QMJHL Draft Preview: Cape Breton to take ‘by far the best player available’ in Nicolas Roy

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles won’t leave any question to which player they are taking first overall in the 2013 QMJHL Entry Draft Saturday in Chicoutimi, Que.

That pick will be used on 6’3” forward Nicolas Roy, who head coach and general manager Marc-Andre Dumont called by far the best player available. He also said that Roy is a franchise player, and has Mario Lemieux’s poise with the puck.

Roy had 33 points, including 17 goals, in an injury-shortened 27 games for Amos in the Quebec Midget AAA ranks this season. He was awarded the Mario Lemieux trophy as the best 15-year-old prospect available.

Roy will make the third draft in a row that a forward was taken first overall, along with Sherbrooke’s Daniel Audette last year and Halifax’s superstar Nathan MacKinnon in 2011. The last non-forward selected first overall in the QMJHL draft was defenceman Dillon Fournier selected by the now-defunct Lewiston MAINEiacs in the 2010 edition of the draft.

Roy is reportedly considering the NCAA route, but that won’t scare away the Screaming Eagles. Cape Breton will receive the No. 5 overall pick in 2014 if Roy doesn’t report to the team and decides to go to an NCAA school. If his rights are traded between Sept. 5 and 15, 2013, then Cape Breton will receive a pick at the end of the second round, along with their assets acquired in a trade.

This new legislation is directly aimed at increasing the incentive for all teams, regardless of market or location, to take the best players available, regardless of preferred destinations or country of origin, and to decrease the number of back-room deals with players choosing their fate by faking NCAA plans to other teams.

Starting in 2003 with Rimouski claiming Sidney Crosby, the QMJHL first overall pick has produced three NHL players (and bona fide NHL player MacKinnon) in the last nine years. San Jose Shark James Sheppard and fellow Penguin Simon Despres have both suited up for regular NHL duty and were top choices in the QMJHL draft. However, 2009 produced Olivier Archambault, recently released of his rights by the Montreal Canadiens, so it’s not all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows.

But the Screaming Eagles hope to score big on Roy, who they think will fit in very well with their present group of 1996-born prospects, which includes Clark Bishop, Zach Moody and Timothé Simard, who all took regular shifts with the big club last season.

Another Roy, defenceman Jeremy Roy of Antoine-Girouard in Quebec Midget AAA is ranked second overall in the QMJHL Central Scouting Rankings (.pdf), and Newfoundlander Nathan Noel is ranked third, out of Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school in Minnesota.

Anthony Beauviller and Jason Bell, both Quebec Midget products, round out the top five. The top goaltender in the rankings is Callum Booth, slated as a second-rounder. To note, QMJHL Central Scouting doesn’t divide goaltenders and other players in separate lists. Also, the list doesn’t have American players listed amongst the rounds, only at the back.

After Cape Breton, the top five heading into the draft is the Shawinigan Cataractes at no. 2, the Saint John Sea Dogs at no. 3, the Sherbrooke Phoenix at no. 4 and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at no. 5. Each team will likely go for the best player available.

The Val-d’Or Foreurs and the Gatineau Olympiques both have three picks in the first round. Val-d’Or is slated to pick at ninth, 10^th and 14^th, while Gatineau holds the sixth, 16^th and 19^th overall picks. J-F Plante of Le Droit speculates that Julien Gauthier, ranked 9^th, or Daniel Sprong, ranked 6^th, could be picked by the Olympiques, but they could also be in the market for a defenceman.

The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, the Halifax Mooseheads, the Moncton Wildcats, the Quebec Remparts, the Rimouski Oceanic and the Victoriaville Tigres will all sit out the first round Saturday barring a trade, where there certainly will be several.

Plante reported that the Titan have received many calls from the teams without picks in the first round about their second first-rounder, slotted at 8^th overall. As well, the bottom two of Gatineau’s picks are on the table to either help them move up or down, or acquire a roster player or two. Gatineau falls from three picks in the first to a pick in the sixth, possessing no picks from the second to the fifth round.

Val-d’Or is more likely to hang on to their picks or trade to gather more, as they look to kick-start a restocking effort.

The QMJHL trading period opens up Friday for the draft, prompting lots of mid-season trading period deals to be completed. Players will be flying from team to team, some decided long before the draft in trading deadline deals for picks-as-placeholders.

It’s already confirmed that Ross Johnston of the Moncton Wildcats will be moving to Victoriaville to complete the Philip Danault deal, and that Halifax’s Matthew Boudreau will be moving to Shawinigan, and that Blainville-Boisbriand has traded their problem child, Stefan Matteau Jr., to Rimouski. Other deals are rumoured to be completed for Friday as well.

Cape Breton, though, will not likely make too many moves on Saturday, unless it’s to make their team deeper. Dumont said he wants to make smart moves for the team now and in the future, but also to “build on the group we have” on Cape Breton Island.

And their new centerpiece is big Nicolas Roy.