Inside the Numbers for Week #20

Having collected points in each of their last 15 games, the Saint John Sea Dogs find themselves in 1^st place in the Maritime division. Nikolas Brouillard (Rouyn-Noranda), on the doorstep of 250 career points, is among QMJHL’s all-time great offensive defensemen. How many former Q players are among the NHL’s top-50 scorers? Read on!

UNSTOPPABLE TRAJECTORY

• Saint John (68 points in 49 games) – with an almost flawless record (13-0-2-0) since December 18^th, the Sea dogs, who on that date were 10 points behind the Wildcats in division standings, now find themselves 1 point ahead. On Wednesday they inflicted a 4-1 loss on those same Wildcats (67 points in 52 games) to take the Maritime lead. What’s more, Danny Flynn’s troupe have the advantage of three games in hand over Moncton. Being first in their division has helped them go from 6^th to 3^rd in the overall standings.

Longest Stretch with at Least 1 Point by the Saint John Sea Dogs (Streaks of no regulation losses)
Rank	Season	From	To	Record
1	2009-10	09-10-17	09-12-12	22
2	2010-11	10-12-31	11-02-25	21
3	2011-12	12-01-14	12-03-09	18
4	2010-11	10-10-23	10-12-08	17
5	2015-16	15-12-18	16-02-03	15

THE BEST OFFENSIVE DEFENSEMEN

• The 4 best offensive Defensive corps – in the chart below, you will learn who had the best offensive defense squads in QMJHL history.
• Rouyn-Noranda (137 points) – that’s the total generated by the Huskies’ highest scoring defensemen so far this season. We’re talking about Nikolas Brouillard, Jérémy Lauzon, Philippe Myers and Allan Caron. This foursome also takes 1^st place for average points per game, with a collective .88. With 42, they have also scored the most combined goals. What’s even more, this top group of 4 has a +/- or +94, surpassing their Foreurs rivals (Galipeau, Pyrochta, Tremblay, Henley) who are at +65. It should be noted that the majority of Nikolas Brouillard’s stats are from the the first half of the season when he played with the Quebec Remparts.
• Shawinigan and Saint John – The Cataractes (123 points | Girard, Fitzgerald, Welsh, Fortin) and the Sea Dogs (107 points | Murphy, Chabot, Green, Zboril) follow behind with their ‘Top-4’ D who produce the most offense.
• A productive duo – If you were to pair the two best scorers from the defence corps of every club, it would be the duo of Samuel Girard and Cavan Fitzgerald (Shawinigan) that would take top honours with their 87 points. This Wednesday, Samuel Girard led all league defensemen with 49 points (he now has 50). Acquired by trade like Brouillard, part of Fitzgerald’s production was with his former team, The Halifax Mooseheads.

BEST GROUPS OF 4 DEFENSEMEN FROM EVERY TEAM
The following stats were accurate as of Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016.
AGE	TOP 4 – DEFENSEMEN (POINTS)	TM	GP	G	A	Pts	PGA	+/-
20	Nikolas Brouillard	Rou	36	14	32	46	1,28	15
18	Jérémy Lauzon	Rou	29	5	30	35	1,21	26
18	Philippe Myers	Rou	47	13	21	34	0.72	30
20	Allan Caron	Rou	43	10	12	22	0.51	23
	HUSKIES	ROU	155	42	95	137	0.88	94
17	Samuel Girard	Sha	47	6	43	49	1,04	14
19	Cavan Fitzgerald	Sha	46	13	25	38	0.83	4
18	Nicholas Welsh	Sha	48	5	20	25	0.52	17
17	Louis-Philip Fortin	Sha	33	3	8	11	0.33	6
	CATARACTES	SHA	174	27	96	123	0.71	41
20	Matt Murphy	SNB	48	7	31	38	0.79	18
18	Thomas Chabot	SNB	31	8	21	29	0.94	19
17	Luke Green	SNB	43	8	20	28	0.65	14
18	Jakub Zboril	SNB	30	4	8	12	0.4	8
	SEA DOGS	SNB	152	27	80	107	0.7	59
19	Carl Neill	She	47	5	34	39	0.83	-9
18	Jérémy Roy	She	38	6	26	32	0.84	-7
17	Thomas Grégoire	She	47	1	14	15	0.32	-14
19	Julien Bahl	She	50	4	11	15	0.3	-10
	PHOENIX	SHE	182	16	85	101	0.55	-40
18	Nicolas Meloche	Gat	42	11	17	28	0.67	-10
19	Alexandre Carrier	Gat	41	7	20	27	0.66	8
18	Alex Breton	Gat	50	5	20	25	0.5	14
17	Gabriel Bilodeau	Gat	42	3	10	13	0.31	9
	OLYMPIQUES	GAT	175	26	67	93	0.53	21
19	Olivier LeBlanc	Cap	43	5	24	29	0.67	18
19	Loïk Léveillé	Cap	44	10	19	29	0.66	-2
19	Duncan MacIntyre	Cap	51	1	17	18	0.35	6
20	Alexandre Gosselin	Cap	47	6	9	15	0.32	1
	SCREAMING EAGLES	CAP	185	22	69	91	0.49	23
18	Adam Holwell	Mon	49	6	28	34	0.69	18
19	Cody Donaghey	Mon	33	5	17	22	0.67	-6
20	Austin Kosack	Mon	29	5	14	19	0.66	9
19	Zachary Malatesta	Mon	50	4	12	16	0.32	-12
	WILDCATS	MON	161	20	71	91	0.57	9
18	Olivier Galipeau	VdO	45	6	25	31	0.69	26
19	Filip Pyrochta	VdO	43	1	22	23	0.53	6
20	Carl Tremblay	VdO	50	5	16	21	0.42	28
18	David Henley	VdO	44	2	13	15	0.34	5
	FOREURS	VDO	182	14	76	90	0.49	65
19	Frédéric Aubé	Dru	49	6	31	37	0.76	-13
20	Justin Guénette	Dru	48	5	18	23	0.48	-19
19	Sergei Boikov	Dru	35	5	15	20	0.57	4
19	Kevin Laliberté	Dru	50	3	5	8	0.16	-11
	VOLTIGEURS	DRU	182	19	69	88	0.48	-39
20	Mark Trickett	Bat	44	7	20	27	0.61	-9
20	Garrett Johnston	Bat	48	7	17	24	0.5	12
18	Guillaume Brisebois	Bat	38	6	14	20	0.53	-10
17	Félix Boivin	Bat	37	3	13	16	0.43	2
	TITAN	BAT	167	23	64	87	0.52	-5
18	Frédéric Allard	Chi	47	13	31	44	0.94	-5
20	Elie Bérubé	Chi	48	4	14	18	0.38	9
18	Julien Carignan-Labbé	Chi	42	3	9	12	0.29	1
18	Marc-André Gauvreau	Chi	15	2	6	8	0.53	-3
	SAGUENÉENS	CHI	152	22	60	82	0.54	2
19	Tristan Pomerleau	Vic	47	5	20	25	0.53	1
18	Bradley Lalonde	Vic	43	7	17	24	0.56	2
18	Daniel Krenzelok	Vic	35	2	14	16	0.46	13
18	Vincent Lanoue	Vic	41	3	12	15	0.37	15
	TIGRES	VIC	166	17	63	80	0.48	31
18	Luc Deschênes	Cha	47	2	24	26	0.55	-1
20	Dexter Weber	Cha	38	3	16	19	0.5	4
20	Alexis Vanier	Cha	42	4	13	17	0.4	-6
18	Will Thompson	Cha	49	5	12	17	0.35	-1
	ISLANDERS	CHA	176	14	65	79	0.45	-4
18	Simon Bourque	Rim	47	9	25	34	0.72	-6
18	Andrew Picco	Rim	35	1	14	15	0.43	-1
17	Dominic Cormier	Rim	42	3	11	14	0.33	10
17	Charle-Edouard D`Astous	Rim	44	3	10	13	0.3	0
	OCÉANIC	RIM	168	16	60	76	0.45	3
18	Ross MacDougall	Que	46	9	16	25	0.54	-3
19	Raphaël Maheux	Que	23	1	14	15	0.65	0
20	Anthony Gingras	Que	38	2	11	13	0.34	-1
19	Aaron Dutra	Que	48	3	9	12	0.25	-1
	REMPARTS	QUE	155	15	50	65	0.42	-5
20	Matthieu Desautels	Bac	45	4	22	26	0.58	-42
17	Matteo Pietroniro	Bac	49	7	9	16	0.33	-9
18	Maximilian Glaessl	Bac	45	2	6	8	0.18	-3
19	Samuel Thibault	Bac	49	2	5	7	0.14	-14
	DRAKKAR	BAC	188	15	42	57	0.3	-68
19	TJ Melancon	BLB	49	5	19	24	0.49	-9
17	Pascal Corbeil	BLB	31	4	12	16	0.52	-1
20	Philippe Bureau-Blais	BLB	21	1	8	9	0.43	-4
18	Charlie Roy	BLB	49	1	7	8	0.16	-14
	ARMADA	BLB	150	11	46	57	0.38	-28
18	Taylor Ford	Hal	49	5	10	15	0.31	-14
16	Jocktan Chainey	Hal	29	3	8	11	0.38	-10
20	Zachary Taylor	Hal	41	1	7	8	0.2	3
17	Cooper Jones	Hal	41	1	5	6	0.15	-24
	MOOSEHEADS	HAL	160	10	30	40	0.25	-45

A MODERN RARITY – 250 POINTS FOR A DEFENSEMAN

• Nikolas Brouillard (Rouyn-Noranda | PHOTO above) – The 5’10”, 170 lbs defenseman is in his 5^th season in the QMJHL. With 294 games played in Drummondville, Quebec, and now Rouyn-Noranda, Brouillard has always loved helping to launch the attack. Below you will find listed the impressive record of this 2011-12, Drumondville 4^th round pick.
• Almost 250 points, 200 assists – soon enough the Huskies #14 will reach this offensive milestone. A milestone worthy of celebration and one that has proved hard for a defenseman to reach for a couple of decades now. Brouillard’s current record is 59 goals, 187 assists for 246 points.
• The first in practically 15 years – since the start of the 2000’s, other than Danny Groulx, Brouillard will be the only defenseman to accumulate 250 lifetime points in the QMJHL. Groulx is the all-time champ among defensemen point earners with 332; a mark he reached at the end of the 2001-02 season. Brouillard is also only 5 games off from the 300 games-played club, something that only 40 other defensemen have achieved since the league’s inaugural season of 1969-70.
• 6 points in a game – … 20 games of 3 or more points since 2011-12; he also has 4 hat tricks. His best ever performance came this current season on November 8^th when he earned 6 points in a 10-2 win with the Remparts over Cape Breton.
• 3 professional training camps – San Jose (2013), Winnipeg (2014), Toronto (2015)… These 3 NHL teams gave Brouillard the chance to prove himself in training. He is however still looking for his first professional contract. Having scored 36 of his 59 Junior Major goals with the man advantage (61%), this power play specialist could see his perseverance pay off.

Most Lifetime Points by a QMJHL Defensemen
Rank	Player	Team	Season	Record
1	Danny Groulx	Val-d`Or-Acadie-Bathurst-Victoriaville	1997>>2002	332
2	Billy Campbell	Montreal-Verdun	1980>>1984	321
3	Pierre Sévigny	Trois-Rivières-Chicoutimi-Quebec	1978>>1982	318
4	Robert Picard	Montreal	1973>>1977	313
5	Jean-Marc Richard	Chicoutimi	1983>>1987	301
6	Pierre Lacroix	Quebec-Trois-Rivières	1975>>1979	298
7	Daniel Bock	Chicoutimi-Granby-Shawinigan	1985>>1989	283
8	Stéphane Julien	Trois-Rivières-Sherbrooke	1990>>1995	279
9	Gilbert Delorme	Chicoutimi	1978>>1981	277
10	Gaston Therrien	Quebec	1977>>1980	264
11	Daniel Poulin	Chicoutimi	1973>>1977	258
11	Patrice Brisebois	Laval-Drummondville	1987>>1991	258
13	François Groleau	Shawinigan-St-Jean	1989>>1993	257
14	Steve Gosselin	Chicoutimi	1990>>1994	255
14	Derrick Walser	Beauport-Rimouski	1994>>1998	255
16	Yves Racine	Longueuil-Victoriaville-St-Jean	1986>>1990	252
17	Nikolas Brouillard	Drummondville-Quebec-Rouyn-Noranda	2011>>2016	246
18	David Ezard	Cornwall	1975>>1980	245
18	Stéphane Robidas	Shawinigan	1993>>1997	245
20	Frédéric Bouchard	Granby-Granby-St-Hyacinthe-Rouyn-Noranda-Chicoutimi	1993>>1997	244
21	Louis-Philippe Sévigny	Granby-Victoriaville-Granby-St-Hyacinthe	1993>>1998	242
22	Mark Hardy	Montreal	1975>>1979	235
23	Éric Tremblay	Drummondville	1984>>1989	230
23	Marc-André Bergeron	Baie-Comeau-Shawinigan	1997>>2001	230
25	Éric Brûlé	Chicoutimi	1987>>1991	229
25	Patrick Coulombe	Rimouski-Chicoutimi	2001>>2006	229

Most Lifetime Assists by a QMJHL Defensemen
Rank	Player	Team	Season	Record
1	Danny Groulx	Val-d`Or-Acadie-Bathurst-Victoriaville	1997>>2002	266
2	Pierre Sévigny	Trois-Rivières-Chicoutimi-Quebec	1978>>1982	260
3	Jean-Marc Richard	Chicoutimi	1983>>1987	249
4	Robert Picard	Montreal	1973>>1977	247
5	Pierre Lacroix	Quebec-Trois-Rivières	1975>>1979	227
6	François Groleau	Shawinigan-St-Jean	1989>>1993	222
7	Billy Campbell	Montreal-Verdun	1980>>1984	221
8	Gilbert Delorme	Chicoutimi	1978>>1981	212
8	Yves Racine	Longueuil-Victoriaville-St-Jean	1986>>1990	212
10	Stéphane Julien	Trois-Rivières-Sherbrooke	1990>>1995	204
11	Daniel Bock	Chicoutimi-Granby-Shawinigan	1985>>1989	202
12	Daniel Poulin	Chicoutimi	1973>>1977	200
13	Gaston Therrien	Quebec	1977>>1980	198
14	Patrice Brisebois	Laval-Drummondville	1987>>1991	193
15	Steve Gosselin	Chicoutimi	1990>>1994	192
16	Éric Tremblay	Drummondville	1984>>1989	191
16	Louis-Philippe Sévigny	Granby-Victoriaville-Granby-St-Hyacinthe	1993>>1998	191
18	Nikolas Brouillard	Drummondville-Quebec-Rouyn-Noranda	2011>>2016	187
19	Patrick Coulombe	Rimouski-Chicoutimi	2001>>2006	185
20	Alain Vigneault	Hull-Trois-Rivières	1977>>1981	184
21	Michel Leblanc	Trois-Rivières	1975>>1979	182
21	Stéphane Robidas	Shawinigan	1993>>1997	182
23	Éric Brûlé	Chicoutimi	1987>>1991	177
24	Alfred Arthur	Cornwall	1977>>1981	176
25	Derrick Walser	Beauport-Rimouski	1994>>1998	173

Most Lifetime Goals by a QMJHL Defensemen
Rank	Player	Team	Season	Record
1	Billy Campbell	Montreal-Verdun	1980>>1984	100
2	David Ezard	Cornwall	1975>>1980	94
3	Marc-André Bergeron	Baie-Comeau-Shawinigan	1997>>2001	86
4	Derrick Walser	Beauport-Rimouski	1994>>1998	82
5	Daniel Bock	Chicoutimi-Granby-Shawinigan	1985>>1989	81
6	Stéphane Julien	Trois-Rivières-Sherbrooke	1990>>1995	75
7	Frédéric Bouchard	Granby-Granby-St-Hyacinthe-Rouyn-Noranda-Chicoutimi	1993>>1997	72
8	Pierre Lacroix	Quebec-Trois-Rivières	1975>>1979	71
9	Jonathan Gauthier	Moncton-Rouyn-Noranda	1997>>2001	70
10	Mark Hardy	Montreal	1975>>1979	69
11	Jérôme Gauthier-Leduc	Rouyn-Noranda-Rimouski	2008>>2012	67
12	Robert Picard	Montreal	1973>>1977	66
12	Gaston Therrien	Quebec	1977>>1980	66
12	Danny Groulx	Val-d`Or-Acadie-Bathurst-Victoriaville	1997>>2002	66
12	Sébastien Bisaillon	Val-d`Or	2002>>2007	66
16	Gilbert Delorme	Chicoutimi	1978>>1981	65
16	Patrice Brisebois	Laval-Drummondville	1987>>1991	65
16	Chris Lyness	Rouyn-Noranda-Cape Breton-Quebec-Montreal-Val-d`Or	1997>>2001	65
19	Jocelyn Gauvreau	Hull-Granby	1980>>1984	64
19	Serge Poudrier	Trois-Rivières	1983>>1986	64
21	Steve Gosselin	Chicoutimi	1990>>1994	63
21	Stéphane Robidas	Shawinigan	1993>>1997	63
23	Philippe Boucher	Granby-Laval	1990>>1993	62
23	Drew Paris	Quebec-Rimouski-Drummondville-Acadie-Bathurst-Chicoutimi	2004>>2009	62
25	Nikolas Brouillard	Drummondville-Quebec-Rouyn-Noranda	2011>>2016	59

STREAKS

• Nathan Noel (Saint John) – tonight against Acadi-Bathurst, he will be on the hunt for a point in his 16^th consecutive game. Since the 18^th of December, he has added 25 points to his season score sheet, that now stands at 43. His Sea Dogs teammates, Sam Povorozniouk and Matthew Highmore are also on a similar streak, both having participated in the scoring in their last 10.
• Cavan Fitzgerald (Shawinigan) – The 19-year-old Cataractes defenseman has earned at least a point in each of his last 8 matches before being blanked last night by his old team the Mooseheads. Since his arrival in Shawinigan in January, he has racked up 13 points in 16 games, and has an outstanding +/- of +15.

THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT

• NHL: QMJHL alumni get it done! – how many former Q players do you think are among the top 50 in NHL scoring? 2? 4? 6, maybe? The answer will make you proud, because the real answer is no less than 10. In fact, that makes for 20% of the NHL top 50! Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is back on top of the QMJHL alumni with 45 points (14^th spot).

Former QMJHL players in the Top 50 National Hockey League Scorers (as of February 4th, 2016)
RK	Player	TM	Pos	GP	G	A	PTS	+/-	GWG
1	Patrick Kane	CHI	RW	54	30	44	74	22	6
2	Jamie Benn	DAL	LW	51	28	30	58	17	3
3	Tyler Seguin	DAL	C	51	27	28	55	14	4
4	Erik Karlsson	OTT	D	51	11	42	53	4	2
5	Evgeny Kuznetsov	WSH	C	48	15	36	51	25	3
6	Evgeni Malkin	PIT	C	49	23	26	49	-3	5
7	Johnny Gaudreau	CGY	LW	49	21	28	49	6	6
8	Joe Pavelski	SJS	C	49	25	24	49	17	8
9	Taylor Hall	EDM	LW	51	18	31	49	3	6
10	Blake Wheeler	WPG	RW	50	13	35	48	-2	4
11	Artemi Panarin	CHI	LW	54	18	29	47	7	5
12	Nicklas Backstrom	WSH	C	45	17	29	46	17	3
13	Vladimir Tarasenko	STL	RW	51	25	21	46	-1	4
14	Sidney Crosby	PIT	C	48	20	25	45	-3	6
15	Brent Burns	SJS	D	49	18	26	44	-11	3
16	Daniel Sedin	VAN	LW	50	21	23	44	15	6
17	Patrice Bergeron	BOS	C	50	19	25	44	8	4
18	Anze Kopitar	LAK	C	50	13	31	44	18	4
19	Bobby Ryan	OTT	RW	50	18	25	43	0	2
20	Nikita Kucherov	TBL	RW	50	21	22	43	2	4
21	Alex Ovechkin	WSH	LW	46	28	14	42	20	5
22	John Klingberg	DAL	D	51	7	35	42	15	2
23	Matt Duchene	COL	C	53	23	19	42	-2	4
24	Alexander Steen	STL	LW	53	15	27	42	2	2
25	Joe Thornton	SJS	C	49	9	32	41	17	3
26	Nathan MacKinnon	COL	C	53	18	23	41	2	5
27	Ryan O’Reilly	BUF	C	51	17	24	41	-16	2
28	Claude Giroux	PHI	C	48	14	26	40	-5	2
29	Mike Hoffman	OTT	LW	47	22	18	40	7	3
30	Patrick Sharp	DAL	LW	51	16	24	40	2	5
31	P.K. Subban	MTL	D	52	4	35	39	5	0
32	Jason Spezza	DAL	C	51	17	22	39	5	5
33	Loui Eriksson	BOS	RW	50	15	24	39	11	2
34	Jakub Voracek	PHI	RW	48	8	31	39	0	2
35	Lee Stempniak	NJD	RW	51	15	23	38	7	2
36	Bryan Little	WPG	C	50	15	23	38	-12	2
37	Leon Draisaitl	EDM	C	41	13	25	38	5	1
38	Steven Stamkos	TBL	C	50	21	17	38	-6	5
39	Michael Cammalleri	NJD	LW	42	14	24	38	15	1
40	David Krejci	BOS	C	40	12	26	38	3	3
41	Henrik Sedin	VAN	C	44	9	28	37	11	0
42	Max Pacioretty	MTL	LW	52	19	18	37	-8	4
43	Derick Brassard	NYR	C	49	17	20	37	11	3
44	Jonathan Huberdeau	FLA	LW	50	10	27	37	12	2
45	Tyler Toffoli	LAK	C	50	22	15	37	23	4
46	Ryan Spooner	BOS	C	50	10	27	37	-6	3
47	John Tavares	NYI	C	45	17	19	36	-3	4
48	Ryan Johansen	NSH	C	49	9	27	36	-3	0
49	Gabriel Landeskog	COL	LW	49	14	22	36	-3	2
50	Kyle Okposo	NYI	RW	46	12	24	36	-9	3

Milestone

• Serge Haché (Gatineau) – With 29 seasons in the world of hockey, the likeable Olympiques physical therapist and Equipment Manager will be taking part in his 2000^th game tonight. As they say, a true ‘Old Warrior’. Congratulations Serge, on your devotion to the game; you are a true professional. Read an article on Serge.

WHAT OUR WEB VISITORS ARE SAYING

• NHL Stars – Recently on or website, theqmjhl.ca, we asked, ‘Among the former QMJHL players taking part in the 2016 NHL All Star game, which is your favourite?
• Kristopher Letang (Pittsburgh) – The ex Val d’Or Foreurs defenseman was your top choice, with 29.7% of the vote.
• Also popular –Patrice Bergeron (27%), Roberto Luongo (24%) as well as Claude Giroux (20%) all shared in about equal measure of the public’s love. I guess it’s hard to decide from among all our illustrious alumni now playing in the NHL!

Translation: Richard Dumas