ryan Poehling in the first round (25th overall) of the NHL draft.
Shortly after completing his third university 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 Centre.
It has been a bumpy ride for Poehling since then, starting 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 had 5-8-13 totals in 36 AHL games. He also played 27 games with the Canadiens with 1-1-2 totals.
Poehling spent all of last season with the Rocket, posting 11-14-25 totals in 28 games.
Now, the 22-year-old forward is hoping to earn a spot with the Canadiens at training camp after recovering from surgery in May on his left wrist.
“You come out of college and have a great first game and then the sky's the limit for you,” Poehling said Thursday. “Especially in this place, where the media and the organization and the history behind it . ... So you have so much high expectations for yourself and then the way I fell off like that it just felt like to me the world is coming down on you.
“I think it took me long to realize myself I'm not that important to everyone else,” Poehling added. “You think so highly of yourself and you think so low on yourself. But for me, I think I finally realized: Just stick on that path, stick on that path, and that's kind of where it kind of came down to in my second season, which was good.”
Poehling admitted there has been some frustration along the way.
“I was on the highest peak and then, all of a sudden, you drop down and you just lose everything, you feel like,” he said. “The expectations from your family, your friends, everything like that . ... It took me a while to realize: Hey, just focus on yourself and make yourself happy and I think that was the biggest thing.
“I think the AHL, it either makes you or breaks you. There's a few guys that are there to develop and they're going to be top-tier NHL stars. The majority of them are there to get better and (become) guys that the coaches can trust and I think that's kind of where I see myself right now, at least.”
Poehling said confidence is the No. 1 thing he gained last season.
“I think last year was a big step in the right direction for myself and also just playing the right way,” he said. “(Former Rocket coach) Joël Bouchard did a good job of showing guys that and teaching you. I mean, you weren't going to play in his system if you didn't play the right way. So I think that was kind of a big thing for myself and I took a big step forward in that situation.
“I think everyone is on their own path and you can't get frustrated with someone else's path being different than yours and yours being different than someone else's. It's the best path for yourself.”