Jocktan CHAINEY – McKeen's Hockey

QMJHL Trade Deadline: Want to improve your QMJHL team this season? Pay up!

Michael Sanderson — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 17:43:55 +0000

The QMJHL’s silly season is upon us.

The league’s trading period opens up Sunday, and several trades are already in the books, some of which were consummated before the opening bell was officially opened. The period closes up on January 6. One thing to be expected this season: contenders will have to pay to make their teams better heading into the second half.

All eyes are on the Halifax Mooseheads this season as the Memorial Cup hosts in May. Because of this, the team has some extra pressure to build a contender. On paper, they are one of the strongest teams in the entirety of the Canadian Hockey League, but they have struggled a little bit with consistency. The team is noticing some potential issues that may need solving for the tourney, adding to their depth.

Now, if newspaper quotes are to be believed, Mooseheads general manager Cam Russell is not all that interested in blowing up the future for the present, as he observes that his team could be even better next season as presently constructed. However, this year is a guaranteed Memorial Cup berth, whereas future years are earned solely by hard work from August-to-May. The sure thing dictates that this declaration is just posturing, as a Memorial Cup host can expect a heightened market for any assets.

Further, this Mooseheads squad could use some tinkering. Edmonton Oiler forward Ostap Safin, acquired from Saint John at the start of the season, has been in and out of the lineup due to ongoing hip issues. Overager Jordan Maher has simply not been the best fit with the team with just four goals so far, despite his best efforts. Anaheim Ducks prospect Antoine Morand’s game has been as expected, but the numbers are not quite where they should be, with 28 points in 29 games. Potential first rounder Raphaël Lavoie has hit a bit of a snag this season, not looking like himself from last season; he is scoring less and seeing his focus wane at times this season. The offence, a strong suit in prior years, is sixth-best in the league right now, with a few blowouts augmenting the numbers.

New Jersey Devils defender Jocktan Chainey has seen his ice time drop and Chicago Blackhawks blueliner Jake Ryczek has seen his rise, but behind Jared McIsaac and Justin Barron, who have been solid, there is no big third defender option. Despite that, the team has solid defending numbers, tied for second-best in goals against.

To his credit, goaltender Alexis Gravel has been maybe the team’s most valuable player so far this season, but his backup option is Cole MacLaren, a decent choice but not a goalie you want starting against the OHL and WHL champions.

To that end, Halifax will be in on a defenceman this trading period, and potentially a second goaltender as well. If the price is right, they may also look to add to the forward group to try and jumpstart the offence.

Noah Dobson

Thankfully for the Mooseheads, the two biggest names available in the trading period are both defencemen. New York Islanders prospect Noah Dobson is the biggest fish in the pond, and right behind him is Arizona Coyotes draft pick Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

The price for Dobson will set the market, as he is the prize all teams are competing for. Dobson is a game-changer on defence, capable of controlling a game from the back-end, and has championship experience on the biggest stage. Joseph is a very solid consolation prize, as teams who find the price for Dobson too high may rather try to acquire one of the league’s hardest workers and smartest players. The Islanders also have very useful players to add into a Joseph trade to help a win-now team, such as Keith Getson or Anaheim Ducks prospect Hunter Drew, but it’s believed that Jim Hulton is not looking for far-off picks, preferring players that can help as early as next season in exchange for his assets. Having said that, the Islanders are in a contending position, and could choose either to stand pat or add to their team.

What is interesting in the Dobson speculation is that it is rumoured that any deal involving him will have to go through the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, as part of conditions of a prior deal for Bathurst last season. The Sags would rather the assets that Dobson would provide rather than use him this season, as Chicoutimi is a middling team with no real title aspirations this season. The suspense will run into the new year, as Dobson cannot officially be traded until his term with Team Canada at the World Junior Championships are over.

There are some top-level defender and forwards beyond those two, but in goal, most contenders seem to be set with one or two good goaltenders. There are many options for a team to buy for a playoff run – Minnesota Wild prospect Dereck Baribeau from Quebec, Pittsburgh Penguin signee Alex D’Orio in Saint John and fellow Penguin camp attendee Tristan Côté-Cazenave, to name three – but most of the top teams are set in net.

The changed playoff format this season could also have an effect on the trading period, due to the imbalance of talent between the Eastern and the Western Conferences. Starting this year, to prevent so many easy matchups in the first round and to cut down on potential travel, the league decided to drop the 1-vs-16 format and form two conferences of two divisions each. The Maritime teams and the Eastern-most Quebec teams form the 10-team East, and the rest create the eight-team West. There is the potential for wildcards to allow the top 16 teams to make the playoffs, but the weakness of this playoff format is best demonstrated by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. At the time of writing, the Eagles would hold home ice in the old playoff format, sitting in eighth spot in the league. Because of the new conference format, though, Cape Breton would be sixth in the East, drawing a tough, contending Baie-Comeau team, on the road no less, in the opening round, rather than 11th-place Quebec. That format change could influence some teams in terms of whether to buy, sell or stand pat this season.

Two definite contenders outside of Halifax that dominate the list of other potential buyers are the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

Rouyn-Noranda are a very strong team built from within and coached and managed by last year’s Memorial Cup winner, Mario Pouliot. They are hard-working, very deep in net and on defence, and just one player on the entire roster has played for another Q team. Their wildcard is the potential return of injured Pittsburgh Penguin prospect Zachary Lauzon. His return would put the Huskies in limbo with their overagers, and they would have to make a decision on their 20-year-olds.

Joe Veleno

The Voltigeurs are maybe the league’s deepest team, led by Anaheim Ducks prospect Maxime Comtois and Detroit Red Wings first rounder Joe Veleno up front, Chicago Blackhawks first rounder Nicolas Beaudin and New Jersey Devils prospect Xavier Bernard on defence, along with Edmonton Oilers prospect Olivier Rodrigue in goal. Comtois’s return to the Q is maybe the biggest acquisition any team could have made this season. They are a rumoured team for Dobson, and adding Dobson to Beaudin and Bernard defensively would make Drummondville a very tough team to face in the playoffs with that three-headed monster on the back end.

One team that is certainly making some changes is the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. General Manager Steve Ahern has promised that several trades will be announced Sunday. They are heavily linked to the above-mentioned D’Orio.

Further with the Drakkar, Calgary Flames pick D’Artignan Joly has left the team on his own accord, awaiting a trade. Joly and the team have had a bumpy 2018, with player wanting to be more creative and team wishing he was more engaged and aggressive. Joly can absolutely score at this level, but he is an artist more than he is a worker.

Editor’s note – prior to publication, it was announced that Joly had been dealt to Victoriaville

The Rimouski Oceanic were a contender for the league title on paper this season, but they look up at the Drakkar at this point in the year and are facing a decision – do they go for it or hold back and go for it next year. According to bench boss Serge Beausoleil, they will be tentative, but not sell off players who won’t return, including captain Charles-Edouard D’Astous, who drew some interest from the Ottawa Senators in the summer. The Oceanic are the proud team of phenom Alexis Lafrenière, who will return to the league next season, and Rimouski could set themselves up to be an even better team next season.

The Moncton Wildcats may opt to do the same, as they have a high-flying offence, but many players also set to return for next season, namely potential first rounder Jakob Pelletier and Minnesota Wild pick Alex Khovanov, despite some issues on the defensive end. Unlike the Oceanic, though, players not returning next season or otherwise not in the plans for next season could be available for trade.

Among the anticipated sellers, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan have also had a move announced ahead of Sunday’s opening day for the mid-season trading period. They will acquire forward Anderson MacDonald from the Wildcats for a pair of picks. MacDonald has not had the bounce-back season either he or the Wildcats were hoping after he was surprisingly undrafted in last June’s NHL Entry Draft. MacDonald has battled injuries all year, and has played in only four games, largely on the fourth line, before being shuffled out of Moncton to the north of New Brunswick.

The Titan have also all but moved Dobson, fellow blueliner Keenan MacIsaac and forward Ethan Crossman, and will continue to take calls on defender Michal Ivan. The foursome all played key roles for the Memorial Cup winning Titan squad last year, as they look to set themselves up for a rebuild.

Editor’s note – Prior to publication, both Crossman and MacIsaac were dealt to Baie-Comeau

One can add the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada to the list of potential sellers, as they may look into cashing in on the remaining assets from three straight strong playoff runs. Montreal Canadiens prospect Joël Teasdale is a name that would garner lots of interest, and they have many useful veterans they do not need this season – Rémy Anglehart, Alex Katerinakis, Luke Henman, Thomas Ethier and Charles-Antoine Giguère come to mind. The Armada could recoup a lot of assets for their collection of forwards.

Editor’s note – Giguère was traded to Moncton prior to publication

The Gatineau Olympiques could also cash in on a few of their players for the future, namely Minnesota Wild prospect Shawn Boudrias and overager Gabriel Bilodeau, who could put up points on a contender looking to upgrade their powerplay. So could Val-d’Or’s David Noel, a St. Louis Blues pick, who is 19, but is currently on the shelf with an eye injury.

The composition of the QMJHL’s top teams will look different between now and January, and despite the high prices, expect a lot of player movement this time around.

State of the CHL: Quebec Major Junior Hockey League

Michael Sanderson — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 16:11:08 +0000

Wide open Q marches towards the playoffs

As the season began in September, the QMJHL looked as wide-open as ever. Each team coming into the campaign had a weakness or an issue that needed to be addressed.

The trading period has come and gone, and two teams have addressed their weaknesses the best and are the most poised for a deep run in the QMJHL President’s Cup playoffs – The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Drake Batherson of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL.

The Armada added the best player available on the market in Drake Batherson (Ottawa), and the Titan acquired the best defenceman on the market in Olivier Galipeau, one of the top goal scorers in Mitch Balmas, great center depth in Samuel Asselin, and a goalie with a ton of potential in Evan Fitzpatrick.

Blainville-Boisbriand made the final last season where they were quickly dispatched by a strong Saint John Sea Dog squad after upsetting a great Charlottetown Islanders unit, but they addressed some lack of offence by acquiring Batherson, who led the Q in scoring earlier in the year before being overtaken by surging-hot now-teammate Alex Barré-Boulet and his 25-game point-streak.

Barré-Boulet’s 57 points over that two-months-plus stretch sees him towering over the competition in the scoring race. He still has a more-than-20-point cushion over his competition, and is currently the only player in the league past the 40-goal mark.

Alex Barré-Boulet of Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL.

Batherson, Barré-Boulet and Alexandre Alain form one of the most dangerous potential trios in the league in Joel Bouchard’s arsenal, and adding Batherson can make the Armada one line deeper, as he makes every player around him better.

Acadie-Bathurst was one team on the outset of the season that had to make a run for it this year with the veterans on their team, and they made the right decision to make a strong push to become a true contender in the league.

Antoine Morand of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Daniel Doucet/DD Sports Photo

Adding the sharpshooter in Balmas from the Gatineau Olympiques, despite his early scoring struggles since joining the team, gives them a powerful counter-point on the opposite wing to Anaheim prospect center Antoine Morand on the powerplay, and a great flank for Morand or Philadelphia Flyer first rounder German Rubtsov at even strength. Samuel Asselin is a do-it-all player much in the mold of Titan captain Jeff Truchon-Viel – an aggressive forechecker, relentless in pursuit and great hands, and he gives Bathurst an excellent one-two punch of killer faceoff men with Samuel L’Italien.

Noah Dobson of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL.

The Titan are very deep up front, and maybe even deeper on the back end, with defensive leading scorer Galipeau added to strong pivot Adam Holwell and top prospect Noah Dobson (2018), who both feature on the top end of defenceman scoring. No other team has more than one defender in the top-20 of blueliner scoring.

Incumbent Reilly Pickard was swapped for Evan Fitzpatrick in goal, and this is a make-or-break stretch for the St. Louis second rounder. He must show his potential and his abilities for the Titan to make a great run, and he is well insulated with this defending corps.

A dark horse among the contenders may be the Victoriaville Tigres. They made a surprising trade, shipping out Philadelphia second rounder Pascal Laberge to Quebec, but also picked up goaltender Etienne Montpetit and Columbus Blue Jacket prospect Vitalii Abramov. The Tigres expected to be among the top teams in the league and they struggled out of the gate, but they have the lineup to do some damage and cause an upset or two. Abramov, with his great speed and hands, has been a great addition up front.

Speaking of upsets, there are a few teams with younger cores that could make deep runs, namely the Halifax Mooseheads, the Rimouski Oceanic and the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

Jared McIsaac of the Halifax Mooseheads. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL.

The Mooseheads boast a handful of potential top picks in this June’s entry draft in Dallas – forwards Filip Zadina and Benoît-Olivier Groulx, defender Jared McIsaac and goaltender Alexis Gravel. They have a very potent offence with captain and Columbus Blue Jacket Maxime Fortier and resurgent Finn and Tampa Bay Lightning pick Otto Somppi to add to the young players, and New Jersey Devils blueliner Jocktan Chainey on the back end.

Benoit-Olivier Groulx.

All but Fortier of the core group can return next season, though it is very possible that Zadina could stick around professionally wherever he is taken this summer.

The Oceanic have been led by two excellent young players in their rookie seasons in the Q. Alexis Lafrenière has been every bit as advertised and then some. This past June’s first overall pick is scoring at over a point-a-game this season, leading his Rimouski mates in scoring as a 16-year-old, and a late-2001 birth date at that. He is only eligible for the 2020 NHL draft, and is already making waves.

Alexis Lafrenière, Rimouski Oceanic. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL.

The other, more unexpected contributor is 17-year-old goaltender Colten Ellis. The Telus Cup-winning goaltender from last season has taken the starter’s job and ran with it since the start of the season after being acquired in a draft day trade with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

His performance this season allowed Rimouski to be more active on the trade market and pursue some immediate help for the upcoming playoff run, rather than conservatively stay the course for later seasons. The Oceanic have only three 19-year-olds in their lineup, but they are the top defensive team in the league.

The Voltigeurs made a huge splash as the trading period opened in December by acquiring star forward Joe Veleno from the Sea Dogs. They paid a massive price in doing so, giving up five picks in the top two rounds over the next three seasons, but the former Sea Dogs captain has provided a further spark to the league’s best offense.

Joe Veleno (#90), player of Drummondville Voltigeurs, season 2017-18 of the QMJHL. Drummondville, Que., Dec. 30, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Ghyslain Bergeron

At 17 years old, Veleno fits right in with the strong young core for the Volts, with Nicolas Guay, Dawson Mercer, Cédric Desruisseaux, Pavel Koltygin (Nashville) and Xavier Simoneau up front, and Nicolas Beaudin and Xavier Bernard on the back end. Olivier Rodrigue is the back-stop in goal and all those players are 18 or younger and will return next season.

Drummondville could score their way to a long playoff run, and have the defenders and goaltender to hang tight when the going gets tough. Two of their top scorers – veterans Bobby Lynch and Morgan Adams-Moisan – played in checking roles last season and can certainly provide protection as well as scoring.

Two teams are in the hangover years of their team-building cycle, but could still do some damage in the playoffs: the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and the Charlottetown Islanders.

The Huskies stormed out of the gate with an excellent performance from netminder Samuel Harvey in the early-going, and boast a very deep blueline, much like the President’s Cup-winning team in 2016.

The scoring on paper isn’t very strong, but Peter Abbandonato, Félix Bibeau, Mathieu Boucher, and Rafael Harvey-Pinard have proven the doubters wrong with strong performances up front. William Cyr has been a revelation offensively, running the point on the blueline, with a veteran corps led by strong defensive defender in Jacob Neveu.

Pierre-Olivier Joseph of the Charlottetown Islanders. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL.

The Islanders really struggled to open the campaign but caught fire with the play of goaltender Matt Welsh and top pair Pierre-Olivier Joseph (Arizona) and Saku Vesterinen. Coach and GM Jim Hulton smartly added over Christmas, acquiring scorers Cam Askew, Dan Hardie and Derek Gentile without giving up much in futures, as well as getting top prospect Brett Budgell to report to the team. The result is a good contender with the pieces left from the strong team last season.

The parity of the league has been impressive to watch this season. The top teams in the league are all separated by just a handful of points. The difference between top seed and losing home-ice is 14 points, and earlier in January it was just eight.

Contrast that to last season, when the Saint John Sea Dogs and the Charlottetown Islanders were the two top contenders, this season’s top foes are very much undetermined at this point. It is the first year in a long time where there are not a couple of teams above the rest. There will be upsets in the opening round this season, and many of the teams at the top of the table are winning despite a lack of true veterans.

The 19-year-old crop in the QMJHL is just not very good. Acadie-Bathurst and Blainville-Boisbriand are the only two teams that built the core of their team around the 1998-born players in the league. Most other teams at the top of the standings have much of their key contributors as either 20-year-old overagers or younger players. The 18-year-olds and 17-year-olds are already leading contending teams, like Halifax, Rimouski and Drummondville.

Looking ahead, the league could have as many as six first-round picks this upcoming draft, and Halifax has been appointment viewing in that regard, with as many as four of those six potential first rounders.

Filip Zadina and his shifty offence leads the pack and should have his name called early in the first round, likely in the top five. His offensive game is extremely well developed at this stage in his career, with a deceptive wrist shot from either circle to use the screen and a great ability to perform at top speed with the puck, weaving in and out of traffic easily. He doesn’t slouch on the back check either, showing his skating ability is not just for the attack.

On the back end, Jared McIsaac is a solid option for a top-pairing defender. He has excellent skating ability as well as great hockey sense, and he can man the point on a power play. The Mooseheads top powerplay unit features Zadina, McIsaac, Fortier, Groulx, and Arnaud Durandeau (NY Islanders) – a lot of talent on the ice at once.

Groulx has a great handle on the two-way game from the center position. His ability to do many of the little things well, like faceoffs, positioning in all three zones, and an active stick on the back check, will keep him in the lineup, and his offensive game could develop into a top-line threat.

Alexis Gravel is one of the top goaltenders available, with his big frame and his quick movement. If a team takes a flyer on a goaltender in the opening round, Gravel is as good as any netminder in this draft class.

Acadie-Bathurst’s Noah Dobson will also go high in June. He does so many things well, along with ideal size at 6-3” – skating, positioning, manning the point, gap control, puck control, breakouts – that he could be a cornerstone blueliner for a team for years to come. His play continues to rise and he continues to find another gear to bring up his game as the draft comes closer. His poise and ability to play in tough and long minutes endears him to many scouts.

Drummondville’s Joe Veleno will be a first-rounder in the upcoming draft, though he may be looked at as a bit of a disappointment to some. He has not put up the huge offensive numbers expected from an exceptional status draft pick in the Q to date, though his offensive game is refined and he has many tools with the puck on his stick. His 200-foot game rounds out the package and is his calling card. He is a dynamo on the back check, and is a great positional defender in the defensive zone. His points have jumped up since joining the high-scoring Voltigeurs, and being coached by Dominique Ducharme will help his development. Veleno is a sure-fire NHLer, although it is unclear what his role will be in the pros. He could fill many of them going forward.

All those players could benefit from deep playoff runs, and Halifax, Drummondville and Acadie-Bathurst may all play deep into May depending on where the chips fall. The President’s Cup is truly up for grabs this season, and it will take a hot team with all facets of the game clicking to take it home.

QMJHL: Alex D’Orio (Saint John Sea Dogs – Pittsburgh), Jocktain Chainey (Halifax Mooseheads – New Jersey)

Mike Sanderson — Mon, 13 Nov 2017 16:16:00 +0000

After going undrafted in 2017 after his rookie season in the QMJHL Alex D'Orio impressed at a Pittsburgh Penguins rookie camp in the summer and was subsequently signed to a 3 year contract entry level contract. After solid numbers as a rookie (19-2-1 record, 2.40 GAA, 0.904 SV%), poor stats to start the season are not indicative of his play. Mike Sanderson explains below. Apparently GM Shero asked his #1 pick in 2017 to provide a analysis of Moosehead teammate Nico Hischier before drafting him 191st. A detailed analysis of his game follows.

A note on the 20-80 scale used below. We look at five attributes (skating, shooting, puck skills, hockey IQ and physicality) for skaters and six for goalies (athleticism/quickness, compete/temperament, vision/play reading, technique/style, rebound control and puck handling). Each individual attribute is graded along the 20-80 scales, which includes half-grades. The idea is that a projection of 50 in a given attribute meant that our observer believed that the player could get to roughly NHL average at that attribute at maturity.

Alex D’Orio

Alex D'Orio	Undrafted (2017 FA, Pittsburgh Penguins)
Position: G, Catches: R	H/W: 6-2", 200 lbs
Stats to date (GP-GAA-SAV%)	Saint John Sea Dogs, QMJHL (15-3.37-.899)

Alex D'Orio, Saint John Sea Dogs. Photo courtesy of the QMJHL

Athleticism/Quickness/Speed: D’Orio covers a lot of ground for a big goaltender. His movement post-to-post is among the best in the Q, and his reflexes are solid. He is a rare right-handed catching goalie, and his hands are both solid. He has great glove positioning and can make all the expected saves with the mitt. He does have the odd tendency of dropping his shoulders on shots off the rush, and can be beaten up high with a precise shot. Grade: 50

Compete/Temperament: Perhaps D’Orio’s biggest asset is that he never gives up on a play. Even if he is down and out he is still trying to make a save with any part of his body. His compete level is very strong, and his attitude has been good so far. His confidence level this season and last has wavered a bit, though. He is a goalie who normally plays with a lot of confidence, but he may be feeling a bit of an effect of his first year as the true number one goaltender. He can be prone to a bad goal every once in a while, a floater from the blue line or a stoppable shot off the rush. But when he is on, he is on. He just needs to harness the focus for every shot, which is not uncommon among QMJHL goaltenders. Grade: 55

Vision/Reading Play: D’Orio gets good reads off of screened shots and tracks the puck very well. He rarely loses the puck on a play, even in heavy traffic. Traffic does not scare him, and he plays well with bodies in his kitchen. His anticipation some nights can be his greatest asset, and some nights can burn him, as he can anticipate the play well on some sequences and others he is too quick, which might give off the impression that he is guessing, hoping for the quick shot and does not trust his abilities yet. If his anticipation and skills match up, he has got a pro future. Grade: 50

Technique/Style: D’Orio uses the butterfly often and it is his go-to move. Sometimes he can go to the butterfly too early in a sequence trying and anticipate the shot coming before it actually comes, and he has been burned on occasion as a result. His 6-3” frame helps protect him against that often enough, but not every time. He also challenges wide on shooters off the rush, a throwback to true butterfly goaltenders of the past. He could be better served to be more efficient. Grade: 50

Rebound Control: It can be tough to penalize D’Orio on second- or third-chance goals because he often-times made a great save originally and the defenders fail to bail him out, but at the same time, his rebound control needs some work. He has a tendency to kick pucks back out into the slot and it can hurt him. Grade: 45

Puck Handling: His puck handling is a good asset, as he likes to go out of his crease and get to pucks dumped into the zone. He even has the wherewithal to feed the puck up and strike the counterattack if a defending team is napping on the change. He will have the rare puck handling gaffe, but he makes up for it with good reads on passes up ice. Grade: 55

Summary: This will be a very trying year in Saint John, and Alex D’Orio is at the heart of it. His play this season has been much better than the stats have indicated, as he has been left out to dry on many occasions so far in 2017-18. Last year, he saw a lot of games from the bench, backing up Carolina draftee Callum Booth throughout the Sea Dogs run to the Memorial Cup semi-finals, and as a result he got a lot of practice time into May, which can only help his development. Despite starting in the CHL Top Prospects Game last season, he went undrafted in last June’s entry draft. The Pittsburgh Penguins pounced on the free agent goalkeeper, and signed him to an ELC later in the summer. This season is D’Orio’s first as a starter in the QMJHL, and he has looked very good at times despite his overall record. He will have to keep his composure and his temperament in check through the year as the young Sea Dogs defenders mature in front of him, as they only returned Bailey Webster from what was a solid defence corps last season. He is a raw talent, but shows some solid potential and has the size to develop into a good pro. His work ethic and his tendency to never give up on a play are his greatest assets.

Overall Future Projection (OFP):

Jocktan Chainey	2017 Draft (191st - New Jersey Devils)
Position: D, Shoots L	H/W: 6-0", 200 lbs
Stats to date (GP-G-A-PTS-PIMS)	Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL (19-2-11-13-10)

Skating: Chainey’s mobility is good on an overall scale. His speed is good enough to get him out of trouble, and his edges allow him to make good use of his energy. His agility is underrated, as he can turn well and pivot to cut down the effect of the speed of an oncoming attack, or to open up more space for him to read the setup as it happens. His transition game is a reflection of this, as he can shift from defence to offence quickly thanks to his feet. Grade: 50

Shot: Chainey uses a slap shot or a wrist shot from the left side with equal aplomb. He loves to take those shots on his strong side, all the way to the goalmouth. His slapshot is heavy and has good spin on it, as teammates can rely on it to tip or bang in rebounds. He has good accuracy with men in front to play this skill, and can also play the boards well on the missed-net-bounce-in-front play. Grade: 50

Skills: His passing is solid. He can hit an open teammate in any zone effectively. His puck skills are great for getting the puck out of the zone or dodging pressure. His poise with the puck and his skating has allowed him to read the play well with the puck, and distribute it in the most effective way. Chainey’s spot on the first powerplay unit was supplanted by Jared McIsaac, but he can also run a powerplay. Grade: 50

Smarts: Offensively, Chainey loves to creep into the zone for the back-door play and sneak behind the defence. He loves playing the trailer. He loves having the puck on his stick and controlling the play on the breakout, or being a support in moving the puck out of the zone. Offence is how his bread is buttered, and his ability to read the play for when to pinch in the zone has improved since playing in the junior ranks. As a result, he must be paired with a defensive-style blueliner to be effective at present. He has time to get better at his reads and become a better defensive blueliner, but he will have to put the work in. It is rare that he will be on the opposite side of his intended ice, as he tends to stick to the side he is meant to play, which is the left side, most of the time. Grade: 45

Physicality: Chainey has always been very strong for his size, but in midget he was one of the bigger players. He is not one of the bigger players anymore, and that has reduced his effectiveness with the body. Having said that, he still loves to line up players for the big hit, and can connect effectively. Unfortunately, that can end up with him out of the play and an odd-man rush toward the Mooseheads’ net. If he can pick his spots better, as his hockey sense develops, his physical game could be a bigger asset. He kills penalties well in front of the net. Grade: 50

Summary: The Mooseheads have three great defencemen from three consecutive birth-years in their lineup – Jocktan Chainey among the 1999-born players, Jared McIsaac among the 2000-born, and Justin Barron among the 2001-born. Chainey was billed as an offensive defender with defensive potential in midget, and has had his struggles with the Q game, but as he has gotten stronger, his game has flourished. Fundamentally, his game is very strong, in spite of middling hockey sense so far. His defensive game has come around, and his offensive game has made more of an impact. He has played with Nico Hischier, Filip Zadina, Benoît-Olivier Groulx, Max Fortier and Arnaud Durandeau in Halifax, which has really helped his offensive development. He is another defenceman who has seemingly finished growing early, as he has not grown an inch since midget, so players have gotten bigger around him and he has had to adapt to not being the big man on the playground anymore, but he has put in the work in the weight room to correct that.

Overall Future Projection (OFP): 48.5

2017 NHL Draft Grades: Metropolitan Division – New Jersey Devils

Ryan Wagman — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 12:29:28 +0000

Shortly after 1:00pm CST, on Saturday, June 24, 2017, the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins selected William Reilly, a defenseman from RPI as the 217^th player selected, bringing the 2017 Entry Draft to an end. With a few days of hindsight between me and the bowels of the United Center, the urge to spew out hot takes flushed away, it is time to analyze the strategies and selections employed by the league’s 31 teams.

The analysis will focus on the first five rounds, as it is clear to most long-time observers that the final two rounds are often taken up with long-shots, favours to regional scouts, among other reasons. I will, of course, call out some astute late picks, but will not judge a team for the names called in the final hour. The apocryphal story of Pekka Rinne, drafted as an eighth round after-thought in 2004 based mostly on his play in game warm-ups. Few other scouts would have seen him at all, and he has had a very good career, which is not yet over. For the most part, though, those picks have little statistical likelihood of having NHL careers and teams should not be judged there.

Each draft class will be graded using the 20-80 scale that we use in our player specific scouting reports throughout the site. In this context, a 50 is essentially an average grade in light of the picks the team had on draft day. A 20 would mean the draft is an unmitigated disaster while an 80 would be the best draft class of all time. As those things can only be truly seen in retrospect, most classes will trend towards 50 at this point, so pay attention to those we see as outliers.

Finally, all grades are incomplete. Actual winners and losers in this draft class will not be known until 2023 at the earliest, after those who will have “made it” will have played out their entry-level contracts. What I am looking at here is whether, knowing what we know now, the drafting team got good value.

RD	#	CS	MCK	PLAYER	P	AGE	HT/WT	TEAM	PIM (Sv%)
1	1	2-N	2	Nico HISCHIER	C	18	6-1/175	Halifax (QMJHL)	69
2	36	10-E	35	Jesper BOQVIST	C	18	6-0/180	Timra (Swe 2)
2	61	24-N	36	Grant MISMASH	LW	18	6-0/185	USA (NTDP-18)	46
3	63	40-E	hm	Fabian ZETTERLUND	LW	18	5-11/195	Farjestads (Swe Jr)	16
3	81	60-N	78	Reilly WALSH	D	18	5-11/180	Proctor Academy (USHS-NH)	14
4	98	28-N	43	Nikita POPUGAEV	LW	18	6-6/220	MJ-PG (WHL)
5	129	NR		Gilles SENN	G	21	6-5/195	Davos (Sui)
5	143	101-N	104	Marian STUDENIC	RW	18	6-0/165	Hamilton (OHL)
6	160	58-E	77	Aarne TALVITIE	C	18	5-10/200	Espoo Blues (Fin Jr)
7	191	126-N	hm	Jocktan CHAINEY	D	18	6-0/200	Halifax (QMJHL)
7	205	NR		Yegor ZAITSEV	D	19	6-0/180	Dynamo Bsh Balashikha (Rus 2)
7	214	NR		Matt HELLICKSON	D	19	6-0/190	Sioux City (USHL)

RD	#	PLAYER	P	TEAM	GP (W)	G (L)	A (T)	PTS (GA)	PIM (Sv%)
1	1	Nico HISCHIER	C	Halifax (QMJHL)	57	38	48	86	24
2	36	Jesper BOQVIST	C	Timra (Swe 2)	19	3	9	12	0
2	36			Brynas (Swe)	16	0	6	6	2
2	36			Brynas (Swe Jr)	15	10	5	15	6
2	61	Grant MISMASH	LW	USA (NTDP-18)	65	26	35	61	104
3	63	Fabian ZETTERLUND	LW	Farjestads (Swe Jr)	40	16	20	36	18
3	63			Farjestads (Swe)	14	0	0	0	2
3	81	Reilly WALSH	D	Proctor Academy (USHS-NH)	30	30	39	69
3	81			Chicago (USHL)	24	2	8	10	12
4	98	Nikita POPUGAEV	LW	MJ-PG (WHL)	71	29	40	69	29
5	129	Gilles SENN	G	Davos (Sui)	34GP			2.64	0.911
5	143	Marian STUDENIC	RW	Hamilton (OHL)	58	18	12	30	23
6	160	Aarne TALVITIE	C	Espoo Blues (Fin Jr)	46	13	24	37	36
7	191	Jocktan CHAINEY	D	Halifax (QMJHL)	55	4	20	24	44
7	205	Yegor ZAITSEV	D	Dynamo Bsh Balashikha (Rus 2)	24	2	4	6	44
7	205			Dynamo Moscow (KHL)	19	0	1	1	10
7	205			HC MVD (MHL)	2	0	1	1	4
7	214	Matt HELLICKSON	D	Sioux City (USHL)	52	6	22	28	30

New Jersey Devils – Draft Grade: 65

MONTREAL, CANADA - DECEMBER 27: Switzerland's Nico Hischier #18 leans in for the face-off during preliminary round action against the Czech Republic at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/HHOF-IIHF Images)

We have seen drafts with quantity and drafts with quality, but few with both. The New Jersey Devils draft class of 2017 featured the best of both worlds. Of course, anytime you own the first overall pick, you should be assured of receiving quality. As that pick was only the first of 11 players drafted by the Devils last weekend, the quantity is also in the bag. Also, the quality did not stop with Swiss dynamo Nico Hischier, the first Swiss born (although not the first Swiss trained) prospect to lead off the draft. Although we ranked Hischier second in the overall draft rankings, the gap between him and Patrick was small and we had long thought that Hischier is the most likely first overall pick, considering his extremely dynamic set of skills. His puck skills are sublime, he is a plus skater, has superb offensive instincts and does not neglect the defensive side of the game. He is everything you want in a top prospect and the ride to taking over the Devils first line center job should be relatively short.

161029 Brynäs Jesper Boqvist under ishockeymatchen i SHL mellan HV71 och Leksand den 29 oktober 2016 i Jönköping.
Foto: Stefan Persson / BILDBYRÅN / Cop 107

Second rounder Jesper Boqvist was another player who some had marked as a potential first round pick, with plus speed and intriguing puck skills. Fourth round pick Nikita Popugaev could be a steal if his late season swoon after being traded from Moose Jaw to Prince George proves to be a one-time thing. He has ideal size and promising offensive skills. Reilly Walsh is another favorite of mine. He split his year between Chicago of the USHL and Proctor Academy, a New Hampshire prep school. The Harvard commit has a very dynamic element to his game and a high-rev motor. He is a joy to watch.

POPRAD, SLOVAKIA - APRIL 15: Finland's Aarne Talvitie #25 races Switzerland's Davyd Barandun #2 for the puck during preliminary round action at the 2017 IIHF Ice Hockey U18 World Championship. (Photo by Andrea Cardin/HHOF-IIHF Images)

Best value: Aarne Talvitie, C, Blues U20 (6/160): A strong two-way player with a plus shot, Talvitie turned heads with a strong performance as the captain of this year’s Finland entry at the WU18 tournament. Like Panthers’ 2016 first rounder Henrik Borgstrom, Talvitie has stuck with the Junior ranks in Finland so as to maintain NCAA eligibility. He will be moving to the US next year to play with Sioux Falls of the USHL before moving on to Penn State.

Biggest head-scratcher: Fabian Zetterlund, C/RW, Farjestad J20 (3/63): Although his numbers at the U20 level in Sweden were respectable, Zetterlund’s subpar skating may prevent his above average shot and puck skills from fully emerging. Not a bad player by any stretch, but from a value perspective, the riskiest made by the Devils.