Mitch Balmas – McKeen's Hockey

QMJHL Playoff Preview: Huskies leaders of the pack in the President’s Cup playoff

Michael Sanderson — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 13:23:49 +0000

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are looking to complete what they could not in 2016: win a Memorial Cup.

They may just have the team to do it, but first they need to lay waste to the rest of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

That’s what they did in the regular season. Boasting three players from that 2016 Memorial Cup squad in league-leading scorer Peter Abbandonato, minute-eating defender Jacob Neveu and record-setting netminder Samuel Harvey, the Huskies set the record for most wins in a single season with 59 wins in 2018-19. Raphael Harvey-Pinard played five games for that 2016 Huskie crew in the regular season and was the team’s second leading scorer this year.

The Huskies are a very strong defensive unit that moves the puck fast and plays with intensity. They lost just one game in the 2019 portion of the schedule.

Noah Dobson, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Rouyn-Noranda made it count in the mid-season trading period as well, trading all of their picks in the first-through-fourth rounds in the next three seasons to acquire three players – Joel Teasdale from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, Louis-Filip Côté from the Québec Remparts, and Noah Dobson from the defending Memorial Cup champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Teasdale boasts 42 points in 29 games, and Dobson added 36 in 28.

The Titan will not be defending their crown, as they missed the playoffs this season, allowing for a new champion that could be wearing red and black. The Huskies have another piece from last year’s champs: head coach Mario Pouliot joined the team, taking over as head coach and GM.

Joe Veleno, Drummondville Voltiguers

Another team in red and black, the Drummondville Voltigeurs, are the yin to the Huskies yang in terms of contending combatants. While the Huskies dominate with defensive play and timely scoring, the Voltigeurs try to outscore the opposition, and were very successful at it, especially in the second half. The Volts led the league in goals with 338 on the strength of Detroit pick Joe Veleno’s 104 points and Maxime Comtois’s 48 points in just 25 games.

They have the forward depth to put most teams to shame. Nicolas Guay has been an excellent winger with 40 goals. Gregor MacLeod was picked up at the beginning of the season from Québec and put up 84 points. Félix Lauzon’s two-way play was magnified by his 80 points, and Dawson Mercer, not draft-eligible until 2020, had 64 points with his blazing speed and great defensive instincts. This playoff season could be Mercer’s breakout party with the responsibility Steve Hartley and the Volts coaching staff put on his shoulders.

The Huskies, not to be outdone, outscored every team but Drummondville in the regular campaign.

Drummondville and Rouyn-Noranda both benefit from a different playoff format this year, as well. Due to travel issues, the league decided to toss out the previous 1-vs-16, 2-vs-15 format for a conference set-up, putting the league’s 12 Quebec-based teams in three divisions of four, and the Maritimes all in a single division of six. The two western-most divisions were shuffled into the Western Conference, while the East Division and the Maritime teams were linked into the Eastern Conference.

This plan creates an imbalance in the conferences, so the possibility of a crossover exists; if the ninth-best Eastern Conference team has more points than the eighth-best Western Conference team, the Eastern team joins the west for the playoffs, and the eighth-best Western team misses the playoffs. The tenth-based team in the east, if they too have more points than the remaining team in the west, could also cross over.

This possibility nearly happened, with the Saint John Sea Dogs tied in points and holding the tiebreaker over the Shawinigan Cataractes on the league’s final day of the regular season. The Sea Dogs lost in regulation, while the Cataractes lost in overtime, putting them one point ahead of the Dogs and into the final playoff spot. Shawinigan, who made the playoffs despite a 0-14-1-0 record in their final 15 games, will take on the Huskies, a team that has only lost eight times all season.

The first round will be 1-vs-8, 2-vs-7 and the second round will pit the four winners, highest remaining seed playing lowest remaining seed. The third round will be a free-for-all, with the team’s left over ranked by record and seeded one-through-four regardless of conference, and lastly the winners of the third round will meet in the league final.

The possibility of the best two teams meeting in the final is still there, and the two best teams in terms of points, Rouyn-Noranda and Drummondville, will have an easier ride than most one- and two-seeds.

The talent disparity between the Eastern and Western Conferences this year was a sight to behold, perfectly demonstrated by the Sherbrooke Phoenix. The Phoenix, with 77 points, finished third in the west and will have home ice against the Armada. Given the same results, if Sherbrooke was in the east, they would have finished in eighth place, and would be playing the Conference-leading and Memorial Cup hosting Halifax Mooseheads. Quite a jump in competition, and on the road, no less.

The Mooseheads overtook the Baie-Comeau Drakkar to win the East crown on the final day, and they will have home-ice assured for the first two rounds. While they received some criticism for potentially not doing enough during the mid-season trading period, making the fewest trades of any team, the Mooseheads are coming in with a very strong outfit that had a better 2019 than 2018. Head coach Eric Veilleux and the personnel struggled at times in terms of game-plan; Veilleux is a more defensive coach and the players he is directing are more offensive-minded, but he does his best coaching in the playoffs, and has a league final in 2013 and a Memorial Cup championship in 2012 to his credit.

Jared McIssaac

Samuel Asselin, acquired from the Titan in the season’s first week, had an excellent campaign and was the most consistent Moosehead over the 68 games, firing a league-topping 48 goals and 86 points for Halifax. Anaheim prospects Benoît-Olivier Groulx and Antoine Morand both shone in the regular season as well, with 80 and 70 points, respectively. Arnaud Durandeau kept pace as well, as the Islanders hopeful had 73 points of his own. Detroit prospect Jared McIsaac was second in defenceman points with 62 in 53 games. Having Edmonton prospect Ostap Safin back in the lineup in March after missing several months with recurring hip issues is a major boost to the scoring touch of the team.

Fans will keep a close eye on Raphael Lavoie, projected as potentially the league’s biggest draft prospect for this June’s NHL draft. Lavoie had a very hot February with 24 points in the month, and while he was kept off the scoresheet in his last three games, needs a big playoff and Memorial Cup to keep himself above the competition, namely Moncton’s Jakob Pelletier and Sherbrooke’s Samuel Poulin.

Ivan Chekhovich

The Drakkar are the Mooseheads’ biggest challengers in the east, and they held the title until the league’s final games. Much like the Huskies, the Volts and the Mooseheads, the Drakkar boast major scoring in their lineup. San Jose prospect Ivan Chekhovich was six points off the league leader in Abbandonato with 105 points, and Nathan Légaré, a 2019 draft hopeful, was tied for eighth in league scoring with 87 points and tied for second in the league with 45 goals. Their top four scorers all scored at least 35 goals, and they beefed up the back end with additions of Keenan MacIsaac from the Titan and Pascal Corbeil of the Armada.

The team did not sit pat with their goaltending either, as GM Steve Ahern acquired three capable goaltenders in Alex D’Orio from Saint John, Dereck Baribeau from Québec and Lucas Fitzpatrick from Shawinigan. Due to Baribeau’s injury in early January sidelining him for the rest of the regular season, D’Orio has been the team’s starting goaltender, and the Penguins’ signee has shown that with a contending team, he is a very good starting goaltender who can handle a lot of shots. The Drakkar do not give up a lot of shots, though, being fourth in the league in shots against at just 26-and-a-half.

Alexis Lafreniere

The Eastern Conference is the side to watch in the first two rounds, as they had seven teams breach the 85-point barrier to the west’s two. The Rimouski Oceanic, upset in last year’s first round by the Moncton Wildcats, bring in Alexis Lafrenière for his second playoff run, and they added big muscle in Calgary prospect D’Artignan Joly to a lineup that already boasted high-flying Tampa signee Jimmy Huntington and defensive leading scorer and Charles-Edouard D’Astous. Lafrenière’s 105 points already secures him as a top prospect for 2020, but he will want to get further than the opening round this time around. The Oceanic will go as far as 2019 prospect Colten Ellis can take them from the red line.

While Charlottetown traded away Arizona first rounder Pierre-Olivier Joseph to Drummondville, they were able to get New Jersey prospect Xavier Bernard in the deal. Matt Welsh is capable of stealing a series in net and would be talked about more in NHL circles if he was taller than 5-11”. A team could still take a flyer on him and be well-off; he never quits on a play and excels in making saves however necessary. Anaheim prospect Hunter Drew has made more great strides in his game, and 2019 potential picks Nikita Alexandrov and Brett Budgell are joined by sharpshooter Daniel Hardie and former Titan forward Jordan Maher for experience. Jim Hulton is a very good coach and an excellent motivator, and he has a group he can mold for a playoff run, despite selling off his best asset.

The Islanders’ first round opponents will be the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, who acquired Derek Gentille and Minnesota prospect Shawn Boudrias at the deadline. Ottawa pick Kevin Mandolese will have to earn his keep in the net against the Isles, and former Titan forward Mitch Balmas, two-time 40-goal scorer, will hope to improve upon his five goals in last year’s playoff run. The Eagles may be a year away, but this would be a very pivotal moment in the growth of this year’s core going forward, and they are more than capable of pulling off an upset.

Chicoutimi was a player in the Noah Dobson sweepstakes; as part of a handshake agreement, Dobson was sent to Rouyn-Noranda, but with mostly Chicoutimi draft picks. Those picks were sent to the Huskies by Chicoutimi for facilitation and the ability to acquire William Dufour. The trade was a part of the Titan’s deal for Olivier Galipeau last season; the Sags wanted the ability to re-acquire Dobson next year if faced with the possibility, but also take in Dufour as a potential core piece for the future. If Dobson went through Chicoutimi directly, the Saguenéens would not be able to re-acquire him for three years.

Chicoutimi under Yanick Jean have been rebuilding for a couple of years, but they have three of the first seven picks from last year’s first round on the team in Dufour, Hendrix Lapierre and Théo Rochette. All three have received international attention and will be important building blocks for the team in future years, and this team will gain valuable experience in the post-season, with the potential of netminder Alexis Shank stealing a game or two against Rimouski.

Jakob Pelletier is a player whose game gets better as the chips are down, and he is potentially the Wildcats’ most important player in their playoff push. Jeremy McKenna’s 97 points does not hurt either, but the Wildcats changed coaches in January and struggled to find their game at times this season. They made moves to get better at Christmas but saw a team that sold off players in Charlottetown and a team that more or less stood pat in Chicoutimi, adding just William Dufour and shuffling in Liam Murphy for Jesse Sutton, surpass them in the standings. The team is playing better under the watchful eye of John Torchetti, but the playoffs are a different animal.

Samuel Poulin is also a player who benefits when the checking gets close. He is big, fast and smart, and he can play physical as well as contribute offensively. The Phoenix scored more goals this year than any other year in their history, but do not have a scorer who jumps off the page; Poulin’s 29 goals tied for the team lead, matched by Alex-Olivier Voyer. Poulin will be relied upon heavily in the post-season, but the Phoenix have eight players with 42 points or more in the regular campaign.

The Eastern Conference is a wide-open group with good teams set to pack after the first round, while the West feature the two top teams in the league in the Huskies and the Voltigeurs. One would expect those latter two teams to make it to the final four, but any of the top seven teams in the east could make a run for the President’s Cup.

Who will meet the Mooseheads in Halifax at the 2019 Memorial Cup in May? The Huskies have recent history on their side, and the league’s wins record to boot. 16 more wins to their 59 they have already amassed seems most likely.

Predictions

First Round

Rouyn-Noranda over Shawinigan in 4

Drummondville over Gatineau in 4

Blainville-Boisbriand over Sherbrooke in 7 (with goaltending leading to the mild upset)

Victoriaville over Val d’Or in 6

Halifax over Quebec in 5

Baie-Comeau over Moncton in 5

Rimouski over Chicoutimi in 7

Charlottetown over Cape Breton in 6

Second Round

Rouyn-Noranda over Blainville-Boisbriand in 4

Drummondville over Victoriaville in 6

Halifax over Charlottetown in 7

Baie-Comeau over Rimouski in 6

Third Round

Rouyn-Noranda over Baie-Comeau in 6

Drummondville over Halifax in 7

League Championship

Rouyn-Noranda over Drummondville in 6

QMJHL President’s Cup Playoff Preview: Can anyone sink the Armada?

Michael Sanderson — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 17:57:08 +0000

The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada are back for more in the 2018 playoffs.

Alex Barre-Boulet.

They led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League almost from the get-go, boasting two of the top three league scorers in Tampa Bay’s Alex Barré-Boulet and Alexandre Alain and later added a third massive offensive weapon in Ottawa’s Drake Batherson.

Drake Batherson

The Armada won the league by 11 points and were the only team to hit the century mark, with a 107-point season and an impressive 25-3-2-3 record in the 2018 calendar year. Fresh off a President’s Cup finals run last season, the Armada are the team to beat.

Maxime Comtois

Two teams finished the 2017-18 campaign on point streaks of 10-games or more, and those two teams are set up for big runs for the President’s Cup. The Victoriaville Tigres closed out the season with an 11-game winning streak, and they have three scorers in the top-10: Columbus’s Vitalii Abramov, Anaheim’s Maxime Comtois and the undrafted Ivan Kosorenkov. That trio has been the league’s most productive top line since Abramov joined the team from the Gatineau Olympiques in November.

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan have points in their last 10 games, and they added several pieces during the trading period in every role, including forwards Mitch Balmas and Sam Asselin, top-scoring defender Olivier Galipeau and St. Louis prospect goaltender Evan Fitzpatrick. Their recent streak won them the Maritime Division over the dangerous-but-young Halifax Mooseheads.

The races for playoff spots were more subdued than in past years, as the Saint John Sea Dogs and the Shawinigan Cataractes both missed the playoffs by six points under the Val-d’Or Foreurs, and the next team, in 15th, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, bested the Foreurs by 14.

The Maritimes Division was Halifax’s to lose, and the aforementioned veteran Acadie-Bathurst squad overcame the Mooseheads in the final games. The Armada and the Rimouski Oceanic were leading the West and East Divisions at Christmas and cruised to the titles.

The QMJHL’s President’s Cup playoffs start Thursday, March 22, as the Foreurs take on the Armada in Boisbriand. All other series start on Friday, March 23. The league’s champion will go to Regina for the 100th Memorial Cup tournament at the Brandt Centre in May.

1 Blainville-Boisbriand Armada vs. 16 Val-d’Or Foreurs:

The Armada are just too good in all facets of the game for the Foreurs to handle. Val-d’Or may have had a better chance if they had not sent overage netminder Etienne Montpetit to Victoriaville at mid-season. Mathieu Marquis, who did not initially make the team and took the starting role in January, will face the brunt of the Armada shooters, with rookie Jonathan Lemieux on deck. Marquis has not won a game since February 16, and Lemieux has not won a game in longer than that.

The Armada boast plenty of offence beyond Barré-Boulet at 116 points, Alain at 87 and Batherson at 77. Forward Joël Teasdale notched a point-per-game with 65 points, and blueliner Pascal Corbeil had 51 points from the back-end.

The Armada are a puck-possession team, and there is a good chance that the Foreurs will spend full minutes without the puck during this short series. Since the Q has gone to a 1-vs-16 format, no 16 seed has ever knocked off a top seed. That continues in 2018. Armada in 4.

2 Acadie-Bathurst Titan vs 15 Chicoutimi Saguenéens:

Antoine Morand. Photo by Daniel Doucet/DD Sports Photo

The Titan may be the league’s deepest team. They have the top-two defence scorers in Galipeau and Noah Dobson, along with Adam Holwell in the top-10 among blueliners. Anaheim’s Antoine Morand leads a formidable offence that is gritty, in-your-face and aggressive. They are 9-2-1-0 against teams from the East Division this season, and goalie Fitzpatrick is 17-4 since joining the team in January.

The Sags will need the Kevin Klima coming out party to continue for them to have any chance. After a slow start, Klima, the son of former NHLer Petr, had 75 points after November 1, and his 86 points were best on the team by 37 over teammate Vladislav Kotkov.

The Titan need a big run for the Bathurst market to have long-term sustainability. The market on the north shore of New Brunswick is struggling, and a pair of sellouts at the end of the year are just what the doctor ordered. A long run to reinvigorate the market will help, too. Titan in 5.

3 Rimouski Oceanic vs 14 Moncton Wildcats:

Alexis Lafrenière

The Wildcats were leading the Maritime Division in mid-November until they fell back to Earth and stumbled their way through the rest of the season.

The Oceanic benefitted from their two hotshot rookies in leading scorer Alexis Lafrenière and goaltender Colten Ellis to secure the East Division title. Neither of them are NHL draft eligible this season; Ellis in 2019 and Lafrenière in 2020. Ellis, with five shutouts, was a major reason the Oceanic were the league’s stingiest squad this season.

The series will be most intriguing for a playoff matchup between picks one and three in last June’s QMJHL Entry Draft. Lafrenière has performed as advertised as the next prodigy out of the province of Quebec, and Moncton’s Jakob Pelletier has been a consistent threat for the Wildcats on all ends of the ice with his strong work ethic and high skill level.

Rimouski and Moncton have met five times previously in the QMJHL playoffs, and the Oceanic have won four of the five meetings. Make it five. Oceanic in 5.

4 Halifax Mooseheads vs 13 Baie-Comeau Drakkar:

Jared McIsaac

After the Mooseheads clinched a playoff spot on February 8, they went 9-6-1-0, including some listless efforts against foes they should have handled. That stretch is where the Titan overtook them and grabbed the Maritime crown.

However, the Mooseheads have young talent to burn, including projected first rounders Filip Zadina, Jared McIsaac and Benoît-Olivier Groulx.

The Drakkar have an underrated group of forwards, including San Jose’s Ivan Chekhovich and Jordan Martel. Goaltender Francis Leclerc was picked on up waivers from the Armada, and has taken the bulk of the starts for Baie-Comeau in the second half.

Ivan Chekhovich

Both the Mooseheads and the Drakkar are built with much of the 2016 Q picks in mind, where the Moose took Groulx and McIsaac first and second overall, and the Drakkar had four picks in the opening round and all four – Gabriel Fortier, Xavier Bouchard, Shawn Element and Edouard St-Laurent – have had impacts on the team this season.

The Mooseheads may have a rude awakening later, but they wake up for this series. Mooseheads in 6.

5 Drummondville Voltigeurs vs 12 Cape Breton Screaming Eagles:

Joe Veleno (#90),. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Ghyslain Bergeron

The Voltigeurs made only two impactful trades this season, acquiring forwards Connor Bramwell and Joe Veleno, but both moves have paid dividends immediately for the league’s best scoring team.

Bramwell was a point-per-game since being acquired in late November, and Veleno went on a tear after joining the Volts in December. Veleno has 48 points since moving to Drummondville, including a 13-game point-streak.

The pressures of having to be the man in Saint John clearly bothered Veleno at the start of the year, as he struggled handling his shift in role from second-line offensive bit piece to first line two-way center, captain and all-around saviour for a paper-thin Sea Dogs team. He has grabbed back his confidence and is every bit the player scouts expected him to be as the only exceptional status player in Q history.

Cape Breton is a tough team to play against, as they play an aggressive style and forecheck hard. Drummondville, coached by Team Canada gold medal winner Dominique Ducharme, will be ready. Voltigeurs in 5.

6 Victoriaville Tigres vs 11 Gatineau Olympiques:

Since acquiring Abramov from Gatineau on November 17, Victoriaville is 32-10-3-2. Those are title contender numbers from a team that struggled out of the gate, and Abramov’s 78 points in 40 games since the trade is a major reason why.

The first line of Comtois-Abramov-Kosorenkov combined for 245 points on the year, and much of it together. They made their shifts look like the Globetrotters at times with their passing and stickhandling through the opposition. Gatineau is a better defensive team than offensive, but that will not matter. Etienne Montpetit in the Tigres goal will be more than enough to withstand any pressure Gatineau can muster.

Abramov dazzled Gatineau fans for two seasons before wanting a trade to a contender, and now he shows his top form at the Robert-Guertin in an enemy uniform. Tigres in 4.

7 Rouyn-Noranda Huskies vs 10 Sherbrooke Phoenix:

Peter Abbandonato

The Huskies have the league’s best netminder in Samuel Harvey. The overager led the league in both goals-against-average (2.10), and save percentage (.930). In 46 appearances, he only gave up 95 goals and won 30 games.

The Huskies know a thing or two about strong goaltending performances, as Chase Marchand and his 1.35 GAA and record six playoff shutouts took the Huskies to the Memorial Cup final in 2016.

Four members of that team are still in the fold, including Harvey, who was the backup to Marchand. Forwards Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and Peter Abbandonato lead the offence, while strong defenders Taylor Ford and Jacob Neveu round out a solid defence corps.

Netminder Reilly Pickard, swapped one-for-one with Bathurst for Fitzpatrick, has been decent in a Phoenix uniform, and Thomas Grégoire and his 69 points from the back end led a surprisingly balanced attack. This Phoenix team has the most points in their six-year franchise history with 79. They have never won a playoff round. Huskies in 6.

8 Québec Remparts vs 9 Charlottetown Islanders:

Matthew Welsh

The Remparts had one of the league’s hottest starts to the year at 8-1, but have since shown to be a middling outfit this season. Next year, they will be stronger, but this season, goaltending struggles, especially beyond netminder Dereck Baribeau, were a problem at mid-season.

The team acquired overager Antoine Samuel to resolve the netminding woes, and that worked. The Remparts are coming into the playoffs hot, with wins in eight of their last 10 games.

The Islanders, conversely, had a slow start to the season and got better as the schedule progressed. Head Coach and GM Jim Hulton promised the fans they would have a good team this year following a contending team last season that saw his team go to the final four.

This year, the Islanders acquired several key forwards at Christmas to jumpstart the offence, and it has turned their goal-scoring from awful to simply below-average.

The Islanders will go as far as goaltender Matt Welsh will take them. He has the ability to steal a series, and will do so here. Islanders in 6.

****

While no upsets, save 9-over-8, were predicted in the first round, the league goes wild in round number two.

Beware the Victoriaville Tigres, who will upset the Rimouski Oceanic in the second round. Drummondville, with their experience behind the bench, will overtake Halifax in the second round in a tough seven-game series that will be highlighted with Gravel-vs-Rodrigue in net.

By round three, the contenders are left: the Armada, Titan, Volts, and Tigres. Bathurst has the depth to defeat the younger Drummondville, while the Armada are a bit too deep for the Tigres and their dynamite top line.

Expect the unexpected for the President’s Cup. The Titan and their engaged defenders are the first team that can take and keep the puck from the Armada forwards, and they frustrate and overcome the Blainville-Boisbriand squad to win the second President’s Cup in their history.

The Titan are just too deep on the blueline and in goal for the Armada to handle. The CHL’s smallest market will make the trip to Regina for the Memorial Cup in May.

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.