In a Junior level filled with turnover, here is an unbiased take at where QMJHL franchises appear to be trending this year.
Acadie Bathurst Titan walk into this season trending UP after a strong off-season where they bolstered their depth up front and made themselves known as contenders heading into this season. They boast average goaltending and defence but these are both things the Halifax Mooseheads overcame last season with a powerful offence. The Titan have Zach O'Brien, Brandon Hynes, Christophe Lalancette, Patrik Zdrahal, Adam Zboril and Matthew Bissonette in their top 6 along with strong depth forwards Raphael Lafontaine, Adam Stevens and Alec Jon Banville.
The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are trending UP this season, mostly based on the ideal of player progression. The Drakkar iced a young, competitive team last season and with 2 new Euros and a young scoring core of Félix Girard, Raphael Bussières and Frédéric Gamelin alongside veterans Carl Gélinas and Jean-Philippe Caron. Their back-end is a good mix of veterans and young talents such as 2012 1st rounders Alexis Vanier and Loik Leveille. Phillipe Cadorette is in the lower echelon of goaltenders in the Q this year, but remains a solid starting option.
The Blainsville-Boisbriand Armada are trending UP this year as well, walking into this season steadily ranked with premier teams such as Halifax and Quebec as contenders. The Armada acquired Devils' first round pick Stefan Matteau in the off-season, and his agitator presence will make them even tougher to play against this year. Blainsville possesses likely the best two-way depth in the league, and likely the best defensive squad as well. Xavier Ouellet and Samuel Carrier could both be argued as the best defenseman in the league this year and could be on the same powerplay unit this year. The Armada also have Etienne Marcoux tending the crease this year, who should build on last years excellent season.
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles walk into this season trending to be the SAME as last year. While Denis Kindl, Jonathan Brunelle and Sebastian Payette graduated, David Hoznik, Justin Haché and Jonathan Oligny replace them. Young talents like William Carrier, Bronson Beaton and Kyle Farrell are expected to progress, there is no outstanding trait to this young team that leads me to believe they will build on last year.
The Chicoutimi Saguenéens lost significant talent and are trending DOWN this year. The Sags loaded up last season acquiring J.P. Pageau, Mathieu Gagnon and Christian Ouellet from Gatineau in an attempt to win the Presidents cup. They fell short in the 3rd round, losing 4-1 to Saint John. What is left is decent offence, suspect defense and solid goaltending. They will be down a few spots from their 8th place finish last season.
The Drumondville Voltigeurs head into this season trending SAME as last season. The Voltigeurs did not go out and acquire talent this off-season, and will have to overachieve to avoid being a bottom feeder. This is fully in reach considering how well coached Mario Duhamel keeps his team, but it is difficult to imagine a team headlined by Olivier Archembault, Marc-Olivier and Nikolas Brouillard will make noise in the QMJHL this year.
In Gatineau, the Olymipiques are trending UP without a doubt. After a middling season in 2011-2012, the Olympiques had an action packed off-season acquiring scoring winger Yannick Dubé from Victoriaville, and Acadie-Bathurst starter Robert Steeves. They proceeded to take the talented scorer Martin Reway in the Euro draft and had 1st round picks Alex Carrier and Kameron Keilly make the roster out of camp. The Olympiques are young and have improved at every position. Robert Steeves went down until at least Christmas with an injury which hurts the club. When you factor in the fact that Benoit Groulx always has a disciplined, two-way team on the ice, the injury becomes less of a factor than expected.
The Halifax Mooseheads have big expectations heading UP to this season, mostly based on the fact that their young core that includes Nathan Mackinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Martin Frk and Zach Fucale has another year of progression under their belt. Add in veterans such as Konrad Abeltshauser, Stefan Fournier, Darcy Ashley and Brent Andrews and you have a unique contender. The Mooseheads have no glaring holes heading into this season, though another premier forward or defenseman would certainly help separate the Mooseheads from other teams at the top of the pack.
The Moncton Wildats are trending UP after an electrifying off-season where they finished a trade with Shawinigan, sending back picks for top 4 defenseman Jonathan Racine and starting goaltender Alex Dubeau. They also acquired arguably the best Euro tandem in the league in St. Louis Blues draft pick Dmitri Jaskin and #1 Euro pick Ivan Barbashev. Moncton now has weapons up front, even more abundant depth on defence and a quality starting goaltender to replace Roman Will. They are my dark horse to go deep in the playoffs because of their excellent depth.
In P.E.I., the Rocket (amongst a well-needed name change) are trending the UP this season, acquiring some solid players in the off-season in the off-season in Alex Micallef and waiver pick-ups Erik Robichaud and Charles Johnson. They used the #2 overall pick to select Alexis Pépin who should make his presence felt immediately on a PEI team starved for offence. The Rocket are by no means contenders, with progression of young players like Yan Pavel Laplante, Ryan Graves and Matthew Bursey another last place finish doesn't seem likely on the Island.
The Quebec Remparts appear to be headed into this season the SAME as last year. It will be difficult ot imagine the Remparts improving much on a borderline dominant season like 2011-2012, but after losing Louis Domingue, Gabriel Desjardins and Mikael Tam this off-season I feel like the Remparts only offset their losses by bringing in Nikita Kucherov and having their young core progress. The Remparts will still fill the net with ease, but the goaltending and defence are suspect enough that the QMJHL is not any more afraid of this years Remparts than the year than last year.
The Rimouski Oceanic head into this season the SAME as well. The Oceanic replaced some of the veteran losses they sustained this off-season by adding to a pool a 1995s that is as deep as any in the league. They turned heads by getting Anthony Deluca, Maxime Gravel and Frédérik Gauthier to report, players who all had NCAA commitments and are capable of making significant impacts this year. Two new Euros Vladimir Bryuvikin and Jan Kostalek should fill the void of Petr Straka and Jakub Culek. It is impressive that even after losing Jerome Gauther-Leduc, Alex Belzile and Alex Mallet they will likely finish in and around the 6th seed again this year. Cheers to GM Phillipe Boucher for such a stand-up job.
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are trending UP after a solid off-season where they acquired some good veteran talent in Gabriel Desjardins and Andrew O'Brien. The Huskies have solid Euros returning that will drive there offense once again, Denis Kamaev and Sven Andrighetto and with some more depth could turn heads by improving on last years 15th place finish by a good margin. The pressure will be on 2011 defensive rookie of the year Robin Gusse to find consistency to enable the Huskies to do so.
The Saint Johns Sea Dogs are undoubtedly trending DOWN heading into this season, losing 6 of their top 9 scorers from last season. The Sea Dogs will have a transition year on their hands this year, after 3 years of dynasty-like dominance. With two less talented new Euros and a rookie-laden roster, the Sea Dogs will fight with the bottom feeders to keep out of the Bottom 5 this year. Jonathan Huberdeau will return until the end of the NHL lockout, which is a nice boost for the young players and franchise but Huberdeau is no superman.
The Shawinigan Cataractes appear to be walking into one of the biggest DOWNwards turnarounds the CHL has seen in a long time. After winning the Memorial Cup last season, the Cataractes will bring back only 9 players, all of whom played depth roles on last years squad. The Cataractes will be a living example of how quick fates can turn after genuinely 'going for it', which turned out well worth it in the end. On the bright side, they will ice a lot of youth this year and will bring in Slovak standout Patrik Koys next year, so the future looks fairly bright the franchise that seems to almost be the consensus pick for last in the league this year.
The Sherbrooke Phoenix are not really capable of being judged, but I will say that I expect the group to take time to bond and that Sherbrooke will finish in and around 15th.
The Val d'Or Foreurs are trending UP headed into this season, after this up and coming team took a big step forward acquiring Memorial Cup hero Anton Zlobin, and Bathurst defenceman Jérémie Fraser. This bolstered the Foreurs already solid roster. With solid goaltending, a strong mobile defence group and some marquee forwards up front such as Zlobin, Anothony Mantha and Cedrick Henley.
Last but not least, the Victoriaville Tigres are trending DOWN based on the talent they traded away this off-season and lack of depth. The Tigres, clearly not happy with what happened in last years playoffs traded away Stefan Fournier, Brandon Hynes, David Hoznik and Yannick Dubé in a span of two days. That leaves them with leaving them with a few impact forwards such as Phillip Danault, Phillippe Halley and Phillippe Maillet. Behind them are a few solid top 9 forwards, but nothing to write home about. The young defense corps is below average with Stars draft pick Troy Vance leading the way. One of their strong points should be Chicago draft pick Brandon Whitney in net, who is big atheletic and ready to step into the upper echelon of QMJHL goalies.
There you have it, my take on the turbulent trends that you see every off season in Junior, and the excting parity that comes with it!
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