Prospect Info: Olivier Nadeau, RW (97th overall, 2021) - Signed to ELC

[The Blunder Years]

Guy is a clutch playoff performer. Hoping he pans out for us

 

[jmelm]

Really great to see Nadeau doing so well. Along with the years Quinn & Peterka had (and Josh Bloom's encouraging season), it's almost enough to make one wonder if the Sabres could actually take a Dman with their 9 or 16 pick without some people freaking the f**k out

 

[tsujimoto74]

Nadeau having himself a game

 

[hizzoner]

He has been a force throughout the Shawinigan run in the playoffs.

 

[Snippit]

Hamilton wins in OT. Nadeau's season comes to an end.

Very interesting prospect we have here.

 

[barriers]

His goal from yesterday

 

[Dingo44]

His goal from yesterday

Maybe Reinhart-like. Get this guy in front of the net on the power play. Skating not as big a deal then.

 

[Chainshot]

Maybe Reinhart-like. Get this guy in front of the net on the power play. Skating not as big a deal then.

His strength is not only his ability to make plays in front of the net - the deflection on that goal being indicative of that - but that he does so regularly and without trepidation. He goes there. He excels in making plays in traffic and along the wall. In tight to the net, he keeps pucks alive and finds ways to put them into space for his teammates to finish if he can't do so himself.

And being a big, righthanded shot, I see Andreychuk similarities, especially in those games where they use him as a faceoff weapon. He's good on the PK using his ability to win draws and also his wingspan to good result. The one lacking in his game is the speed. If he can improve that with strength and getting technique coaching, he's going to give them a very useful pro.

 

[Ace]

It’s nice to have a prospect where you draft him and to a man everywhere immediately yells he should have gone higher…and then he proves that right. A lot of times you never really hear about guys on the steal list again in a meaningful way. This one turned out to be extremely true.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

It’s nice to have a prospect where you draft him and to a man everywhere immediately yells he should have gone higher…and then he proves that right. A lot of times you never really hear about guys on the steal list again in a meaningful way. This one turned out to be extremely true.

There’s gonna be lots of that from the last draft for every team.

 

[jmelm]

There’s gonna be lots of that from the last draft for every team.

And this draft. The effects of lost time during Covid will effect this crop too, and possibly even some of the next one. Especially in Canada. They’ll grow out of it eventually, but scouts will be less clear on them. I expect some steals to emerge from the 2nd & later rounds of this draft from the CHL.

 

[Chainshot]

 

[jmelm]

A unicorn + Mintyukov at #9 makes me smile

 

[jfb392]

 

[couture23]

That's a MF haul for a 4th rounder. Sabres did hopefully well here - his stock has risen a lot.

 

[Chainshot]

That's a MF haul for a 4th rounder. Sabres did hopefully well here - his stock has risen a lot.

He's an excellent Q player and Gatineau addressed an area of need. They are going to be very good next year.

 

[Jacob582]

Why did the Cataractes trade him away though?

 

[Dex]

Why did the Cataractes trade him away though?

A super quick look at the Cataractes lineup from this year and the fact that Nadeau has signed with the Sabres tells me that:
1. This looks to be Nadeau's last year in the Q
2. Xavier Bourgault, the teams leading goal scorer an 1st round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, is eligible to move to the AHL this year, and I would guess he will. Unless of course he makes the Oilers.
3. The team's third leading scorer and a first round selection of the Dallas Stars - Mavrick Bourque - appears headed down the same path as Bourgault.

I only had about 5 minutes to reasearch that, but it would seem that Shawinigan saw the opportunity to retool what would have been a weakened lineup using the haul of picks and the player they just got

 

[jmelm]

Why did the Cataractes trade him away though?

What Dex said.

SHA probably projects to be pretty bad next year because CHL teams have very short windows (given the age of players) and they tend to load up a ton, and then suck really badly, and rinse & repeat that cycle again and again. And then they make trades like this to recoup assets they spent loading up.

So I don't follow the 'Q' closely in general, but I'm sure that GAT intends to be a Mem Cup contender next year and that's why they made this trade and they may not be done making such moves. So it's good for us and for Nadeau if he gets a shot to be a leader on another deep run next year.

 

[Jim Bob]

A super quick look at the Cataractes lineup from this year and the fact that Nadeau has signed with the Sabres tells me that:
1. This looks to be Nadeau's last year in the Q
2. Xavier Bourgault, the teams leading goal scorer an 1st round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, is eligible to move to the AHL this year, and I would guess he will. Unless of course he makes the Oilers.
3. The team's third leading scorer and a first round selection of the Dallas Stars - Mavrick Bourque - appears headed down the same path as Bourgault.

I only had about 5 minutes to reasearch that, but it would seem that Shawinigan saw the opportunity to retool what would have been a weakened lineup using the haul of picks and the player they just got

The other thing is that they went all in for this year given that the Q had two spots in the Mem Cup with the Sea Dogs hosting.

This is not uncommon in the CHL.

 

[Ace]

I think it’s definitely his last year in the Q. I think Adams wants to really use Rochester as a place to build chemistry with guys and develop people in house. It’s a risk in some cases because that league is physically difficult…and they may be oversimplifying it just because Quinn and Peterka handled it so well…but they’re special players. I look at what appears to be a plan with Rosen and Kisakov and that meat grinder in the AHL is very daunting. But it is where you can control usage and ice time and development. Maybe they’ll utilize Cincinnati in the ECHL if the league is too demanding off the jump. But Nadeau will be bigger than both Kisakov and Rosen and a year older when he goes so maybe im more worried about them.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

What Dex said.

SHA probably projects to be pretty bad next year because CHL teams have very short windows (given the age of players) and they tend to load up a ton, and then suck really badly, and rinse & repeat that cycle again and again. And then they make trades like this to recoup assets they spent loading up.

So I don't follow the 'Q' closely in general, but I'm sure that GAT intends to be a Mem Cup contender next year and that's why they made this trade and they may not be done making such moves. So it's good for us and for Nadeau if he gets a shot to be a leader on another deep run next year.

Unless you’re London. Then you never have to rebuild.

Of course I can’t complain. My Greyhounds haven’t had to rebuild since Colin Miller was on the team, and that includes them loading up twice to shoot at a Cup.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

I love that Nadeau was outproducing Mavrick Bourque and Xavier Bourgault both first rounders. Just shows that the 2020 draft was full of unicorn sleepers.

 

[jmelm]

I love that Nadeau was outproducing Mavrick Bourque and Xavier Bourgault both first rounders. Just shows that the 2020 draft was full of unicorn sleepers.

Yes, but he'll also never be nearly as good as either (especially Bourque). It's why the art of projecting is so important...and a true art.

I do love Nadeau though, so don't get me wrong. But his upside is probably a really good 3rd/4th line energy & net-front PP guy, similar to the role Pat Maroon or maybe the "last few years Corey Perry" played. Highly unlikely he'll be a top 6 forward, and that's perfectly ok.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]