Mooseheads win draft lottery, will pick first overall
Posted Apr 7, 2016 01:11:58 PM.
Last Updated Apr 7, 2016 03:49:59 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Herd will be first up at the podium at the 2016 QMJHL Draft, which goes June 4.
The Mooseheads won the draft lottery on Thursday afternoon in Boisbriand, Que.
“We are thrilled to have the first overall pick in the draft,” said General Manager Cam Russell in a release.
“It’s going to be an exciting day for our organization and our fans and we are looking forward to selecting a very good hockey player.”
The team will pick first overall for just the second time in franchise history. The first was in 1994, the team’s inaugural season.
It’s a solid consolation prize for the team after a less than ideal 2015/16 season that saw them post a record of 21-39-7 and trade away captain Timo Meier at the deadline.
That record wasn’t enough to put them in the playoffs, but did mean a great shot at winning the first overall pick in the draft.
According to hockeyprospect.com, forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx and defenceman Jared McIssac are projected to go first and second overall respectivley.
Groulx, who hails from Gatineau, Que., posted 51 points in 41 games this past season for the Gatineau L’Intrépide of the QMAAA. The 16-year-old also posted 26 goals in 24 games in bantam in 2014/15.
McIssac, who’s ranked second by hockeyprospects, may be of even more interest to the Mooseheads front office and fans, considering he’s a Nova Scotia talent.
The young man was born in Truro and at 16-years-old is already a physical specimen, coming in at 6’2 and 209 lbs. The defenceman also posted 36 points in 33 games this year in his second season with the Cole Harbour Major Midgets of the NSMMHL.
Both he and Groulx represented Team Canada at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.
