QMJHL Awards: the picture becomes clearer
The QMJHL regular season comes to a close this Saturday. Here’s an overview of the ongoing battles for the main individual honours.
Patrick-Roy Trophy (top goaltender)
This is undoubtedly the most interesting and tightest race. Mathis Rousseau of the Halifax Mooseheads and William Rousseau of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies seem to stand out from the pack. But who will win?
Mathis leads the QMJHL with a 2.24 GAA and .925 save percentage, and is third in both wins (30-8-4-0) and shutouts (5).
William just set a QMJHL record with his eighth shutout and leads the league with 33 wins (33-10-1-4). He is also second in goals against average (2.27) and save percentage (.923).
With four days left before the end of the season, nothing is decided between the two!
The Canadian Hockey League’s top goaltender last season, Nathan Darveau, of the Victoriaville Tigres, is enjoying yet another terrific campaign: 29-14-2-0, 2.62 (6th), .918 (3rd) and 5 shutouts (3rd). But that’s likely not going to be enough to get ahead of either Rousseau.
The most-used goaltender in the league, Charles-Edward Gravel of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar, could also be one of the three finalists for the Patrick-Roy Trophy, with his 31 wins (2nd), 2.45 GAA (4th) and .911 save percentage (5th), but his two shutouts could work against him.
Samuel St-Hilaire of the Sherbrooke Phoenix may be third in goals against average (2.31) and fourth in save percentage (.917), but the fact that he’s 11th in wins (18) and 15th in minutes played could keep him off the podium.
So, Mathis or William Rousseau? That’s the question.
Émile-Bouchard Trophy (top defenseman)
Several candidates are in the running for the title of top defenseman, including Vsevolod Komarov of the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Jérémy Langlois of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.
Komarov leads all blueliners with 64 points (13-51) and has maintained an excellent +42 differential.
Langlois has similar statistics, with 62 points (17-45) and a +41 differential. No one has scored more often than him among the d-men!
Brady Schultz of the Mooseheads (9-47 and +3) is the only other defenseman with more than 50 points.
Pier-Olivier Roy of the Victoriaville Tigres could join the group by season’s end, with 49 points (10-39) and an excellent +40 rating.
Brayden Schmitt of the Cape Breton Eagles (46 points and +25), Niks Fenenko of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar (44 points and +36) and Mikaël Diotte, also of the Voltigeurs (40 points and +51, most among defensemen) could also find themselves among the three finalists for the Émile-Bouchard Trophy.
Rookie of the Year
With four days to go before the end of the season, it’s anyone’s guess who will win the Rookie of the Year award.
Raoul Boilard of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar leads all first-year players with 59 points (22-37), five more than Émile Guité (25-29) of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens.
Julius Sumpf of the Moncton Wildcats follows with 52 points (20-32), one more than teammate Caleb Desnoyers (17-31), selected first overall at the 2023 QMJHL Entry Draft.
The fact that Guité and Desnoyers are 16-year-old rookies, unlike Boilard and Sumpf, could work in their favor.
Defensemen Xavier Villeneuve of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Alex Huang, also of the Saguenéens, are the leading candidates for the Raymond-Lagacé Trophy, awarded to the defensive rookie of the year. But could this also earn them the title of Rookie of the Year? We’ll see.
Villeneuve, the seventh pick in the most recent draft, already has 43 points (8-35), while Huang totals 33 (8-25). Both are already key components for their respective teams.
Zach Pelletier of the Gatineau Olympiques, the only rookie goaltender to surpass 2,000 minutes and 40 games played, could be another prime candidate for the Raymond-Lagacé Trophy.
Jean-Béliveau Trophy (top scorer)
It’s not set in stone yet, but it’s close. Antonin Verreault of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies should win the Jean-Béliveau Trophy as the QMJHL’s top scorer.
Verreault has 102 points (32-70), six more than Justin Gill (38-58) of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. The Husky has three games left to play, compared to only two for Gill, who is in his final year in the league.
Verreault, drafted second overall by the Olympiques in 2020, is finally playing up to his talent, after three injury-riddled seasons in Gatineau (only 125 games). He was limited to just 38 games last year.
In his first season in Rouyn, he’s on pace to eclipse the total amount of points he registered in Gatineau, which is 104!
Mario-Lemieux Trophy (top goal scorer)
This race is also pretty much settled, with Justin Poirier of the Drakkar eight goals ahead of Markus Vidicek of the Mooseheads (50 vs. 42).
Poirier made news over the weekend by becoming the first 17-year-old to score 50 goals in the QMJHL since Sidney Crosby 19 years ago.
The fourth overall pick from 2022, Poirier has progressed tremendously well (78 points) following his 28 goals and 48 points during his rookie year.
At 5’8″ and 190 lbs, his scoring touch could see him get selected earlier than many experts think in the next NHL Draft, as he is currently ranked 73rd among North American skaters.
Mathieu Cataford (39), also of the Mooseheads, Justin Gill (38), also of the Drakkar, Jérémie Minville (38), of the Olympiques, and Yoan Loshing (37), of the Wildcats, are all hoping to reach the 40-goal plateau by the end of the season.