Proud papa rides shotgun on Aiden Dubinsky’s unlikely journey to Laval Rocket
While Steve Dubinsky’s dream of making it to the NHL came to fruition, the Dollard-des-Ormeaux native never got the opportunity to play for the Canadiens.
This might be the next best thing.
Dubinsky’s youngest son, Aiden, is a 22-year-old defenceman who will attempt to crack the Laval Rocket’s roster this season. The 6-foot, 190-pound prospect signed a professional tryout contract with Laval in April. One month later, the Rocket signed him to a one-year, one-way AHL deal.
“I know he has his work cut out for him,” Dubinsky told The Gazette this week from his home in Deerfield, Ill. “A free agent who wasn’t drafted and signed an AHL contract. There’s lots of guys on NHL contracts. It’s not a given for him to make Laval, but obviously I hope he does. Is he going to spend time in Trois-Rivières (with the Canadiens’ ECHL team)? There’s a lot of unknowns, but …. the club itself is giving him an opportunity.
“He was on a PTO. They didn’t have to sign him to an AHL deal, but he did well enough, obviously, when he was there at practice to show them maybe this is someone who could have an opportunity. That’s the way the game works. There’s a very fine line.”
The younger Dubinsky played one regular-season game for Laval, on April 19 at Toronto, before dressing for the Rocket’s fifth, and final, playoff encounter against the Marlies. He didn’t have any points and was probably inserted for the playoff game because of an injury to David Reinbacher, the Canadiens’ No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Since then, Laval head coach Pascal Vincent has departed for an assistant’s position with the Seattle Kraken. He was replaced by Daniel Jacob, a Rocket assistant who worked with the team’s defencemen. That could augur well for the AHL rookie.
While Dubinsky, 56, knows his son probably won’t ever play for the Canadiens, suiting up for the Rocket is a viable alternative. Dubinsky’s parents live in Côte-St-Luc and he’s eagerly anticipating several return trips to Montreal to watch the Rocket.
“I feel there’s not that many NHL teams who truly value — and I’ll say this out of respect to Aiden — he’s a 6-foot, undersized defenceman,” Dubinsky said. “But Montreal’s one of the few teams that actually values that, and I’d have a tough time naming three NHL teams that aren’t enamoured by the big defencemen.
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“I have no illusions of Aiden playing in Montreal,” he added. “Would it be an absolute dream come true? One hundred per cent. A player of his stature … he had six points last year in his fourth year of college. He’s not an offensive player, but defensively he’s smart, moves the puck and defends.”
After two seasons of junior in the USHL, Dubinsky spent three years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In 102 games, he had seven goals and 34 points before transferring to the University of Wisconsin. He had two goals and four assists in 39 games, but the Badgers made it to the title game before losing 2-1 to the University of Denver in the NCAA men’s Frozen Four championship.
“When he transferred, if someone would have said to me … Aiden Dubinsky will be coming off playing his last college game, one period from a national championship, then signing an AHL PTO, then signing an AHL contract for a year, I would have told them they’re nuts,” Dubinsky said.
“To have all that happen. In the end, it’s an amazing finish. How many college kids get to play to the very last game they could in their careers? Not a lot. He’s the type of kid that doesn’t take things for granted.”
With Laval defencemen Reinbacher and Adam Engstrom both close to making the NHL, and Canadiens defenceman Arber Xhekaj still unsigned, there are many moving parts that remain to be determined before Dubinsky can secure a spot on Laval’s blue line. New head coach Jacob must also decide how many defencemen he wants to retain.
“Having gone through it, I’m very realistic,” said Dubinsky, a centre who spent 11 seasons in the NHL with Chicago, Calgary, Nashville and St. Louis. “I hope for (Aiden’s) sake Reinbacher and Engstrom find their way onto the Canadiens. If they don’t, that’s a major logjam of nine or 10 defencemen. I don’t see them keeping all of them around.
“When you take (Reinbacher) fifth overall … you have to prove you can’t play to not get an opportunity. He’s a 6-foot-3 right-handed defenceman. You are doing everything to prove that you’re not ready — because they want him to be ready.”
