Dream Season Leads Huberdeau to the NHL Entry Draft
An extraordinary year is one way to describe the last 12 months for Jonathan Huberdeau and his teammates, the Saint John Sea Dogs.
After completing a tremendous season where he set individual single season records in assists (62) and points (105) along with a plus-59 mark that was also best throughout the QMJHL, Huberdeau and his Saint John Sea Dogs’ teammates took home some serious hardware.
The franchise earned their first President Cup as QMJHL Champions before becoming the first team from Atlantic Canada to win the MasterCard Memorial Cup in its 93-year history. Huberdeau led the way with three goals and three assists to claim the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP.
Just a few days after celebrating a national championship, even after a long season that saw the forward play 90 games and rise to number three on NHL Central Scouting rankings among North American skaters, Huberdeau shifted his focus to the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and headed to the Scouting Combine in Toronto where he would interview with NHL teams and face gruelling tests such as the V02 Max, Bench Press and Grip tests to name a few.
“They have tests I need to do, I’ll do them,” a confident Huberdeau told NHL.com before the Combine. “I’m not going to say because I played in the Memorial Cup I won’t do it. I’ll do it. Doesn’t matter what happens.”
Spoken like a true competitor, Huberdeau did not shy away from the challenge and finished ranked in the top-10 in three different tests and appears ready to take the next step in his career.
Huberdeau recently got a taste of what his future could hold while in attendance at Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Boston’s TD Garden along with the other top draft eligible players including number one ranked Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Red Deer Rebels, number two ranked Gabriel Landeskog of the Kitchener Rangers, and the fourth ranked Dougie Hamilton of the Niagara IceDogs.
The boys were given the royal treatment with a full day of activities planned for them in Boston. As well as sitting in on a Bruins practice and taping a segment for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada with Don Cherry, Huberdeau got to meet some Bruins after their pre game skate including Tyler Seguin who was in the same situation last season with the Plymouth Whalers before being selected second overall.
Experiencing what a true media scrum is like in the NHL, Huberdeau also got the chance to meet a fellow French speaking Canadian on the Bruins, Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron’s advice: “It’s always a tough week (leading up to the draft), but once it’s over it’s all good from there.” Bergeron went on to say “Top four, you guys should be OK” and to “have fun”, serving as a reminder to Huberdeau and his entourage that they have something special to look forward to and to enjoy while it lasts because it will only happen once in their careers.
With the draft less than two weeks away Huberdeau aims to be highest QMJHL player chosen since Sidney Crosby was drafted first overall in 2005, while fellow teammates Tomas Jurco, Zack Phillips, Nathan Beaulieu, Scott Oke and Ryan Tesnik all have a very good chance of being taken in the first round of this year’s draft.
With a dream season on the ice already behind them, the Memorial Cup winning Saint John Sea Dogs look like they will be well represented in Minnesota June 24-25, and you can certainly believe that Huberdeau and his fellow teammates will once again have something to celebrate.