Thibeau and the Wildcats Hit a Another Homerun on Draft Day

Ritchie Thibeau and the Moncton Wildcats are 2 for 2 with two homeruns with regards to their drafts this month.

Thibeau’s first homerun came when he traded the face of the franchise Jakob Pelletier earlier this month for a mire bounty of assets.

That trend continued today in the CHL Import Draft when they selected Maxim Barbashev and Val Usnik.

Barbashev is going to be a three year player for the Cats while Usnik can come in perhaps in a platooning scenario with overage netminder Dakota Lund Cornish.

All indications pointed toward the Cats drafting a veteran forward, that could step in right away and have an impact.

That certainly wasn’t the case with the Thibeau electing to select the 16 year old Barbashev.

The highly skilled nifty forward will play as a seventeen year old this season.

With his late birthday the younger brother of former Wildcats star and 2019 Stanley Cup Champion Ivan Barbashev will have one year to acclimatize himself to the North American game before his NHL Draft year.

Usnik will allow the Cats stable of young netminding prospects another year to develop before being thrown into the fire.

The Moncton Wildcats 2020-2021 roster is definitely starting to take shape.

Time will certainly tell if Thibeau and the Cats will continue to be able to hit dingers at an alarming rates with a rebuilding club.

For now they are batting a 1000!