Top-20 des meilleurs espoirs
NORDIQUES DE QUÉBEC


Analyses de Scott Wheeler de The Athletic.


1- Cole Caufield
    Ailier Droit
    20 ans
    5'7
    165 lbs
    Repêché 6ie au total en 2019 par Québec.

    
" There develops a need among fans, as hype builds for a prospect as it did for Caufield, for instant gratification. While most kids are provided with the benefit of time and patience, the best among them are expected to produce immediately and eventually change the fates of their organizations. So, when the most gifted natural goal-scoring prospect in the game shoots one percent for half a season, I understand the urge to panic. But Caufield’s not going to shoot 1 percent forever, eventually he’s going to play 17-18 minutes a night instead of 13-14 minutes a night, and eventually he’s going to be surrounded by more talent. And if I’m being blunt, I’m not worried about his projection or his tools. This season is not nothing in the context of where he’s at and what he’ll become. But given the context of where the Canadiens are at, and the undeniably bad luck he has had, I’m not worried. This is still a kid who broke records at the national program. This is still a kid who, this time last year, was in the middle of a goal-a-game Hobey Baker season as a 19 and 20-year-old. This is still a kid who has looked lethal in the AHL and has played some strong stretches in the NHL. There are some limitations, for sure. Despite significant progress made in his play off of the puck (he’s still swinging low and supporting the play more effectively than he used to), his size will always limit his defensive value. He’s still finding ways to create his own looks against bigger, stronger, faster players (after showing real progress creating in transition with the puck in college last season). That has been underscored because his teammates are also not doing a great job of finding him in his sweet spots, so both of his greatest weapons have been muted. But the tools are still there. He’s still got the ability to pick spots from bad angles and score (which, again, I assure you he will do plenty of throughout his career!). He’s still got an elite catch-and-release shooting motion. He can still use his footwork, tremendous stick handling and size to create bursts off of cuts and use his maneuverability as an advantage rather than the opposite. He’s still got a quick acceleration gear and understands how to maximize time and space. He’s still, in my view, one of the best young forward prospects in the game and a player with legitimate top-six quality and upside. "

2- Jack Studnicka
    Centre
    22 ans
    6'2
    194 lbs
    Repêché 156ie au total en 2017 par Winnipeg.

    
" The clock is now ticking on Studnicka, who will graduate out of my definition of “prospecthood” when he turns 23 in February. I’ve taken a little bit of heat over the years for being a little lower on him than some others but he’s now getting to the age where it’s incumbent on him to prove he can be an everyday NHLer and fulfill the belief many in hockey have long had in him. I think his game is just a little too bland offensively to project as more than a good bottom-six piece. But while my rankings tend to centre on upside more than proximity, the Bruins’ lack of prospects who look like they could be more than that keeps Studnicka ranked this high on proximity. There’s plenty to like about Studnicka. He plays a versatile game that boasts decent all-around puck skill. I’ve never had any major qualms with the way he plays the game. He’s diligent, there’s detail to his game in all three zones, he fights for his ice in 50/50 battles, he’s probably going to be a useful NHL penalty killer throughout his career, etc. He does a good job protecting the puck and beating the first layer of pressure to get to his spots and make plays for himself or his linemates. But I don’t think he’s a particularly dangerous rush player and he’s never going to be a dynamic player in traffic. "

3- Thomas Bordeleau
    Centre
    19 ans
    5'11
    181 lbs
    Repêché 29ie au total en 2020 par New York.

    
" Bordeleau’s one of several Sharks prospects I was a big fan of ahead of the draft and have remained a fan of since. After leading a loaded Wolverines team in scoring as a freshman, he has played to above a point per game again this year and really impressed me on my late-November trip to Ann Arbor to watch them play. He’s crafty and unpredictable. His reflexes and dexterity (catching passes in his feet to his stick seamlessly, etc.) get high marks. And while he can also force it a little, I don’t think that should be discouraged in high-skill players. He has also worked hard to keep himself more and more involved in the play over the years (though there are times when he needs to move better and be more proactive without the puck offensively, instead of watching). Bordeleau’s game blends a puck-dominant, play-driving style with problem-solving skill and excellent east-west peripheral vision. He’s the kind of player where once he gets a little quicker and finds more ways to get to the low slot to create scoring chances for himself a little more frequently, he’ll be a tough player to defend against at the pro level. And despite his 5-foot-9 frame, I wouldn’t call him tiny and he has proven he can handle physical engagements and bumps just fine in college. He’s a deceptive player who projects as a middle-six piece who can play on a power-play unit at his ceiling. "

4- Raphaël Lavoie
    Centre / Ailier Droit
    21 ans
    6'4
    196 lbs
    Repêché 38ie au total en 2019 par Québec.

    
" After a strong first pro season (where he immediately became a top scorer in Sweden’s second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan and followed it up with a good start in the AHL), Lavoie hasn’t taken a step forward as a second-year pro this year. He’s still a contributing, middle-of-the-lineup player for Bakersfield at a young age, but he hasn’t pushed himself into the call-up conversation quite yet. That has softened some of my longstanding belief in him but I still see promise as a potential bottom-nine NHL winger. Lavoie’s a 6-foot-3, 200-plus pound winger who blends his length, good control through his hands, and timing to stay on pucks and create shots for himself (his shooting percentage and my anecdotal observations from viewings for this project suggest he’s probably owed a few more goals this season). The hands help him place shots through and around or shield defenders off his hip. The size helps him play through contact and get off the wall. But an unconventional bowed skating stance and a lack of agility may hold him back from being the player he has been at other levels in the NHL. Still, if he can pick up half a step I’d bet on him becoming an effective complementary NHL player who gives a line a bit of a different look. "

5- William Stromgren
    Ailier Gauche
    18 ans
    6'3
    176 lbs
    Repêché 51ie au total en 2021 par Québec.

    
" After an excellent draft year included success across four different levels (two junior, two pro), Stromgren began his post-draft season with three points in his first two games with Rogle’s top team in Champions Hockey League action before being returned to junior, where he has actually often left scouts wanting more (and where his play wasn’t good enough to make the world junior team). There’s a lot to like about Stromgren though. He’s a 6-foot-3 winger with plenty of skill. Despite his size, he doesn’t play the game you might expect either. He’d rather play around you or shoot through you than push into you. He’s very comfortable with the puck on his stick for a player his size, which helps him carry the puck over the line and make plays in transition. I don’t think he’s ever going to be the primary driver on an NHL line, but he’s got a chance to be a complementary scorer. As he continues to get stronger, he may be able to take advantage of his length a little more too. He’s going to require some time to reach his potential though. "

6- Sasha Pastujov
    Ailier Droit / Ailier Gauche
    18 ans
    6'1
    187 lbs
    Repêché 19ie au total en 2021 par Québec.

    
" Pastujov is another player with undeniable talent but divergent opinions on his game. I see a player with clear gifts and sense offensively and a dual-threat player who is equally as capable of making the play that leads to a goal as he is at finishing the play himself. Some scouts see a skating kink and mediocre acceleration and top speed and worry about his ability to make good on his talent. And while his skating does continue to need work, I don’t think it’s as big an issue as it has often been made out to be (in the public or private sphere). He’s an inventive playmaker who can do a lot with the puck, he’s got excellent touch through feet and sticks and into space (which reduces the need to be fast). He also mixes in fakes and stutter-steps to create transition separation or go inside-out on defenders. He can run a power play, he’s dangerous around the net because of his ability in tight spaces, and he’s a superb passer through bodies who can slow the play down and dictate with his poise or speed it up with his ability to quickly react to openings in coverage. Mix in a statistical profile that screams top prospect (first at the national program and now on a Guelph team where he is the primary weapon by a wide margin and producing way beyond his nearest teammates), no issues with work ethic, a fine defensive game, and a 6-foot frame, and there’s reason to be optimistic that he’ll make good. "

7- Tyson Foerster
    Centre
    19 ans
    6'2
    194 lbs
    Repêché 30ie au total en 2020 par Québec.

   
" Foerster’s shoulder injury is a real bummer because he impressed in the AHL last season when the OHL (which would have been better for him) wasn’t an option. I was hearing good things about his summer and his training camp, and he likely would have made Team Canada for the world juniors as a needed right-shot scorer. His shot pops off his blade, he’s a lethal catch-and-release shooter in motion, and he’s got excellent touch around the net. And while he’s always at his most dangerous making quick plays off of passes, he has also shown the ability to manufacture his own offense and make plays to involve his linemates. Plus he’s 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, which helps him stay on top of pucks and work his way off the wall. Before the injury, he was trending to look like a second-line goal scorer. Hopefully the layoff (which was set at five months in November) doesn’t hurt that projection. "

8- Matias Maccelli
    Ailier Gauche
    21 ans
    5'11
    165 lbs
    Repêché 97ie au total en 2019 par Québec.

    
" It’s pretty rare for a prospect to completely transform their outlook. The vast majority of prospects move the needle by one degree in either direction. We see B-level prospects become B-plus prospects or B-minus prospects all the time. We see players take a bottom-six projection and turn it into a middle-six projection, or move from call-up status to full-timer. Some go in the opposite direction, downgrading by a line or a pairing. But we rarely see someone leap into a completely different category to go from B-minus to A-minus. That’s what Macelli did in the last two years though and it has continued into a third campaign as Tucson’s leading scorer this year. The NHL, I suspect, is now around the corner. The skill has always been there. He handles the puck at a high level, he problem-solves well, he changes directions and shakes pressure effectively, and he has learned to make quicker decisions which has put him in fewer tough spots. He has also worked to keep his feet moving more and play with a little more tempo. Instead of looking to slow the play down, he’s speeding it up through his crossovers and looking to attack, which actually takes advantage of his quick processing to allow him to make plays at pace. I see second-line upside and some real potential value out of the fourth round, where he was selected in 2019. "

9- Nolan Foote
    Ailier Gauche
    21 ans
    6'4
    201 lbs
    Repêché 36ie au total en 2019 par Los Angeles.

   
" It feels like Foote has been around forever (part of that’s the name cache, part of it’s the trade that brought him to the Devils in 2020) but he only just turned 21 in the fall and his entry-level contract is only just now burning its first year. For a while, I saw average foot speed and good but not great production and wondered whether he’d reach his complementary middle-six scorer upside. Now I’m feeling more confident in the likelihood that he’ll get there. He put some nagging injuries behind him, made real progress in his skating (I would say it’s NHL average now), and has started to lift his head and survey the ice more effectively in possession instead of tunnel-visioning into his hard snapshot. He’s now a little more dynamic off the rush and has some added versatility inside the offensive zone as more than a push-and-pop cycle guy who can catch-and-release to score from the slot. There’s also small-area skill there now in tight to his body. That skill set, combined with his 6-foot-4 frame and an engaged physical presence, looks like an appealing NHL package. "

10- Jack Peart
      Défenseur
      18 ans
      5'11
      185 lbs
      Repêché 35ie au total en 2021 par Québec.

      
" Peart has followed one of the steeper trajectories in the sport in the last year and half. After getting better with each viewing last season and climbing my board almost as far as the first round, Minnesota’s reigning Mr. Hockey played himself onto Team USA for the world juniors late in their process as he became one of the top under-19 defencemen in college hockey (it’s a strong group featuring Luke Hughes, Sean Behrens, Corson Ceulemans, Ryan Ufko, Shai Buium and Guillaume Richard, and he belongs). He’s a natural athlete and heady transition defenceman who excels at breaking the puck out of his own zone, starting the rush through neutral ice, and managing the point offensively, especially as a facilitator. But it’s evident he also prides himself on working to be active and disruptive defensively, even if he’s not overtly physical (physicality should not be confused with work ethic!), and he does a really good job breaking up plays as a result. Peart excites me. It feels like he’s just scratching the surface and I can’t wait to see what he looks like when he eventually develops the confidence he had in high school hockey with St. Cloud (where he already looks comfortable but I’d like to see him attack for himself a little more). I’m not fond of the ambiguity of the term hockey IQ, but he’s got it in spades. He just sees and processes the ice at such a high level, regularly looking off his first option to quickly identify and then hit a better second one. "

11- Mattias Norlinder
      Défenseur
      21 ans
      6'0
      185 lbs
      Repêché 73ie au total en 2019 par Québec.

      
" After progressing quite rapidly in the previous two seasons, the excitement around Norlinder probably got a little carried away both internally and externally earlier this year. It’s easy to see why though. He plays a fearless, confident style. We can confuse confidence with panic in player evaluation. Some players don’t make decisions fast enough and are forced to try things and hang onto the puck because they don’t identify their options fast enough. Players who are actually confident (a hard thing to spot) see all of the options in front of them and still consistently try to make the more difficult play happen. Norlinder is the latter. He’ll make the right choice more often than not, whether that’s on a properly timed pinch or a quick and easy pass out of his own zone. But he’ll also make the delayed play, choosing when to hang onto the puck and attack past layers. And when he makes the latter choice, he’s talented enough to execute on delays, and fakes, and lateral cuts. If he thinks he can get a better look for his shot instead of throwing long attempts through traffic, he’ll take it. If he thinks he can sneak off the line to the front of the net, he’ll take it. Most defenders’ shot charts crowd across the line. His maps heat up a lot more in higher-danger areas (even if his raw production has never looked that glossy). In many cases he has made his decision to attack before the puck even arrives on his stick, having identified the space that’s open to target. There’s no hesitation or panic. And then he has the actual skill to play that style because of his hands and his skating, which both grade highly. It’s hard to be sure about what Norlinder is though because his style isn’t for everyone and his reads defensively can result in some misplays. But he’s fascinating at a minimum and might be a real player under the right
circumstances. "

12- Lauri Pajuniemi
      Ailier Droit
      22 ans
      6'0
      183 lbs
      Repêché 107ie au total en 2018 par Québec.

      
" After finishing in Liiga’s top 10 in goals and points in two consecutive seasons, Pajuniemi has become an impactful AHL player as a rookie this season, adjusting well to the smaller ice (though he has admittedly not been quite as productive as I expected given the relative levels of the two leagues). His ability to finish plays off the flank is real. Pajuniemi is confident in his ability to score from long range, regularly looking to lean into his shot from distance. But his biggest weapon may be his one-timer, which gives him clear power play upside (at any level, frankly, though I don’t think the Wolf Pack have utilized it enough). And while I think Pajuniemi has run into some trouble getting to the middle (trouble he used to also run into in Finland before he adjusted), he continues to drive shot results like he always had, with the second-most on the Wolf Pack. His offensive-zone game is still going to always be more noticeable in short bursts than extended sequences, but I see a dangerous offensive-zone scorer who makes his fair share of plays, works hard, and accelerates through his crossovers. He’s going to top out as a complementary scorer at the next level but I don’t think that’s out of the question and it helps that he’s a righty in a lefty-heavy organization. "

13- Nathan Légaré
      Ailier Droit
      20 ans
      6'0
      205 lbs
      Repêché 52ie au total en 2019 par Los Angeles.

      
" The results haven’t come yet but Légaré has begun his AHL career as one of the league’s better young shot producers and his shooting percentage has just lagged beyond. When they start to fall, his outlook will look glossier than it has thus far in his rookie season. That, combined with Wilkes-Barre’s general scoring struggles, is a continuation of some of the challenges he faced in a difficult situation in Baie-Comeau (where a coaching carousel, the pandemic, and a lacklustre supporting cast made it difficult for his points to really pop). I still believe there may be a middle-of-the-road NHL player in him. He’s got a powerful, NHL-level wrister (though sometimes he sacrifices accuracy and balance to really rip it) and a dangerous one-timer. He’s got an NHL frame (6-foot, 205 pounds), with a heavy-on-puck focus to his puck carrying and surprisingly soft hands in traffic. His playmaking and processing are both good enough considering his playing style doesn’t tend to lend itself to a ton of creativity. And his skating, while mediocre, is not an impediment. He generates decent speed once he gets moving through a heavy first-step acceleration pattern. "

14- Jake Neighbours
      Ailier Gauche
      19 ans
      6'0
      196 lbs
      Repêché 38ie au total en 2020 par Québec.

      
" Neighbours has grown on me in the last year. I still have modest reservations about his ability to develop into more than an impactful third-line winger (which is still a valuable player!), but he’s showing more and more skill to complement his tenacious, heavy, forechecking style. He finishes his checks, plays hard along the wall, and has proven he can play a power-skill blend against his peers. But he can also pound the one-timer from his off wing and there’s power to his writer when he has time to let it go (though I’d like to see him work to quicken his release). And increasingly he’s imposing himself out there with the puck on his stick, attacking into that traffic with quicker hands, playing through contact, and using the attention he gets to facilitate into space. Fans will love him for his pesky, talkative, almost-loud energy out there, too. But he also needs to continue to work on his skating (which is about average now) if he’s going to be as effective in the NHL as he is in junior. His sturdiness, approach, and above-average skill level remain his calling cards. "

15- Ryan McLeod
      Centre
      22 ans
      6'2
      207 lbs
      Repêché 47ie au total en 2018 par Québec.

      
" McLeod has always been defined by his standout skating but questions about other areas of his game cast doubt on how effective that skating would make him (beyond its safe projection into a depth role). In the last year and a half, he has answered many of those questions, beginning last year in his time spent split between Switzerland and a point per game shortened season in Bakersfield, and continuing this season in the way he has begun to establish his NHL identity. He can burn defenders wide, back them off him in quick bursts, and force them to play off him on entries. He’s a positive driver of defensive results because he stays on pucks, wins races and lanes, and applies back pressure. And he has made progress in his play and choices in possession of the puck (where he has shown he has some creativity since his OHL days). He has also worked hard on his shot (which has come with the muscle he has filled out on his 6-foot-2 frame and which was once one of those concerns) so that it’s a useful tool of his. With his ability to transport the puck through the neutral zone, push the pace with his feet, and also now contribute enough inside the offensive zone when the game slows down, he looks like he’s going to have a good career as an up-and-down lineup guy. "

16- Kristian Vesalainen
      Ailier Gauche / Ailier Droit
      22 ans
      6'4
      207 lbs
      Repêché 43ie au total en 2017 par Boston.

      
" Vesalainen has always been a bit of an enigma who, given his size and skill level, should be better and more productive than he is but has never put it all together. At his best, Vesalainen is a powerful winger with uncharacteristic finesse, able to start plays with a pass or an attack off the wall, or finish them with a hard shot. He’s got good puck control skill, not just out wide with his back turned to the play like you might expect out of a 6-foot-4 winger, but also in tight to his body. But there are also times in games, often in long stretches, where his decision-making and effort are suspect, limiting his effectiveness and pulling him out of the fight (especially when he’s not surrounded by talent). He may still figure it all out but he looks more like “a guy” than he should. "

17- Elmer Soderblom
      Ailier Gauche / Ailier Droit
      20 ans
      6'8
      238 lbs
      Repêché 110ie au total en 2019 par Québec.

      
" Soderblom is one of the sport’s most fascinating prospects because of his combination of size (6-foot-8, 238 pounds) and rare soft skill. Soderblom has A-level hands in tight to his body for his size, helping him control the puck on a string on curls, drags and spins. There are still some things about his game that need to be sorted out, too (he can rely a little too much on his reach at times, killing plays by slowing down his feet to try to reach around defenders, for example). But he was a July birthday in his draft year, he has made fast progress to become one of the more productive young players in the SHL, I like his power-play utility as a giant net-front guy with skill (those guys are hard to find) and he just has unbelievable dexterity and feel out there for his size, regularly controlling bouncing pucks and corralling bad passes. It’s starting to feel like he might be the rare exception to the rule (one that says that almost no forwards his size ever make it as more than fourth-liners). "

18- Alex Laferriere
      Ailier Droit
      20 ans
      6'0
      172 lbs
      Repêché 100ie au total en 2020 par Québec.

      
" Laferriere’s a player I’ve always had a lot of time and respect for. He has had a very good freshman year at Harvard too, producing in line with teammates of much greater notoriety. I worried a little bit about his pace of play in the USHL but I think much of that links to the poor Des Moines teams he played on and the way they demanded that he do a lot himself (which often meant hanging onto it instead of hurrying the play up). Laferriere’s game isn’t dissimilar to that of other recent Harvard recruits, almost all of whom have exceeded expectations. He’s not an explosive skater, so he relies on playing at his own pace and dictating with control to wait for his moments to thread a pass or slide into a hole for a shot. His flashes have always looked legitimate (he made some high-end plays in the USHL and went on some heaters). He’s already a top-of-the-lineup forward in college and while I’m not sure he’s going to get to a Hobey Baker-competitive level, his variety of offensive-zone weapons, average size, and engaged style should earn him an entry-level deal and might make him a useful middle-six piece eventually. His challenge is an age one in that if he stays at Harvard for three or four seasons, he’s likely going to be 23 by the time he plays his first pro games. "

19- Wyatt Kaiser
      Défenseur
      19 ans
      6'0
      172 lbs
      Repêché 97ie au total en 2020 par Québec.

      
" Kaiser’s college production doesn’t jump out at you on Minnesota-Duluth’s blue line but I’d argue he has made the (big) jump from high school hockey to college hockey look really smooth (especially considering his July birthday), becoming an important player for the Bulldogs as a freshman and sophomore. His skill level within the offensive zone isn’t super high-end but he plays an excellent transition game, he’s a mobile four-way skater, and his feet allow him to both escape pressure and win races. The focus of his game is to defend first, defend hard, play physical (sometimes too much so), manage tight gaps (which allow him to make life hard on carriers more often than not but can also result in stick infractions when he makes a mistake), and then turn off of plays he has broken up to advance the puck up ice. He doesn’t fit into either the offensive defenseman or defensive defenseman boxes though and the Blackhawks aren’t going to know what they have until he’s done four years in college. But if he can refine his game at both ends, he may be able to climb through the AHL to become an everyday guy who can play an effective two-way game. "

20- Filip Johansson
      Défenseur
      21 ans
      6'1
      176 lbs
      Repêché 23ie au total en 2018 par Québec.


      
" This has been a second consecutive positive season for Johansson, who has slowly but steadily established himself as a B grade prospect coincidentally, maybe (or maybe not), since people began talking about him less. He’s averaging more than 17 minutes a night this season (up from the 15:51 he averaged last year) while continuing to positively influence possession in his increased role. He helps out on both special teams and he continues to play with more and more confidence. Part of Johansson’s undoing in the early days at the pro level was his passivity. He looked to make the easy play and it dulled his game. The same was true defensively, where he looked hesitant to play aggressive on his reads (which are actually a strength of his game), playing a reserved stick-on-puck style. In the last year and a half, he has begun to trust himself on both sides more. He’s got decent tools, too. He moves the puck well and he’s a good skater. His game doesn’t pop and he can struggle under pressure at times but he might have a third-pairing future, he’s going to be a good depth piece for the AHL club at minimum, he has made notable progress on a good team, and he’s a righty with good size (6-foot-1) — which doesn’t hurt. "


Mentions honorables:

- Bear Hughes (C)
- Nate Schnarr (C)
- Joshua Roy (W/C)
- Jack Finley (C)
- Leo Loof (D)
- Colton Dach (C/LW)
- Isaac Belliveau (D)
- Taige Harding (D)
- Robert Orr (RW/C)
- Artem Grushnikov (D)