It's been an interesting month so far, for sure. Simoneau should be a fantastic addition. He's a top end forward who is likely to be on of the premiere offensive players in the league. Obviously, Jim recognized the benefits of employing elite 20 y/o players this year. We certainly saw how much mileage we got out of carrying Desruisseaux, Casey, and Ellis. For the 2020-21 season, each of those three guys were among the best 20 y/o performers in the loop.
In populating our 20 y/o positions, it makes sense to run Simoneau, Budgell, and Laaouan. Laaouan is the current winner of the Kevin Lowe trophy for top defenceman in the league and he should be even better at 20. Budgell had a great offensive season (marked improvement from middling seasons as a 17 and 18 y/o player) and is also an extremely dependable 200 foot player.
The odd man out probably ends up being Bailey Peach, unfortunately. But, I'm really happy with the upgrade of Simoneau over Peach. Peach didn't really show dynamic offensive chops in his time here. He was a valuable top 6 forward, but likely does not provide the production we'll see from Simoneau and/or Budgell. Peach is for sure a 20 y/o player in the league next year. Hopefully we can get a return on the trade rthat provides some help in other areas. Halifax is looking for help in 20 y/o spots, and Peach, as a NS native, makes a great fit. We acquired Peach for two 2nds, a 3rd, and a 7th.... not too steep a price. What kind of a return can we expect for him?
Sean Stewart should also be a guy who is capable of playing for most teams as a 20 y/o defenceman. His price was Hamel, a 3rd, and a 6th. Stewart is dependable defensively but doesn't move the needle offensively. I hope the deal might be there to bring back assets for him.
Finally, Beauregard is a guy we recognized in the playoffs who probably will be an impactful 20 y/o player next year. I think bois mentioned that he is a guy who probably has more value to us than what he'd bring in via a trade, unfortunately. Hopefully the right deal is there to acquire assets from a potential deal of Beauregard.
The other 01 players on our roster are likely not fits to play as 20 y/o players in the league next season... Tremblay, Virtue, McCarthy.
I've maintained that we'll want to proceed with caution in moving the 20 y/o players. Everybody likes to rush to find the best deal for shipping them out once they are identified as surplus. However, we'll want to be certain that there aren't pro opportunities for guys like Budgell and/or Laaouan that might leave us deficient in that area.
Up until the acquisition of Simoneau, I was uncertain if we'd continue to deal as a potential contender in 2021-22. My thoughts through the playoff run we're "absolutely... let's build on this experience and momentum we are building through our successful 2021 post season". Cormier's 19 y/o season should be another great year for him. Between the steady blueline of Cormier/Laaouan/Trudeau/Plandowski, plus the scoring depth up front, it is a good year to be going all in. There's quite a few other potential contenders. Everybody is lining up for this horse race with the Q hosting the 2022 Memorial Cup.
Euros will be an important part of the equation. Hopefully arrangements are in place to continue to work towards bringing in Brabenec for next season. He's set himself up nicely for the NHL draft and apparently looked very good at the recent U18 tournament. This past season he played in the Czech pro league for Brno and looks to have been a depth forward. He only had 1 point in 23 games. Coming to North America and developing an offensive game will be an important part of his development.
Matous Mensik did not have a place to play in the 2020-21 season. He did play for the Czech Republic at the U18 and scored twice in 2 games. I'm not as sure how the chips will fall for him with the NHL draft. If he does get selected, it probably increases his chances of coming to North America in the fall. Some things I've read on the boards recently suggests that because of the COVID complications, teams might be permitted to draft a 3rd Euro (but still only carry 2 guys). So if we have the opportunity to add a higher profile Euro (either by draft or by trade) maybe that's an option we should be considering.
In goal is probably where the question marks are most pressing. The transition from Matt Welsh to Colten Ellis was seamless. In my opinion, I think Ellis was even better this year as 20 y/o player than Welsh (who was just fantastic). Goobie really did have a middling season as a 17 y/o player though. He's still young and really hasn't seen a ton of action at 16 or 17, being buried behind Welsh/Ellis. I would have liked to see him emerge and push Ellis this season and go on some stretches where it would start to become clear that his future involves being an elite goalie in the league. But he struggled by times and it just didn't seem the team had near the same level of confidence playing in front of him compared to Ellis.
I think the organization remains committed to Goobie as our future starter. We're in a similar situation to when Matt Welsh was 17 and we acquired Mark Grametbauer to pair with him in the 16-17 season. I think Welsh was farther along in development at 17 than Goobie is, and I'd probably want to acquire a stronger starting goaltender than Grametbauer was to pair with Goobie. It's tough. The price will need to be paid if we want to bring in a real top end goaltender. But goal is most certainly the area where our needs are most pressing at the moment.
Now, if we're going to invest in the 2021-22 season as a year to be all in, we'll need assets to make the necessary trades, both this summer and during the trading period at Christmas. If the Banque to choix on the French message board is accurate, here's what we currently own for picks. We're not super stocked up, but we've got a decent set of selections for the upcoming 2021 draft:
2021
Charlottetown: 1DRU-2QUÉ-3-4HFX-5BAC-6HFX-8-9-10-10CHA-11-12-13-14
2022
Charlottetown: 2SHA-4-5-7-8-9-9RIM-10-11-12-13-14
2023
Charlottetown: 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14
We're thin in 2023 selections. That 2022 Shawinigan 2nd will be valuable. I expect we'll see us making a move with some 2024 picks too. I'd be certain the 2021 Drummondville 1st (and maybe our own 2024 1st) is what's on the go to the Volts for Simoneau. Accumulating picks will be what's really important when we try to find landing spots for guys like Peach, Beauregard, and maybe Stewart.
If we look at some of our younger players/prospects who could be dealt, most teams would be asking about Sam Oliver as a return. He was great as a 16 y/o player and really fits the Islanders identity well. I don't see Jim dealing him prior to the 2021 season if he can help it, but Oliver might be part of a futures deal where he's shipped out after this season to recoup picks and/or complete a trade. Oliver is probably the most valuable asset we have right now.
As for other, non-roster 2003-2004 players who might be valuable young guys to deal in a trade... all bets are sort of off with the fact that MAAA and Jr. A didn't play in Quebec this year, so scouts are going back a couple of years to decided what they think about a player. I know the organization likes big defenceman Mathis Aguilar. He'd qualify as a guy who's likely a mid-range prospect who teams would have definite interest in as a return. Goaltender Paolo Marabella is also a guy who should draw some interest from other teams, especially as we try to address our situation between the pipes. Marabella played prep school hockey this year, and is a product of the LSL midget program..... so that definitely directs some arrows potentially toward an NCAA pathway... but he did join the team in the bubbles in Shawinigan and Quebec as a 3rd goaltender option. I'm not sure where that leaves him in terms of eligibility, but suggests to me that the Q might be the favourable option for him.
And if we're talking about the NCAA, we can't have these conversations about next year without thinking about guys like Ryan Greene and Luke Vardy. Both guys would be superb additions prior to their 18 y/o seasons. The talking about getting them here is the easy part. They've invested a couple of season into the college pathway, and from my perspective, the longer you go on this pathway, the harder it can be to switch. Greene, of course, is the better prospect. He had a great year in the USHL with Green Bay. His 32 points in 51 games was tops among 2003 born players. I thought he was due to start at Boston U for the 2021-22 season, but it looks like another USHL season is in the cards. The USHL is a great league and recently has emerged as popular pathway to pro hockey (mostly via NCAA, but sometimes directly to the pros). I think in the 2021 NHL draft we'll see even more USHL guys taken since that league played a pretty normal season compared to CHL teams. Greene will end up with a great opportunity if he joins us, but he's in a pretty nice situation down in the US too. Boston University is an awesome program that is always competitive in the college leagues.
As for Vardy, he doesn't have a college commitment, so it's getting down to decision time. He's got the reputation of being a good player and was highly regarded coming out of his midget years. The past two season were at St. Andrew's prep in Toronto. But I'd make the case that if he's not going to end up in the NCAA, then three season of major junior hockey before heading either to the pros or more likely Canadian University hockey is a great plan. Vardy potentially could be a really nice fit on our D with Laaouan/Plandowski/Trudeau/Cormier with Maynard a dependable option in there as well. We likely deal to add more blueline depth during the season, but Vardy could have a chance to be a guy who gets in the lineup nightly on a good team to try to impress during the first half of the season.
Exciting times ahead. Can't wait to see how it all unfolds.
