Prospect Info: 2016 5th Round - 133rd overall - Maxime Lajoie (D, Swift Current Broncos)

[DJB]

Doiron says he was in their top 10

Top ten whl prospects?

 

[Proust*]

He has leaked his top 10:

1) Brown
2) Dahlen
3) LaJoie
4) That 26 year old guy playing house league
5) That tall Finnish dude.

That's it. They would have traded their picks if those guys were gone.

 

[Icelevel]

^

Our scouts are the best in the business. No doubt.

 

[Boud]

Doiron says he was in their top 10

Wut?

 

[starling]

Pretty sure it was top-10 with mono

 

[Smitty26]

top 10 bringers of joy?

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Doiron says he was in their top 10

Lmao. Lajoie was their first choice all along

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Um where/when did he say that? If he was in their top 10 they would have taken him with their 4th, not their 5th.

Do you mean top 10 Dmen? Cause even that seems like a stretch

Top 10 D is possible but they still drafted him after the Beer league guy

Juolevi, Olli
Sergachev, Mikhail
Bean, Jake
Chychrun, Jakob
Fabbro, Dante
McAvoy, Charlie
Stanley, Logan
Cholowski, Dennis
Johansen, Lucas
Hajek, Libor
Lajoie, Max
Allard, Frédéric
Clague, Kale
Girard, Samuel
Dineen, Cam
Green, Luke
Hronek, Filip
Moverare, Jacob
Lindgren, Ryan
Fox, Adam
Niemelainen, Markus
Krys, Chad
Peeke, Andrew
Gleason, Benjamin
Day, Sean
Carlsson, Lukas
Anderson, Josh
Cederholm, Jacob

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2016/5/12/11655894/2016-nhl-draft-prospect-profile-maxime-lajoie

Little video / interview clip in there as well

 

[Icelevel]

Lmao. Lajoie was their first choice all along

Now becomes best dman not in the nhl

 

[Alf Silfversson]

http://www.allaboutthejersey.com/2016/5/12/11655894/2016-nhl-draft-prospect-profile-maxime-lajoie

Little video / interview clip in there as well

Sounds like a solid prospect to me. Ceiling of maybe a Dan Hamhuis?

Unlike most years I didn't like our late round picks this year. Lajoie is the lone exception and I think he could be a player.

I actually saw him play in the W this year and he gets around the ice really well but wasn't overly noticeable otherwise.

 

[Alf Silfversson]

While I'd like to think Max has an NHL future I highly doubt Ottawa would ever get a good player with the 133rd overall pick.

 

[armani]

^

Our scouts are the best in the business. No doubt.

Winnipeg has the sickest scouting staff of all the Canadian teams.

The recent draft strategy for this organization has been to take the best available safe pick in the early rounds (typically first two), then go for the fences with mid-low round picks (i.e. players who dropped bc of injury/illness/lack of full season, or are ranked low because they lack in some attributes such as skating (Stone), or longer term projects...etc.).

Here's hoping the Sens scouting staff will hit pay dirt (a la Stone) with this strategy with the number of these types of picks in the past few years.

 

[Hale The Villain]

The more I look into this pick the more I am excited about it.

When you look at what an NHL defenseman needs most in today's game, the three main assets a young D needs is a high-level of hockey sense, above-average skating ability and the ability to move the puck effectively. Lajoie has all 3 of these attributes in spades. Almost every scouting report written about the kid references how well he skates and how quick he thinks. He's got decent size at 6'1, 187lbs, above-average offensive talent, and his defensive play is quite good for an 18 year old OFD playing in junior. Kid was projected to go anywhere from late 2nd round to early 4th round on draft day, so based on that getting him in the 5th round is very good value.

In 2014/15 Lajoie had 41 points in 72 games played, in what was essentially his draft year (he's a late birthday), and followed that up with 37 points in 62 games in 2015/16. His PPG increased slightly from 0.57 to 0.6. This production is made more impressive when you consider that he was playing on one of the worst teams in the WHL. His Swift Current Broncos only won one-third of its games in 2015/16 (24W/72GP). Not only that, the Broncos only scored 189 goals last year (3rd worst in the WHL), which translates to 2.625 goals per game. For comparison, the Wheat Kings led the league with 319 goals (4.43 GPG). Lajoie was 4th on his team in scoring and contributed 23% of the Broncos' offense. If Lajoie played on the Wheat Kings and maintained the same kind of impact on the offense, he would have had 72 points. While it's optimistic to think his production would improve that much by playing on a better team, there's no question he would have put up more points playing with better players. His production is also made more impressive by the fact that he spent a portion of the season dealing with mono, as well as other injuries.

Also worth noting that his production improved significantly as the season went on. He started slow, only producing 13 points in his first 35 games. After Christmas, Lajoie had 24 points in his last 27 games. In the last half of the year Lajoie produced at almost a PPG pace, despite playing on a terrible team. Always like to draft players that improve as the season goes on. Finishing the season strong often bodes well for prospects in years to come. Not sure how good the Broncos will be next season, so I don't know if it's a good idea to expect big point totals from Lajoie in 2016/17, but I expect he'll improve his PPG for the third straight year and continue to fill out his game.

Really think this guy could be a steal in the 5th round. Can read more about him on the following links:

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1734667
http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/prospect-need-to-know-max-lajoie-has-stepped-up-in-swift-current/
http://www.silversevensens.com/2016...-lajoie-has-a-hockey-mind-and-a-heart-of-gold

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

This dude need more exposure. Wouldn't surprise me if he's in the NHL lineup after people start to get shipped out at the deadline or through injuries.

People forget he is only 20 years old, and he looked as impressive as Jaros (22) and Wolanin (23) years old this weekend.

Dude can play and has the tools to be a top 4. We possibly have a steal here.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Really like this guy. Smooth. And seems to have ice in his veins. Reminds me of sergachev in that way (only). Very calm. Doesn’t scramble.

 

[Sensinitis]

His IQ is off the charts and he’s extremely poised with the puck.

 

[aragorn]

Lajoie had a very good rookie season in Belleville last yr & basically took over the #1 D spot from Chabot when he got promoted to Ottawa. He played in all situations down there including running the PP, he is an excellent defenseman who isn't flashy or great at any one thing but is very good at almost everything else. He needs to get bigger & stronger & work on his shot & decision making but other than that he is another guy who is very close to being NHL ready for this org. He's a consistent good player.

 

[coladin]

Really loved his play, I am trying to find a comparable , but I like his total package.

Looking forward to seeing him in preseason.

 

[Langdon Alger]

His IQ is off the charts and he’s extremely poised with the puck.

He may have poise, but does he have grace?

 

[Sensinitis]

He may have poise, but does he have grace?

Christian Wolanin does, that’s for sure.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Christian Wolanin does, that’s for sure.

Well, you can’t acquire grace, that’s for sure. You either have it or you don’t.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Well, you can’t acquire grace, that’s for sure. You either have it or you don’t.

Do you mean grace as in gracefulness or grace as in graciousness?

 

[Daffy]

Really loved his play, I am trying to find a comparable , but I like his total package.

Looking forward to seeing him in preseason.

Chris Tanev?

 

[Mark Stones Spleen]

Top 10 pick Maxime Lajoie.