(Laval) Since his arrival with the Montreal Canadiens organization, Joel Armia has never been the very talkative type. Thursday morning, on the other side of the Rivière des Prairies, he wasn’t very talkative either.

Only three journalists came to attend the Laval Rocket training session at Place Bell, even though the Laval team had already announced that the nebulous Finn was going to meet the media.

However, the press scrum lasted less than four minutes and it was punctuated, essentially, by four central themes that Armia repeated more than once.

“Of course, everyone who is here wants to be in the National League. I’m going to act professionally and do everything I can here,” he said from the outset, after saying he was doing well.

Acting professionally, working hard, being patient and taking things one day at a time were at the heart of most of his responses.

This was the case when he was asked if he was surprised by the Canadian’s decision.

” I don’t know. I don’t really have any comments to make on that. Like I said, I’m here, I’m focusing on this, I’m going to stay patient, take things one day at a time and work hard,” the Finn reiterated.

This was also the case when a journalist asked him if his goal was to return to the Canadian as quickly as possible.

Or when he was asked if he saw himself returning to Montreal, or if he wanted a transaction instead.

” I’ve no idea. Honestly, it’s not in my hands,” he commented in response to this very question.

“Like I said, I’m just going to be patient, take things one day at a time and work hard. That’s all. That’s all I can do,” he added.

Armia’s refrain was different and a little more elaborate when asked about the group of young skaters who will make up the 2023-24 edition of the Rocket.

“There are so many good young players in this group. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many young players with such great skills overall. And they’re really good guys too. It’s nice to see,” said Armia, while admitting that he could benefit from their enthusiasm.