Our 18 | THREE QUESTIONS ON THE BAIE-COMEAU DRAKKAR

Our 18 | THREE QUESTIONS ON THE BAIE-COMEAU DRAKKAR

• What’s will last year’s regular season champs do for an encore?

Last year, the Drakkar was expected to take the next step towards contention. But nobody expected the team to make a giant leap to the top of the standings and a berth in the 2024 Gilles-Courteau Trophy Final. With much of last year’s top tier squad back, the sky’s the limit for an organization still in search of its first playoff crown. Up front, 2024 Carolina Hurricanes draftee Justin Poirier will take aim at bettering his league-leading 51-goal output from last campaign, while Raoul Boilard begins his sophomore campaign after being selected by the New York Rangers at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. Also up front is Jérémy Leroux, who makes his way from Chicoutimi, where he honed his offensive game and stands to replace the offensive depth lost by the Drakkar’s graduating players. The third Baie-Comeau player to hear his name called at this summer’s NHL Draft was defenseman Alexis Bernier, chosen by the Seattle Kraken. He will be a force at the blue line.

• How will the tandem tending the twine turn out?

When a training camp trade sent veteran Charles-Edward Gravel to Saint John, the landscape between the pipes in Baie-Comeau took on a vastly different look. Lucas Beckman, a 2023 QMJHL second rounder, was an impressive 7-1-0-0 in limited duty last season. He’s added to this by gaining valuable time between the pipes with Team Canada’s gold medal winning entry at the 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Edmonton, over the summer. On the same day as the Gravel deal, the Drakkar picked up Mathys Routhier from Sherbrooke. Routhier picked up six victories in his first full QMJHL campaign with the Phoenix in 2023-24. Though new to extensive duty in the ‘Q’, this duo should be able to break in smoothly thanks to a strong team defence game that’s become a staple under Head Coach Jean-François Grégoire.

• What should we expect from the new European duo?

It’s been an embarrassment of riches the past couple of years, with defenseman Niks Fenenko developing into a complete two-way threat on the blue line and Matyas Melovsky laying out – and converting – perfect passes on the Drakkar’s top line. It’s time to pass the torch, quite fittingly, to another forward and defenseman hoping to make an impact in Baie-Comeau. Recently arrived to camp is Oliver Samson, a Czech blueliner who averaged a point per game on Sparta Prague’s Under-20 squad last season. Meanwhile, Anton Linde will likely hit the ground running when he arrives. Actually, he’ll be hitting everything that moves. A physical force, the 18-year-old was named the best player on Team Denmark at last year’s Division I World Junior Hockey Championship.

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2023-2024 Stats: