QMJHL maritime division preview: Can the division favourites please stand up?

Yahoo’s Buzzing the Net will preview the upcoming 2014-15 QMJHL season, going division by division and asking the biggest question of each team. Here is the Maritime Division preview. The West preview is available here, and the East Division preview is available here. The season opens on Wednesday with the Val-d’Or Foreurs hosting the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Teams here are listed in predicted order of finish, from first to last.

Moncton Wildcats – 2013-14 record: 33-32-0-3 for 69 points; Division finish: 3rd; Result: Lost to Blainville-Boisbriand in first round;

Can the Wildcats build a QMJHL team built entirely of foreign players?

That would be a feat, but the Wildcats do have five American-born players on their roster opening night. They took eight Americans in the 2014 draft for the second year in a row. You could be excused if you thought that was the plan.

They could dress a top-6 forward core with only one Canadian in it. Russians Ivan Barbashev and Vladimir Tkachev will be the best Russian duo in the league, and Conor Garland could be joined by Cameron Askew and Liam Murphy on the top two lines, leaving Christophe Lalonde the lone canuck.

This is a team that could conceivably win the division, but there are holes. Offensively they are deep but not to the level of Quebec, Rimouski or even Chicoutimi. Defensively, there are question marks. Jacob Sweeney, Adam Holwell and Garrett Johnston are back to anchor, but none of those three are a true top pairing guy. Alex Dubeau returns for his 20-year-old season to single-handedly win games once more.

Cape Breton Screaming Eagles – 2013-14 record: 37-27-1-3 for 78 points; Division finish: 2nd; Result: Lost to Gatineau in the first round;

Will the Screaming Eagles build on their unexpected ninth place finish from a year ago?

The two Russian players, Evgeni Svechnikov and Maxim Lazarev, will be great together. The addition of Svechnikov boosts a good offence. Behind them, this is a hard-working team. Veterans Kyle Farrell and Charles-Eric Légaré will lead the group of blue-collar workers.

The reality is that this is a young team. Three 20-year-olds and four 19-year-olds, and one of each are goalies. Only Matthew Nosella is 19 or older on the back end. The team would look much better if Arizona decides to send back Justin Haché for one last kick at the can as an overage defenceman.

François Brassard was a great pickup, and will have a really good overage season after his rights were let go by his hometown team, the Ottawa Senators. He will be in front of a good team defence, even though the defensive corps is very young.

Halifax Mooseheads – 2013-14 record: 47-18-0-3 for 97 points; Division finish: 1st; Result: Lost to Val-d'Or in the third round;

Can Zach Fucale physically will a team to the top of the division?

In this division it’s possible, though it would require a Herculean effort to do. It would secure Fucale’s legacy as a QMJHL legend. This Mooseheads team is a shadow of it’s former self, gutted of the stars of yesteryear, Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin, Martin Frk, Luca Ciampini.

Nikolai Ehlers is still here, along with Ryan Falkenham, Philippe Cadoury and Timo Meier to lead the offence. Matt Murphy and Austyn Hardie form a decent top pairing, and Jesse Lussier some depth on the back end.

They do have a lot of 19-year-olds up front, and maybe they catch lightning in a bottle. Fucale in back assures every game will be close. That might be all they need.

Charlottetown Islanders – 2013-14 record: 21-39-3-5 for 50 points; Division finish: 5th; Result: Lost to Halifax in first round;

Can the Islanders finally win a round in the playoffs?

They will be hard-pressed this year. They do bring back most of the team from last season, but they are in rebuilding mode. Second year players Daniel Sprong and Alexnadre Goulet will grow and be even better this year, and veterans Ross Johnston and Oliver Cooper will surround them with good support, but there’s not a lot of offence on this team. They will have a difficult time scoring again.

They have great prospects on the blue line, but they aren’t ready for the prime time minutes yet. Ryan MacKinnon and Dexter Weber will help in this area. Luc Deschênes, David Henley and Will Thompson all have good potential.

Mason McDonald will get his first shot as a starter and carry the momentum of being the first goalie drafted in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft this year. He’s got his work cut out for him.

Acadie-Bathurst Titan – 2013-14 record: 22-40-4-2 for 50 points; Division finish: 4th; Result: Lost to Val-d’Or in first round;

Who is going to score for the Titan?

Who knows.

The Titan at least have a couple intriguing prospects. Nathan Medeiros had a killer pre-season. Blueliners Guillaume Brisebois and Nicolas Dumulong will be pressed into action, and should take big steps forward. But their top returning scorer last year, Christophe Boivin, had 29 points.

Andrew Ryan and his 55 points from Halifax will help immensely, as will Raphaël Corriveau’s 38 points in Cape Breton, but they have no one who can carry the offence. It will be another trying year for the Titan, but at least they have some future.

Saint John Sea Dogs – 2013-14 record: 19-44-2-3 for 43 points; Division finish: 6th; Result: Missed the playoffs;

Will Sébastien Auger survive the year with all the pucks coming his way?

This will be a trying year for the Sea Dogs. Year two of a big rebuild. Nathan Noel and Juraj Siska will lead the offence and it will be a long winter at Harbour Station.

Sébastien Auger is back as a 20-year-old, basically to prevent games from getting too far out of hand. He is one of the most underrated goalies in the league and could earn a free agent contract simply keeping this team in games.

The Sea Dogs have some intriguing free agents they got over the summer. OHL retreads Mitchell Dempsey and overager Taylor Fielding are a couple, but there’s a lot of young players and not a lot of veterans or proven players in the fold. It doesn’t look good on paper for the team from the Port City.

Mike Sanderson is Buzzing the Net’s QMJHL contributor. Find him on twitter at @mikersanderson.