The ever-so-mysterious calendar year 2020 will be one for the history books to be sure. In the age of the SARS–CoV–2 pandemic ravaging our dear planet, hockey fans both in the GHL and the NHL experienced the 2019-2020 season in an unprecedently bizarre fashion. As the NHL announced the cancellation of the remainder of its regular season, the GHL’s Moncton Acadians were officially declared this year’s champions in the most unconvential way back in late May. It’s safe to say it’s the first and last time we will ever see a fantasy hockey champion who didn’t actually and properly *win* the final matchup of the season. But that’s not all. The NHL announced on the same day that the Stanley Cup playoffs would take place over the summer, much to the delight of hockey fans. Yes, that’s right, there would be playoff hockey in the month of August. Let’s just take a moment to let that fully sink in once and for all.
The 24-team tournament was played in a bubble, on a hectic schedule and in front of not a single soul in the stands, only adding to the oddity of the whole process. Ultimately, the Tampa Bay Lightning were crowned the 2020 Cup Champions in late September after grinding it out for 25 games against four fierce opponents, including avenging last year’s sweep at the mercy of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Keeper defenseman Victor Hedman of the Moncton Acadians was the recipient of the prized Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs, but many argued Brayden Point (and maybe even Nikita Kucherov) had a strong case for winning it too.
This series of never-before-seen events have led to a postponement of the 2020-21 season, the GHL’s 5th anniversary, including its second annual Prospect Draft, which is set to commence on Thursday, October 8th at 4pm EST. This comes the day after the completion of the 2020 NHL Draft, which is set to begin today at 7pm EST.
The long-awaited Prospect Draft marks the beginning of a busy off-season in the GHL and many burning questions on how it will unfold are still unanswered as of yet. While there is a great deal of pressure on managers around the league, it is also a very exciting time for many of them as they prepare their draft boards and ponder on which young players they will be selecting to be part of their future. The inaugural draft was filled with young stars, including Calder trophy winner Cale Makar of the freshly relocated Nashville Gutters and Quinn Hughes of the Thurso Raie. Honourable mentions go to Dominik Kubalik (MSH), Elvis Merzlikins (MSH), Nick Suzuki (GAT), Adam Fox (THU) and Victor Olofsson (VAL), who all showed signs of potential stardom in their respective rookie seasons.
The Acadians are leading the pack with a whopping 8 picks, including 3 picks in the top 11. Nepean is following them closely with a decent total of 6 picks in the 5 rounds of the draft. Quantity is one thing, but what about quality? St-Hubert and Compton, the bottom two teams in the league last year, have picks 1 & 6 and 2 & 5 respectively. F
While there is a general consensus on the St-Hubert Jets selecting Alexis Lafrenière with the #1 overall pick, the order in which Quinton Byfield and Tim Stützle are picked with the 2nd and 3rd selections is still very much unclear. Many believe the Compton Rough Riders are excited about the Ottawa Senators‘ future and that they will pick whoever the Sens pick at #3. Logically, this would mean the Nepean Napalm would be left with the Los Angeles Kings‘ player. Beyond that pick, it’s nothing but a wide open guessing game. From Swedish sensation Lucas Raymond, to Canadian smooth-skating D Jamie Drysdale, to Leafs sniper Nick Robertson who went undrafted in last year’s draft, there is a wide array of players who could be drafted in picks 4-10 of this draft. The top echelon of this draft is said to be one of the best in many years.
Our very own Pierre LeBrun published his Round One Mock Draft yesterday, giving his two cents on what we might see come Thursday evening.
In this simulation, St-Hubert, Compton and Moncton add a pair of promising young stars, with the two first teams adding a pair of blue chip prospects. Alexis Lafrienière is said to be a franchise-altering keeper player and Jamie Drysdale is projected to be a future first-pairing blueliner who could QB a first PP unit. That would be quite the haul for the Jets, who can already count on a myriad of young guns in Elias Pettersson, Rasmus Dahlin, Jack Hughes and Kappo Kakko, among others. In Compton’s case, they could be adding a super-skilled top line forward with blazing speed in German prodigy Tim Stützle and a small-but-mighty playmaking centre from Austria in Marco Rossi.
Moncton gets two quality players as well in high-IQ center Cole Perfetti and possibly Connor McMichael, who was drafted by Washington and had a stellar season in his Draft+1 year, or Russian machine Yaro Askarov, who is said to be the best goaltending prospect since Carey Price. GM MacKinnon addressed the Cole Perfetti possibility in a pre-draft press conference and said he was very impressed with not only the young Canadian’s offensive ability, but also his professionalism. He said Perfetti exemplifies ”what (Moncton) looks for in a player”.
Another interesting pick is Nick Robertson to the Masham Scrappers, whose brother is already drafted by them. Robertson is already an NHL talent and showed he could compete in the big leagues in the 2020 playoffs with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The young sniper with a killer release scored a mind-boggling 55 goals in 46 games with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL this past season.
While the picks are one component of the draft, trades could also take place. Thanks to the reporting done by our insiders, here’s what we know about the trade talks in the GHL so far:
- Moncton is not moving up in the first round after multiple attempts. They will instead look at packaging two later picks for one earlier pick in rounds 2 or 3, according to GM MacKinnon. (Source)
- St-Hubert got an offer from Moncton for pick #6 but nothing came out of that. (Source)
- Compton is staying put as well. They never considered a move. They will be picking a Senators prospect, according to multiple reports. (Source)
- More to come in this section as we find out more.
This will be a crazy few days, between the NHL draft, the GHL Prospect Draft and Free Agency. Buckle up folks.
GHL GAZETTE 