Willing to make a deal

Wildcats not expecting to use all 18 of their picks at QMJHL draft

It’s unlikely the Moncton Wildcats will use all 18 picks they own in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft, which takes place on June 2 in Shawinigan.

“We’re looking at trade opportunities,” said Ritchie Thibeau, the club’s interim director of hockey operations. “I’ve talked to every team in the league to see what they’re looking for and to tell them what we’re looking for. We’ve got 18 picks, but none in the fifth and sixth rounds.

“If there’s an opportunity to acquire a pick in the fifth or sixth round, that’s something we would look at and consider. If there’s an opportunity to make trades to acquire higher picks (in the 2019 QMJHL draft), that’s also something we would consider.”

Moncton owns the 18th, 20th and 27th overall picks in this year’s draft. It has one pick in the first round, two in the second round, one in the third round, two in the fourth round, one in the seventh round, three in the eighth round, one in the ninth round, two in both the 10th and 11th round, and one each in the 12th, 13th and 14th rounds.

QMJHL Central Scouting released its final rankings for the draft and 16 of the 18 players who are projected to go in the first round are from Quebec. The top three are forward Hendrix Lapierre, defenceman William Villeneuve and forward Patrick Guay, all Quebec midget AAA products.

The only non-Quebec midget AAA products projected for the first round are two New Brunswickers. Forward Josh Lawrence of Fredericton and defenceman Lukas Cormier of St. Marie de Kent are sixth and 10th in the rankings, respectively.

Lawrence played U.S. prep school hockey this season and he has given a verbal commitment to Boston College. Cormier was a standout rookie this season for the Moncton Flyers of the New Brunswick/P.E.I. Major Midget Hockey League.

Moncton finished 14th overall in the 18-team league this season and then defeated the third overall Rimouski Oceanic in the opening playoff round, the third biggest upset in QMJHL playoff history. The Wildcats lost to the first overall Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the second round.

The Wildcats parted ways with director of hockey operations Roger Shannon on April 16.

Thibeau was then moved from assistant to interim director of hockey operations.