Luke Mittelstadt will make his professional debut Friday night as the Laval Rocket host the Springfield Thunderbirds at Place Bell, following Laval’s playoff-clinching victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old defenseman signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens in February and will be paired with Nate Clurman, according to Rocket Laval head coach Pascal Vincent. Mittelstadt appeared in 36 games for the University of Minnesota in the 2025-2026 NCAA season, registering 21 points (2 goals, 19 assists). He served as one of three captains for the Gophers this season, concluding his collegiate career with 80 points (11 goals, 69 assists) in 152 games.
Mittelstadt was originally selected by the Canadiens in the seventh round (197th overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft.
Vincent indicated the team will similarly evaluate Dillan Bentley and Hunter Shepard in the remaining games of the regular season. “Our process and work habits won’t change. We’re going to endeavor some things. Without making any promises, we might want to get a look at [Dillan] Bentley. We’ll see Middlestadt. We want to evaluate how many games we’ll grant [Hunter] Shepard. We’ll try a few things since we have 10 games left, but at the same time, we want home-ice advantage,” Vincent said after Wednesday’s win.
The Rocket (38-19-5) have secured a playoff berth and are focused on securing home-ice advantage, holding a six-point lead over the Syracuse Crunch in the North Division with 10 games remaining. The Crunch have three games in hand.
Kaapo Kähkönen will start in goal for Laval. The Finnish goaltender stopped 29 shots in Wednesday’s win against the Penguins.
The Thunderbirds (24-27-8) have 56 points in 59 games. Laval will play six of its final ten games at Place Bell.
The game will be broadcast on RDS and RDS.ca starting at 7:00 p.m.