2014 QMJHL Draft prospects
- Thread starter Rekus
- Start date
3 Minute Minor
Registered User
- Sep 29, 2009
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3 Minute Minor
Registered User
- Sep 29, 2009
- 5,183
- 831
Shout out for Newfie Jordan Maher. Played major midget as '98 this year and had 17 points in 20 games with Central. He has fair size for a bantam age player at 5'11" 150lbs which could go up during the season.
That'd be a record for Nova Scotians in the first round by about 5
Nova Scotia has the best talent by far in a while. If you saw at the Atlantic Challenge Cup, they won every game (4-0-0) with their closest margin being a 9-2 victory. I believe they can make a good run vs. Quebec in next years Gatorade Challenge
Lucky Luke
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- Jun 17, 2006
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It should be interesting to see what kind of year Nicolas Patry-Gingras will have and where he will end up in the draft.
NBHockey
finish your checks
The ACC has been going on for years in Atlantic Canada. http://atlanticchallengecup.ca/
Each province selects its best in each age group and sends them to a Thanksgiving tournament, round robin type of thing, winner in each age group.
The Gatorade is brand new. After talking to a friend that was a coach for NB, it seems it was a big hit with HNB at least. He said it was well run and with a couple of small tweaks could be a really good evaluation tool. It was the best of the age group (97's in this years case) against the best.
So many people hype some kids, that tournament showed the true ability of the players against their peers. During the winter, some of the 97's were on good teams playing with older or other very good players. These tournaments have a bit of an equalizing effect.
Here is my NB plug. I was told that NB outshot all the teams they played against, and that even against the Quebec teams they were very competitive and carried the play for long stretches. Had Quebec not had stellar goaltending the outcomes could have been different.
We have spent some time looking at 98 NB born players. Addressing some of the mentions I have seen in this post.
Domokos - Hands down the best G in the province, quite a marginal drop after him.
Elijah Francis - Top D
Pierre-Luc Lurette - next in line behind Francis
Isaac McGraw - dissappeared from radar...understand he quit his Bantam AAA team past season.
Sam King - Top Fwd, good foot speed, great hands, All offense
Brock McEwen - Good speed and skill, however is an opportunist and does not thrive in physical situations.
Connor O'Brien - Good skill, reads ice well, shys away from physical play due to size.
Liam Frigault - great hockey sense, reads ice well but has no physical presence.
Bailey Feltmate - plays a small game for a big kid, slow footspeed, smaller players in the league have done alot more with alot less size.
Gabriel Leblanc - Fast, accurate shot, one way player and not overly physical for a good size kid
Jarrod Shipley - Very hard hitter, hard shot, needs to improve skating and decision making
Tesink - Strong skater, reads ice well, a more hefty shot would improve his game
Yan Plourde - opportunist, has regressed from last year...maybe due to injury??
Dusty Augustine - Small, fast, loves to hit but not so much receive.
Having watched NB Provincials, SPUD tournament...Here are some names that impressed.
Kyle Anderson - Saint John D with great shot, great skater, can hit and make the first pass. I thought was SJ's strongest D.
Will Drummond - KV fwd, played with Sam King and is the unsung hero of that line...doesn't get much credit but is usually the guy responsible for the play. Great defensive skills and very gritty for a not so big body. Long strided skater, makes it look effortless.
Cam Boyd - Saint John fwd, played with Frigault and much like Drummond was an unsung hero. Very strong on faceoffs. Delivers bone crushing hits from a 5'4" frame. Great 2 way player. Shut down top NS prospect Getson from NS Hurricanes in a tournament game. If this kid can gain a few inches this year, look out!
William Lafford - Moncton fwd, excellent 2 way player, good shot and a hard worker. Top player in the Moncton area, gritty. Could use some size.
Felix Leblanc - Dieppe fwd, strong on puck, good skating abilities through traffic and plays with an edge. I thought him to be the more complete player from Dieppe. Very physical.
Plourde was returned to Bantam because the Rivermen coaching staff probably didn't want him to come back until he was %100. That's my guess. Also, Plourde only had 4 goals and 0 assists in 20 games on the 2nd line for the Rivermen. I can't put him as a top player with such low productivity when he's always on the 2nd line. He's a good player but not a top player. I know people will disagree but look at JM Leblanc who played 19 games with SJ as an underager and scored 6 goals and 10 assists. Leblanc is a top 97 while Plourde would be a good 98 in my opinion.
As for Lurette, Miramichi won't be returning Francis, McCoughan, and Arsenault from their defensive core since they will be too old. Stewart still has a year left after missing this one but I heard that a doctor told him not to play since he was diagnosed with a severe concussion three times. Warman, Robichaud, and Hebert are the only ones who can return but I think Lurette has the potential to be better than all three of them next year with some offseason training. No other Bantam or Highschool or Midget team in Miramichi's area has a better player than him at defense so that's why he should be in a top defense position next year.
NBHockey
finish your checks
Plourde was not ready for Midget as an underager, neither was Taylor LeBlanc or Ryan Kenny. Why are people in such a big hurry?
lets get this convo started up again. be nice to see an updated list or some players mentioned for the 2014 qmjhl draft
NateTheGr8
Registered User
Jordan Maher from NL played Major Midget last year as an underager and now this year he is leading the league in points. (Impressive for first year midget) and his team isn't even that good without him so it's not like he's playing with extremely good linemates.Will be a top 5 pick this year in the draft
WildcatMapleLeafs28
Registered User
Patmac40
BESTPOSTERINTHEGAME
I think Maher will go top 10 honestly. Looked really, really good at the icejam. Him and Dawe stood out for Central. I'm definitely not the only one to walk away with that impression either.
i am not saying Maher is not good, or great. But, i think people underestimate any other player as soon as they see one of their own has success. There are a lot of things that happen on draft day, a lot of unknowns. Something as simple as the drafting of a goalie for example, can trigger a wave of goalies being taken in the first round. Or as happened last year, drummondville drafted an american, and all of a sudden you have a few players that dropped to lower ranks than expected.
Maher does not fit in the Mackinnon or Roy profile…he's not a sure thing. He's not a "shoe in" for top 5 or 10 anywhere. Let the kid play and the draft will decide itself.
Maher does not fit in the Mackinnon or Roy profile…he's not a sure thing. He's not a "shoe in" for top 5 or 10 anywhere. Let the kid play and the draft will decide itself.
NBHockey
finish your checks
98' not a strong draft group
I think the 98 draft class is weak overall. There are definitely some good players, but its not as deep as the 97's were or the 99's will be. If Q teams are smart, they will be drafting lots of 97's this year.
I think the 98 draft class is weak overall. There are definitely some good players, but its not as deep as the 97's were or the 99's will be. If Q teams are smart, they will be drafting lots of 97's this year.
NBHockey
finish your checks
well ya??
Well yes, that would be expected. I was just saying that I don't see the 98' group as being all that deep. Perhaps its different in Quebec, but in Atlantic Canada, there are a only a handful. Balmas, Getson and a few others are obviously going to be drafted high, but after the top two rounds it drops off significantly.
As for Q scouts in Atlantic Canada, I personally know about 4 of them in four different organizations, and they have said to me more than once, many scouts become invested in promoting someone they have put forward as a prospect.
For instance, I know a scout in the Moncton area that only really promotes the Moncton area players. That's all fine and well, but all the Moncton players aren't always "the best players available" for the draft. But, said scout may come on here and promote a player that he likes, and not promote or detract his prospects competition.
The same is true of agents/family advisors. Many of these people have a bias towards players.. it becomes "he is good because we say he's good" when often, many of us are left looking at it shaking our heads wondering what they see that the rest of us didn't.
I think Q teams that are smart draft the best players available
Well yes, that would be expected. I was just saying that I don't see the 98' group as being all that deep. Perhaps its different in Quebec, but in Atlantic Canada, there are a only a handful. Balmas, Getson and a few others are obviously going to be drafted high, but after the top two rounds it drops off significantly.
As for Q scouts in Atlantic Canada, I personally know about 4 of them in four different organizations, and they have said to me more than once, many scouts become invested in promoting someone they have put forward as a prospect.
For instance, I know a scout in the Moncton area that only really promotes the Moncton area players. That's all fine and well, but all the Moncton players aren't always "the best players available" for the draft. But, said scout may come on here and promote a player that he likes, and not promote or detract his prospects competition.
The same is true of agents/family advisors. Many of these people have a bias towards players.. it becomes "he is good because we say he's good" when often, many of us are left looking at it shaking our heads wondering what they see that the rest of us didn't.
WildcatMapleLeafs28
Registered User
lol, what do you mean by this? don't make any predictions where a kid might go in the draft? nobody is stopping maher from playing. everyone is letting him play. its just a prediction about where he'll be drafted. isn't that pretty much what this message board is for?
he's been pretty darn good all year. I think he's a high first round pick.
Patmac40
BESTPOSTERINTHEGAME
I'm not saying he's a sure thing but he's been very impressive. I've watched him a couple times before IceJam and then watched him at IceJam. He was the guy that stood out most for me. He has decent size, very good skill, but what sets him apart is his work ethic. I think he goes higher than what you expect. And yes, the draft will decide itself but I mean it's only 5 months away so I feel like I can throw my two cents in.
