Breaking down the top picks from a busy QMJHL Draft

Halifax Mooseheads' first-overall pick Benoit-Olivier Groulx (Vincent Ethier/QMJHL Media)

Leading up to the QMJHL Draft in Charlottetown on Saturday, the big question was who would the Halifax Mooseheads select with the first pick. After winning the draft lottery, the team had the choice between Gatineau L’Intrépide centre Benoit-Olivier Groulx or local Cole Harbour Wolfpack defenceman Jared McIsaac.

In the end, the Mooseheads didn’t really need to choose. After going with Groulx, the son of former Gatineau Olympiques and current Syracuse Crunch coach Benoit Groulx, the Mooseheads made a trade with Baie-Comeau for the second overall pick. It came at a steep price — the seventh, 16th and 24th overall picks and Rouyn-Noranda’s first-rounder next year. It made sense for Baie-Comeau to trade down after McIsaac publicly shared he wouldn’t report to the Drakkar. The picks also gave the rebuilding Drakkar valuable assets as the team looks to re-tool after a forgettable 14-29-2-3 season.

Here’s a look at the top 10 picks, along with a couple other notable names from draft.

1. Benoit-Olivier Groulx, C, Halifax Mooseheads
The top ranked player by QMJHL Central Scouting, Groulx was the highest scoring rookie in the QMAAA last season with 51 points in 41 games with L’Intrépide. The six-foot, 176-pound forward is a well-rounded player with big scoring abilities and a dependable defensive game. Groulx was key for Canada at the 2016 Youth Olympics in Norway, scoring four goals in six games on the silver medal-winning team. He’s set to become the franchise cornerstone of the Mooseheads.

2. Jared McIssac, D, Halifax Mooseheads
After nabbing the top forward, the Mooseheads traded up to grab the top defenceman second overall. McIssac, who grew up an hour away from Halifax, dominated in his second year of major midget with Cole Harbour with 14 goals and 36 points in 33 games. The six-foot-two, 209-pound d-man has size and a lethal shot to go along with his strong defensive abilities. Already possessing valuable tools, McIssac should develop into a dominant player on the young Mooseheads blueline.

3. Olivier Rodrigue, G, Drummondville Voltigeurs
Former Halifax Mooseheads coach Dominique Ducharme made his first pick with Drummondville in his new dual role of coach and general manager, grabbing the top ranked goalie Olivier Rodrigue. In his first year as a starter in AAA, Olivier posted a 2.29 GAA and 0.923 save percentage alongside an 18-7 record for Jonquière Élites. His father Sylvain played for the Chicoutimi Saguenéens and currently works with the Edmonton Oilers as a goalie coach. He’ll compete with Anthony Dumont-Bouchard and Tristan Bérubé for starts with the Voltiguers, but it shouldn’t take too long for Rodrigue to establish himself as a starting goalie.

Also worth noting, Ducharme was named Canada’s world junior coach for 2017 on Monday.

4. Gabriel Fortier, LW, Baie-Comeau Drakkar
The fourth pick of the draft resembled a hot potato with the Sherbrooke Phoenix trading the fourth, 32nd and 125th picks to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in exchange for Krief Alexander, the 10th and 28th picks in the draft a first-round pick in 2017. Chicoutimi then flipped the fourth overall pick to Baie-Comeau for the 8th and 24th picks along with Rouyn-Noranda’s 2017 first-round pick acquired moments earlier from Halifax. There’s a good chance Chicoutimi traded up in the hopes of drafting local goalie Olivier Rodrigue but changed plans with Drummondville picking him third.

After the dust settled, the Drakkar picked Gabriel Fortier, the younger brother of Halifax Mooseheads forward Max Fortier. The speedy forward had 47 points in 41 games for the Lac St-Louis Lions, four fewer points than Groulx. Fortier had a strong playoffs with 18 points in 17 games as the Lions won the league despite finishing 11th in the regular season. The Drakkar scored 147 goals last year, fewest in the QMJHL, so Fortier should step in and get big minutes right off the bat.

5. Xavier Bouchard, D, Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Another hot potato pick, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan traded down from fifth to sixth with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, picking up a 2017 third-round pick in the process. The Armada then traded the pick to the Drakkar for the seventh pick and a 2018 second-rounder.

After addressing scoring needs, the team that allowed the most goals in the ‘Q’ last year nabbed defenceman Xavier Bouchard with pick five. The son of Rouyn-Noranda Huskies coach and general manager Giles Bouchard, Xavier was ranked ninth by QMJHL Central Scouting. The six-foot-one, 165-pound d-man had 22 points in 45 games for the Amos Forestiers.

6. Noah Dobson, D, Acadie-Bathurst Titan
The Titan won over the Charlottetown crowd with pick six, selecting Noah Dobson from Summerside, P.E.I. The defenceman spent last season in Austria playing for EC Salzburg’s under-18 and under-20 teams. Later on in the day, the Titan traded away Guillaume Brisebois (Vancouver Canucks, 2015, 66th overall) to Charlottetown, opening the door for Dobson to eventually step in and quarterback the power play. As is the case for most young players, Dubson’s defensive game needs some work but his scoring abilities are sure to excite.

7. Mathias Laferriere, RW, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
The second Lac St-Louis Lion player drafted in the top 10, Laferriere took his game to the next level in the playoffs and Telus Cup. After scoring 25 points in 45 regular season games, he matched that point total in 17 playoff games. The five-foot-11, 151-pound forward then had eight goals and seven assists in the Telus Cup — second most in the tournament — as the Lions took home bronze.

Earlier in the day, the Armada added forward Alain Alexandre and defenceman Jérémy Roy (San Jose Sharks, 2015, 31st overall), finalizing trades made over the winter trading period. The Armada upset Val-d’Or in the first round last year despite finishing the regular season with only one player scoring more than 20 goals. Laferriere gives a boost to a team looking to build on last year’s surprising success.

8. Samuel Houde, C, Chicoutimi Saguenéens
After trading up in the draft, then back down, the Sags settled on Samuel Houde. Ranked 13th by QMJHL Central Scouting, the five-foot-10, 140-pound centre scored 28 points in 45 games with Collège Esther-Blondie Phénix in midget AAA. Houde was seventh in team scoring on a Phénix team led by 14-year-olds Samuel Poulin and Xavier Parent, two players already on the radar as top NHL picks in 2019.

9. Shawn Element, C, Baie-Comeau Drakkar
The Drakkar continued making deals in the top 10, grabbing pick nine from Cape Breton for the 14th and 20th picks. The Screaming Eagles originally were awarded the pick as compensation for Shane Bowers, the fourth-overall pick of the 2015 QMJHL Draft, after he didn’t report to the team last year.

With the new pick, the Drakkar continued addressing scoring woes by picking up centre Shawn Element. He jumped up in the drafted after originally being ranked 18th. Element had 21 points in 32 games with Trois-Rivières Estacades last season. It was a great moment for Element, a player who fractured vertebrae and was centimetres away from being a quadriplegic after a hit from behind in 2012 when he was called up from Peewee AA for a bantam AA game.

10. Anderson MacDonald, LW, Sherbrooke Phoenix
Ranked sixth heading into the draft, the six-foot, 204-pound MacDonald is a power forward built to score goals. He led the Saint John Vito’s Midget AAA team in points the past two seasons with 18 goals both years. He was a point-per-game player for the Vito’s as the team placed second in the Telus Cup.

14. Andrew Coxhead, C, Québec Remparts
The wheeling and dealing continued with Cape Breton trading the 14th pick acquired from the Drakkar to the Québec Remparts. The pick was used on Andrew Coxhead, ranked fifth ahead of the draft. The pick is a gamble as Coxhead, who wasn’t at the draft on Saturday, is committed to play prep hockey with Salisbury in the U.S. next season.

It was a calculated gamble for coach and GM Phillipe Boucher who traded the 33rd pick, Shawinigan’s first-round pick in 2017 and Québec’s 2017 second-round pick to select Coxhead. According to La Presse, Boucher talked with Andrew Maloney leading up to the draft and the Remparts will work on convincing Coxhead to abandon the U.S. route. After the Ramparts tweeted at the forward, welcoming him to the organization, Coxhead replied “thank you!!”. It may not mean anything, but it’s worth pointing out.

So why gamble on the forward? Coxhead scored 22 goals and 42 points for the Dartmouth Major Midgets last season and led the team to a major midget championship with 15 points in 11 games and a Telus Cup berth. He’s a six-foot-two, 180-pound power forward who would fill the Remparts’ needs at centre.

32. Shane Bowers, C, Saint John Sea Dogs
This time a year ago, Shane Bowers was destined to become a member of the Saint John Sea Dogs who held the first overall pick of the 2015 QMJHL Draft. When Joe Veleno was granted exceptional player status, the Sea Dogs nabbed him with the top pick and Bowers fell to Cape Breton with the fourth pick. Bowers never reported to Cape Breton and went on to play in the USHL with the Waterloo Blackhawks.

Fast forward a year, the Sea Dogs traded 2017 and 2018 second-round picks with Chicoutimi for the 32nd pick. The pick was used on Bowers, who re-entered the draft. Currently, Bowers plans on returning to Waterloo for a second season. In a video posted on the Saint John’s website, general manager Darrell Young said “he was the best player in the draft, hands down.” Even if Bowers stays in the U.S. next season, Young hopes he’ll join the Sea Dogs at some point down the road. A high-risk, high-reward pick, having Bowers and Veleno potentially play together is an exciting possibility.

35. Lucas Fitzpatrick, G, Québec Remparts
The fifth goalie off the board, Lucas Fitzpatrick is the younger brother of Sherbrooke Phoenix goalie Evan Fitzpatrick. The elder brother is the top ranked North American goalie for the 2016 NHL entry draft.

68. Oliver Wahlstrom, C, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
The first American off the board, Oliver Wahlstrom is currently committed to Harvard next season. He spent last year at Shattuck St. Mary’s prep school where he had 26 goals and 26 helpers in 52 games. Cape Breton hasn’t exactly had the best track record convincing players to join the team (see Bowers, Nicolas Roy, Michael O’Leary).

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