SYDNEY, N.S. — The Cape Breton Eagles will have lots of players in their depth chart following this year’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft.
For the second-straight year, the Eagles will have 18 draft picks entering the QMJHL Entry Draft, which will begin with the first-round Friday night.
Cape Breton used all 18 picks at last year’s draft, restocking the cupboards for the future, but Eagles general manager Jacques Carrière doesn’t believe having too many picks is an issue.
“It’s going to make for a competitive training camp,” said Carrière. “I think our top six will be pretty good and then there’s going to be some room on the bottom six and there’s going to be some good, healthy competition for guys this year.”
The Eagles will have six picks in the first five rounds, including a pair of selections in the third and fifth rounds. The team also has two picks in the sixth and 12th rounds, along with having three picks in the seventh round.
Cape Breton’s first selection of the draft is expected to take place at No. 17, a position the team had at last year’s draft and used to select defenceman Jérémy Langlois.
Carrière, who said this year’s draft is deep for defencemen, admitted there are challenges with having a pick late in the opening round, noting his hockey staff and scouts met for three-and-a-half hours Tuesday night discussing scenarios for the pick.
“We have five names that are pegged for that pick but is it possible that all five of those names are depleted by the time we get there?” said Carrière, noting his hockey staff will be spread out in Quebec and the Maritimes on draft day because of COVID-19.
“The bad thing about picking No. 17 is that there’s 16 players that are going to be picked ahead of you.”
As of now, Carrière said he’s expecting to make all 18 selections, but noted things may change on draft day.
“There’s a couple of teams who have reached out to us,” he said. “There’s a team looking for mid-round picks and there’s a team looking for late-round picks, so we’ll see how it goes.”
“It’s going to make for a competitive training camp,” — Cape Breton Eagles general manager Jacques Carrière
The Eagles always have a strategy heading into the draft, one Carrière hopes will continue to work as it has in previous years.
“I think Rounds 1-3 you pick the best player available and then you have to fill the needs,” said Carrière. “If it’s always a defenceman that’s the best player available, you can’t end up leaving the draft with 18 defencemen.”
One spot the Eagles won’t have to fill is the team’s starting goaltender. Carrière confirmed 18-year-old William Grimard has been told he will be the club’s No. 1 netminder next season.
“We have high hopes for him,” said Carrière of the NHL draft-eligible Grimard. “Our goalie coaches really like him and we think he’s progressed well last year.”
Aside from Kevin Mandolese, whose availability for major junior next season is unknown with the uncertainty of hockey at the professional level, other goaltenders currently property of the Eagles are Ewan MacDonald, Jack Cashen and Kenzie MacPhail.
In the American draft last June, the Eagles selected goaltender Conor Sullivan with the No. 12 pick, however, when asked Wednesday about the possibility he will report next season, Carrière said “I don’t think so.”
The first-round of the league’s first-ever virtual draft will take place Friday at 7:30 p.m. Fans can watch the opening round live online. Meanwhile, Rounds 2-14 are slated for Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.
