2019-20 CHL Season in Review: Top Rookies
With the 2019-20 campaign concluded, the Canadian Hockey League is reviewing many of the season’s top performers including standout rookies.
Wright’s exceptional season
Kingston Frontenacs freshman centre Shane Wright used the 2019-20 campaign to show why he is truly exceptional.
The fifth player in OHL history and the sixth all-time across the circuit to be granted exceptional player status, Wright put together an impressive inaugural campaign that saw him lead all first years in scoring above a point-per-game pace with 39 goals and 27 assists across 58 appearances, putting him ahead of elite company and former exceptional talents like Erie Otters graduate Connor McDavid whose first season saw him notch as many points but doing so in five more contests. A projected early selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, Wright’s performance this season helped the Frontenacs mark a 12-point improvement from a year ago prior to the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around the CHL, other top rookie point producers included Czech native and Winnipeg ICE right-wing Michal Teply, a Chicago Blackhawks prospect and the fourth-overall pick from the 2019 CHL Import Draft who led all WHL freshmen with 63 points. In the QMJHL, top honours belonged to Moncton Wildcats left-wing and 2021 NHL Draft hopeful Zachary L’Heureux who put together an impressive first season in scoring just shy of a point-per-game pace with 20 goals and 33 assists through 55 showings.
Franchise record for Wright
Not only did the exceptional Shane Wright top the charts among rookie point producers, but helping him do so was his ability to fill the net with regularity, putting up 39 goals on the season to lead all CHL rookies, nine more than the next highest freshman goal scorer.
On seven occasions this season, Wright came up with a multi-goal performance including his first career hat-trick as part of a season-high four-point night coming in a 6-1 road victory versus the Flint Firebirds in late February. By season’s end, Wright stood at 39 goals, putting him three ahead of the franchise’s all-time mark for goals by a rookie set by Bernie Nicholls during the 1979-80 campaign. In all, Wright finished 12th among all OHL goal scorers in a season that also included other impressive feats like a six-game goal streak coming through mid-December.
Across the circuit, other top goal-scoring freshmen included now 17-year-old Zachary Bolduc of the Rimouski Oceanic who was one of just three skaters on his club to reach the 30-goal plateau this season. Meanwhile, leading the way in the WHL was Michal Teply of the Winnipeg ICE and Logan Stankoven of the Kamloops Blazers, both of whom finished with 29 goals, with the former needing only 53 appearances to meet that mark.
Belliveau brings it from back end
In finishing the season with 42 assists, Isaac Belliveau of the Rimouski Oceanic led all CHL first years in the helper column, but making the feat even more impressive is that he did it as a defenceman.
Furthermore, Belliveau needed little time to adjust to the major junior ranks as he finished the first two months of regular-season action well above a point-per-game pace with five goals and 17 assists in only 17 appearances. In all, Belliveau wraps up 2019-20 with 12 multi-point performances including a season-high four-point showing coming in a 10-8 road win versus the Val-d’Or Foreurs in early December. Eligible for the 2021 NHL Draft, Belliveau is a dynamic, new-age offensive blue-liner whose first season saw him finish tied for second among all QMJHL rearguards and just five points back of Saint John’s William Villeneuve for top spot.
Elsewhere, other top playmakers included Michal Teply of the Winnipeg ICE as well as Jacob Dion of the Drummondville Voltigeurs who both clocked in at 34 assists, with Teply doing so in only 53 contests. From the OHL, top honours went to another blue-liner in Brandt Clarke of the Barrie Colts, the fourth-overall pick from the 2019 OHL Priority Selection whose first season saw him tally 32 assists through 57 appearances.
Belliveau leads blue line brigade
Once again at the top of the leaderboard for first year defencemen was Isaac Belliveau of the Rimouski Oceanic who wrapped up 2019-20 with an impressive 53-point showing across 62 appearances.
Finishing fourth in team scoring, Belliveau’s dazzling season counted a host of highlights including an eight-game point streak through October in which he accumulated two goals and 11 assists for 13 points, including back-to-back three-assist showings coming against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
Among rookie rearguards, Belliveau finished with a two-point edge on fellow freshman Jacob Dion of the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who put up 17 goals and 34 assists through 63 contests in 2019-20. In the WHL, top honours went to Carson Larson of the Winnipeg ICE, the second-overall pick from the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft who led all league first-year rearguards with eight goals and 24 assists for 32 points across 57 appearances.