QMJHL’s best line
Halifax, Cape Breton, Rimouski each have trio that are scoring at high rate
HALIFAX – Halifax Mooseheads goalie Alexis Gravel referred to Bo Groulx, Maxim Trepanier and Raphael Lavoie as the team's "Super Line" after a recent win.
It was on a night when they combined for nine points and the performance was part of a dominant stretch by the trio that produced five straight wins. There is no question those three players are the team's engine on offence.
In the two-plus weeks that followed, I watched the Cape Breton Eagles twice at the Scotiabank Centre. Both times they dominated in back-to-back routs.
Their first line of Ryan Francis, Egor Sokolov and Shawn Boudrias had eight points in the first game and eight more in the next win. They were noticeably unstoppable both times and it spawned a debate on Twitter about which team had the better top line.
That's hard to answer because the Eagles have more offensive support so it makes it more challenging for opposing coaches to key on those three players. By comparison, matching lines against the Mooseheads is fairly easy because there isn't the same scoring power through the rest of their lineup. The "Super Line" almost always draws difficult defensive opponents, especially on the road where it is much harder for them to create freely. About all we can agree on, at this point, is both units are tremendous.
But with apologies to those two lines, the best one in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (Q) is in Rimouski. The Oceanic's Alexis Lafreniere, Cedric Pare and Dmitry Zavgorodniy are the top three scorers in the league and have a combined 122 points in just 17 games before playing in Charlottetown Friday night. That is some ridiculous production.
DECISION TIME APPROACHING
Speaking of Groulx, Lavoie and
Trepanier, what people want to know most right now is whether they – and the Mooseheads' other top veterans – will be traded at Christmastime.
It's a fair question since the Mooseheads are still trying to find their identity six weeks into the season – are they a contender or a team in need of a rebuild?
At 7-8-0-1 and in 13th place in the overall standings, the early stats suggest they aren't strong enough to go all in. But they've also been without the best defenceman in the Q – Jared McIsaac – all season and are still working several new players into the league. A healthy McIsaac and a shrewd trade or two could easily put them back into the top third of the league standings.
But the flip side is guys like McIsaac, Gravel and the entire first line could fetch huge returns and hanging onto them would leave the Mooseheads' roster gutted at the end of the year when they all graduate. That would make a rebuild considerably longer and more painful, especially since the team doesn't have any high draft picks in the bank. The trade period opens in about six weeks so a decision has to be made soon.
MAJOR REVIVAL
Getting back to Francis, what a turnaround for the third-year winger.
He was excellent in his rookie season when he put up 34 points in 58 games but he went backwards last year with 32 points in 64 games. Through just 17 games this year, Francis already has tied that total.
The Beaver Bank, N.S., native has 32 points to put him fifth in the league scoring race. More importantly, he is passing the eye test in impressive fashion.
The talent Francis showed collecting his four points in Cape Breton's 7-1 win in Halifax on Tuesday was what stood out most. He made elite plays, not just on the goals he had a hand in, but on numerous possessions all evening. His confidence with the puck is undeniable and scouts are back to talking about him as a rising NHL draft prospect.