Thomas Grégoire was never drafted into the National Hockey League. At 1.70 m, he’s not exactly the most imposing. He was never remembered again during his two seasons in the American League and went into exile in Europe.

But even at 25, the dream of playing in the NHL is still very much alive for the Sherbrookois.

Without much fanfare, Grégoire – the brother of Jérémy, the former Montreal Canadiens prospect – has established himself as one of the best offensive defenders on the Old Continent over the last two years.

In the 2022–2023 season, he finished the season first for his club, Lukko Rauma, in the Finnish Liiga with 44 points, including 13 goals, in 57 games, in addition to a margin of +23.

Enchanted by his power play expertise, the Rögle Club, one of the most renowned clubs in the Swedish League (SHL), recruited him. Grégoire starts his first season in Sweden this year after assisting his goal in the local opening game against Malmö.

The decision to turn to a new challenge, the SHL, was obvious to those primarily affected.

“At 25, I still have a lot of hockey ahead of me and I still dream of the National League. “I want to come back to North America and arrive through the front door,” he told TVASports.ca. I was wondering which is better for me between Switzerland and Sweden.

“At the end of my discussions with my agent Nick Riopel, I saw Switzerland more as a league where you settle in after a career in the NHL and the SHL as a league where you push for promotion. Recruiters look a lot better in this league.”

Although Liiga and SHL are similar, he already notices some differences in the type of hockey played.

“In the Liiga we played trap, we played defensively,” said Grégoire. It’s a bit similar here, because the first thought, it’s very defensive, but the game is much faster. There are far fewer traps. It’s a little more North American, you can do that Tipper the washer at the bottom.

“In Finland, when there were no options, people did the opposite.”

In the end, there are still similarities. However, there is a world of difference between the SHL and the American League, starting with much longer training camps. Rögle’s, for example, lasted two months.

“There are no regulations regarding training sessions here. In the American League it was a maximum of three hours in the arena. We can practice there in the morning, evening and afternoon…”

And during Rögle’s local opener, we were far from the dreary atmosphere of a San Jose Barracuda game.

“It’s unbelievable,” Grégoire exclaimed. Their pre-game song is enough to give you goosebumps. Rögle’s fans are pretty much the best in the Swedish league.”

At his new job, Grégoire quickly became friends with a former Canadiens player, Brandon Davidson, his roommate.

“One of the first things I talked to him about was Montreal,” he said. He really liked the city and the arena. It’s certain that in Montreal, when things are going a little less well, you go from hero to zero pretty quickly and it’s more difficult. But he really appreciated everything about the organization, the facilities and the city.”

Development in Europe: a different mentality

In Europe, the big professional clubs preach caution and patience when developing young players. Grégoire has witnessed this reality over the years.

The most convincing evidence is that he was unable to provide a very detailed report when asked to evaluate the game of Juraj Slafkovsky, against whom he played in the Liiga.

“Honestly, we didn’t see him that much in Liiga the year he was drafted,” the Quebec defenseman said frankly. He was really good at the Olympics with Slovakia, but he played less in the Liiga. These guys are super young and the clubs don’t want to burn them. They don’t use them often. That’s the difficult thing.

“You could see that Slaf was a big guy. He skated, he was strong, he was powerful. I was even surprised when I found out he was young too, I didn’t know. Ultimately, developments in North America and Europe are two different worlds.”

Even though Rögle has a reputation for giving young people a greater chance to shine in the SHL, the club is not immune to this trend.

“We have an 18-year-old player here who was drafted in the second round by the Nashville Predators in 2024. He plays on the third line, but at the end he has talent. You see him in training, he has talent, he has hands. I’m not worried about him.