2016 QMJHL Draft Recap

MONTREAL, QC—The 2016 QMJHL Draft took part on June 4^th in Charlottetown and HockeyProspect.com was there to cover the event. Here’s a look back at the draft with a team-by-team recap.

Acadie-Bathurst

As predicted in our mock draft, the Titan took Noah Dobson with their first pick. They would actually trade down by one spot, but still end up selecting the P.E.I. native. With the trade of Guillaume Brisebois to Charlottetown, Dobson will be the player the Titan rebuilds their defense around in the next couple of years. Other notable picks include Nicolas Olivier in the 3^rd round, a big stay-at-home defenseman from Lévis, and Antonio De Luca in the 5^th round. De Luca is easily the biggest forward in this draft (6’3”, 255 lbs.) who played this past season in Midget Espoir in Laval. Max Walford is another intriguing pick. He had a good year with Cole Harbour and should challenge for a roster spot for the 2017-2018 season.

Baie-Comeau

The Drakkar were very active on draft day with numerous deals, most notably trading the #2 overall pick to Halifax once it was confirmed that Jared McIsaac wouldn’t report to Baie-Comeau. At the end of the day, they had a total of four first round picks (4, 5, 9 and 16). They were able to add Gabriel Fortier with their first pick. Fortier will bring offense, speed and intensity to their lineup. With the 5^th pick, they took Xavier Bouchard, our top-ranked Quebec defenseman in the draft. With their 3^rd pick in the first round (9^th overall) they took power-forward Shawn Element, who should become a fan favourite in no time in Baie-Comeau. With their last pick in the first round, they took skilled forward Édouard St-Laurent from Lévis. They didn’t have any other picks until the 6^th round, but were able to grab a good goaltending prospect in Xavier Bolduc with the 92^nd pick.

Blainville-Boisbriand

The Armada had a very good draft, selecting a lot of players that we liked going in. In the first round, they had two picks, selecting two local kids from Montreal in Mathias Laferrière and Jeremie Bucheler. Both players were ranked in our top-10 going into the draft; Laferrière was a big riser in the 2^nd half and Bucheler, while highly-touted, was not present at the draft (as he’s leaning towards going to play in the USHL next season). Other players we liked from the Armada draft include Guillaume Desmarais in the 2^nd round, Kyle Havlena in the 3^rd round, Yan-Cedric Gaudreault in the 5^th round and even Anthony Morin in the 9^th round.

Cape-Breton

The Screaming Eagles surprised us in the first round by picking Kevin Mandolese with the 13^th pick. After drafting Kyle Jessiman in the 2^nd round at last year’s draft, we didn’t expect to see them with a goaltender in the first round. The Eagles also selected another goaltender in the 4^th round (Colten Ellis), which should make this year’s camp very exciting. They made two nice picks for their back end, with Leon Denny and Adam McCormick. The big wildcard pick for the Eagles was Oliver Walhstrom, the first USA-born pick in the draft who’s committed for the US-NTDP and Harvard University.

Charlottetown

The Islanders had an interesting draft. They caught a lot people off-guard by selecting Marc-Olivier Alain in the first round. Alain was expected to come off the board in the middle rounds of the draft. They made a solid pick in the 2^nd round with Nathaniel Doyon from Lévis, who will bring a solid two-way game and size to their team. For a second straight season, they took a goaltender from the Halifax Macs, this time investing in a big project in Dakota Lund-Cornish. In the 11^th round, they picked Nicholas Cardone. The ‘99-born forward was picked in last year’s draft by Chicoutimi. He played half of last season with them, eventually getting released at the end of the year, making him eligible for this draft.

Chicoutimi

The Saguenéens also had an interesting draft, moving up in an attempt to select local goaltender Olivier Rodrigue. They missed out, as he went 3^rd overall to Drummondville. They then traded back down and eventually selected Samuel Houde with the 8^th overall pick. We originally had predicted that Houde would be their pick. Houde will need to get stronger over the summer, but he was one of the smarter players in the draft and kept improving over the course of the season. With Julio Billia being in his last season in the QMJHL, the Sags drafted two goaltenders with good potential: Alexis Shank and Alec MacDonald. Other picks we liked included Mathieu Desgagnes, Félix-Antoine Marcotty , Nathan Larose & Samuel Morin.

Drummondville

The Voltigeurs had two first-round picks during this draft. With their first pick, they stole Olivier Rodrigue from Chicoutimi with the 3^rd overall pick. Rodrigue instantly became the goalie of the future for the Voltigeurs and should get a good number of starts next season. With their 2^nd pick, they went with Châteauguay defenseman Xavier Bernard. Over the last two seasons, they have selected quite a few players from Châteauguay. The Voltigeurs also hired Châteauguay head coach Steve Hartley as an assistant coach recently. Other notable picks include Olivier Charest in the 3^rd round (who played the past two seasons in the GTHL) and Carl-Olivier Dignard in the 7^th round (one of the best Midget Espoir prospects eligible, according to us).

Gatineau

The Olympiques didn’t have a pick before the 4^th round, which made things very difficult for their scouting staff. Their first pick was Metis Rolens, a raw project with a lot of size from the Blizzard du Séminaire Saint-François. In the 5^th round they selected Kyle Penney, a small scoring winger from Cole Harbour, and later on they took two hard workers in Vincent Cournoyer and Jordan Chabot.

Halifax

Halifax had a great draft. With their first three picks, they were able to secure the best forward in the draft in Benoit-Olivier Groulx, the best defenseman in Jared McIsaac, and the 2^nd-best goaltender in Alexis Gravel. Later on, they made some nice picks, including two-way center Raphael Lavoie (29^th overall) who we had ranked in the first round, and the hard-working Frederik Théoret in the 3^rd round. They also selected Jake Wise in the 7^th round, our top American available in this draft, who’s already committed to the US-NTDP and Boston University. The chances are not good that Wise would commit to the Mooseheads, but if he ever did, that would give them another high-end talent on their roster.

Moncton

Moncton had another intriguing draft, electing to move out of the first round. Four of their sixteen picks were Americans, including our 3^rd-ranked USA player in T.J Walsh in the 5^th round. Walsh is not committed to the US-NTDP (unlike Jake Wise and Oliver Wahlstrom) but he’s actually expected to play for Cedar Rapids in the USHL next season. It should be an interesting summer, as Moncton has had success in getting Americans to commit to them. They seem to like having twins on their team (after the Saulniers and Klimas lined up for them in the past). This time, Moncton picked the Massie twins from Montreal (Noah in the 3^rd round, Dylan in the 12^th). Logan Cash, selected in the 5^th round, also provides some intrigue. He’s committed to play prep school next season south of the border, but he’s a player who could have an impact at the junior level.

Quebec

Quebec didn’t have a first-round pick at the beginning of the day, but eventually got one via a trade with Moncton. They selected big forward Andrew Coxhead out of Dartmouth. Coxhead was not at the draft and is committed to play prep school with Salisbury next season. It was reported this week that Coxhead will report to Quebec next season. Coxhead was ranked 11^th in our final rankings. We liked the pick of Gabriel Villeneuve in the 3^rd round; he’s player who we liked and had much higher in our rankings. Lucas Fitzpatrick, selected in the 2^nd round, went a bit higher than we expected, but the Remparts have a hole to fill in net after next season. Other notable picks from the Rempart draft, Jeremy Laframboise in the 5^th round who we had ranked in the 2^nd round and Thomas Caron from midget espoir in the 4^th round who should become a good role player.

Rimouski

With no first-round pick this year, Rimouski selected a local player with their top pick in the 2^nd round in Anthony D’Amours, who is physically ready to play at the major junior level next season. Nick Gosse is a big forward from Newfoundland selected in the 3^rd round by Rimouski – he played this past season in Ontario. The Océanic always seems to find good picks in the Maritimes in the middle rounds, and Gosse could be one of these. In the 4^th round, Karl Boudrias is an interesting pick; a very good skater who’s good on the transition game.

Rouyn-Noranda

The Huskies had yet another good draft; this has seemingly become a tradition for them. There was no home-run type selection, but a lot of solid picks came their way throughout the day. Evan MacKinnon in the first round was a good one – he would have been higher in our rankings if he was a bit bigger, but we love his hockey smarts. Alexis Arsenault and Chris McQuaid, both picked in the 2^nd round, should improve and add depth to an already-impressive talent pool on their back end. Justin Bergeron is another defenseman who we liked during the season and Matt McKim was a player who impressed us at the Gatorade Challenge in May. In the 11^th round, they picked one of our sleeper picks in Shon-Olivier Roy, a forward from the Midget Espoir league who we had ranked way higher.

Saint-John

The Sea Dogs made a lot of noise in selecting Shane Bowers in the 2^nd round of the draft. The 2^nd-year eligible player was selected 4^th overall in last year’s draft by Cape Breton. Bowers has said that he’s going back to the USHL for his second season, and has many NCAA offers on the table. It should be an interesting summer for the Sea Dogs and Bowers. In the first round, the Sea Dogs picked Olivier Mathieu, a scoring winger from Magog, and in the 3^rd round they took big winger Isiah Campbell, who made some very nice strides this year in terms of his development. In the 4^th round, they selected Simon Elsliger from Moncton, a small defenseman with excellent skating abilities. If he can become a Kevin Gagne 2.0, the Sea Dogs’ brass would be quite happy with that selection.

Shawinigan

With no first-round pick, the Cataractes made a nice pick in round 2 with Gabriel Denis of the Collège Notre-Dame Albatros. He was injured during the season, but has a nice mix of size and skills and did very well at the last event of the season (Gatorade Challenge). In the 3^rd round, the Cataractes took a chance on Mathieu Samson, a teammate of Denis. He is a big kid that skates well and came into this season with some hype, but didn’t have a good year. Samson will be a player to keep an eye on next year in Midget AAA. Another player from the same region as Denis and Samson was selected in the 6^th round: William Croteau, who played at the Midget Espoir level. He’s a long-term project who missed some time this season with injuries, but he has a good upside and impressed us at the Gatineau Midget Espoir tournament with his quick feet and play with the puck.

Sherbrooke

Sherbrooke had the 4^th pick in the draft but eventually moved down to the 10^th spot in a trade with Chicoutimi. Alex Krief, a former first-rounder of the Sags, was a player they obtained in the deal. With the 10^th pick, they went with power-forward Anderson MacDonald, who we had ranked 13^th in our final list. He should be able to make an impact right away with his size and big shot. They had some good picks in rounds 2 and 3 with Benjamin Tardif of Châteauguay, Justin Blanchette of Magog and Olivier Crête-Belzile of the Séminaire Saint-François. They made another pick in the 5^th round with Nathaniel Roy from the LHPS, who’s a good project with decent size.

Val-d’Or

No first-round pick for the Foreurs, who made two nice selections from the Quebec Midget AAA champions, the Lac St-Louis Lions. Azzaro Tinling and Shane McGrath were two key players from that championship run. Yohan Plamondon, selected in the 3^rd round, was a hot-and-cold prospect with us this year. He’s still a player we expect to put a lot of points on the board next season (similar to Maxim Trépanier with CCL this season). We liked their 10^th round pick, Frédéric Abraham from Midget Espoir, whose good skill level gave him a higher spot in our final rankings.

Victoriaville

With their first pick, the Tigres went local with Cédric Desruisseaux, a small but skilled player with smarts. In his case, there’s no doubt that if he was bigger, he would challenge to be a top-10 pick. His adaptation to major junior might take a bit more time due to his lack of size, but in the long term, he should be a top player with the Tigres. In the 3^rd round, the Tigres went with a physical winger in Félix Paré, who could one day play on a 3^rd line in Victoriaville. Tristan Côté-Cazenave was a nice pick in the 4^th round; he had a great second half of the season with the Séminaire Saint-François after coming over from Châteauguay, helping his team win the Dodge Cup.