For the first time in team history the Moncton Wildcats possessed three first round draft picks for the 2023 QMJHL Entry Draft. On six different occasions the organization had held two first round selections. From Steve Bernier, Corey Crawford, Adam Pineault, Nicola Riopel, Brandon Gormley, Jakob Pelletier, Elliott Desnoyers, Zachary L’Heureux, Yoan Loshing to Adam Fortier Gendron, the Wildcats have made some tremendous 1st round selections over the course of time.
The 2023 QMJHL Entry Draft could be the draft that the organization and its fans look back on as being the catalyst to claim it’s third QMJHL title and perhaps first Memorial Cup. Wildcats General Manager of Hockey Operations Ritchie Thibeau and the entire staffing scout had options when it came to the direction and trajectory of the team entering the draft.
Speculation, intrigue and excitement around the 2023 draft and team were at an all time high. We all know who they drafted and the direction they took, but how did they get there. Obviously, everyone knows by now that the Wildcats hit the jackpot winning the draft lottery and the subsequent drafting of Caleb Desnoyers, but what lead to that pick and the other two first round selections the Wildcats had at their disposal?
How many calls did Thibeau take on trade requests entering the draft? How did the Moncton Wildcats get to that point?
“We went into the 2020 draft with not a lot of picks. We traded Jakob Pelletier at that draft because we wanted to start the rebuild,” explained Thibeau.
Photo Credit Daniel St Louis
With so much uncertainty surrounding the pandemic Thibeau and the organization weren’t sure what to expect entering the 2021 season. Obviously, the team had done their homework for the 2020 draft right up until the end of the season in March.
“We made the decision that it was the right time to start the rebuild because we didn’t know exactly what was going to be ahead of us, we didn’t know how many games we would get in that season.”
Every decision made from March of 2020 to now has been calculated and planned out by the Wildcats brain trust. Asset management is critical, but the team found out things don’t always go as planned and pivoting on the fly is a necessity. The Cats selected Yoan Loshing at 13th overall, but the following two players selected never reported.
“We had two players that didn’t report,” said Thibeau.
“We did a lot of work and they committed to reporting and right up until training camp they were reporting, but they had family members that had a change of heart and thought they had a better alternative a different way. You have to respect that and you just make sure that the people you deal with when they give you their word that they are going to live up to it in the future.”
The Cats still hit on countless players in that draft. Franseco Iasenza, Thomas Darcy, Miles Mueller, Alexis Daniel and Thomas Auger were all selected and were contributing members of the team. What work goes into the draft to ensure there’s character and talent to hit on late rounders?
“Our scouting staff works hard to identify players that have a chance of playing no matter if it’s round one or fourteen.”
“Obviously, as you get later in the draft players that you pick there aren’t as polished or more developed in certain areas, but we try to find key qualities that they are very good at so we can maximize those aspects while developing other parts of their game,” explained Thibeau.
“We look for dominant qualities to see what would allow them to play in the league. It could be worth ethic, it could be high level compete, skilled but, yet they are small, it could be they’re a really good skater, but missing some puck skills you have to look for those dominant qualities because the other stuff comes their chances of playing increases.”
Hitting on late round draft choices is something that Thibeau and his staff take a lot of pride in. “Late round picks that hit become contributing members of your organization or an asset to use in a trade or an asset to do other things with. We have done a good job with that with some of our assets to be able to move them because of interest from other teams to make other trades.”
“It’s all about putting the work in, the second half of the draft are about the local scouts and the work they do identifying, evaluating and locking in on players in their areas that they’re really passionate about.”
The mindset of 2020 was to try to fill the cupboards and start the rebuild. What was Thibeau’s mindset heading into the next two entry drafts? “What people forget is we went into those drafts without first round picks,” stressed Thibeau.
“2021 was the COVID year so a lot of players were chosen with very limited viewings, or if there were viewings most of it was by video, because scouts couldn’t go see games. With (Etienne) Morin, we either had good planning or good luck.”
“Some of our scouts actually saw him in person very early in the season because of the way we planned our schedule. A lot of teams never got the chance to see him because of how they built their schedule of viewings and then things got shutdown.”
“We only had a limited amount of in person viewings with most of us only seeing him on video and had to make decisions by just a few videos that weren’t the best quality, but we definitely saw some skills there that allowed us to think that he could be a player, so that’s the direction we went.”
“We trusted the scouts that did see him in person and our analysis surrounding interviews with the player, parents and agent lead us to the point that he was worth taking a chance on in the second round.”
“Etienne could have been a player that went in the top ten that year, but because of a lack of viewings, so we thought if we could land him in the early 20’s of the draft that it would be just like having a 1st round pick that we never had.”
“We thought Etienne could be a homerun pick for us,” Thibeau said.
As they say the rest is history. The Wildcats added Alex Mercier, Luke McPhee, Preston Lounsbury in that draft. The second-round draft pick used to select Morin also came via a trade with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. The tireless work behind scenes never ends when it comes to projecting talent, developing it and building a competitive roster year after year.
Heading into the 2022 draft Thibeau was looking to continue to solidify the roster with key contributors while also building towards something special in the next few years. Targeting players that fit the organization’s framework and that can step in and contribute right away is pivotal. Adam Fortier-Gendron was another homerun for the Cats at 14th overall. Gabe Smith and Riley Sampson also have bright futures with the organization moving forward.
Thibeau believes several players from that draft class have a legitimate chance to impact the team moving forward. “Sampson pushed heavily for a roster spot as a late season call up last year, but you have probably three or four others that could push for spots depending how things play out,” Thibeau said.
How would Ritchie Thibeau define winning a draft?
“You have to have at least four guys that play regularly on your team and make significant contributions. They have to play in their key years at 17, 18 and 19 with them becoming key contributing players more and more each of those years,” stressed Thibeau.
Have the Moncton Wildcats won the last three or four QMJHL drafts?
“I think we have drafted well, you can always do better, you’re going to have misses, it’s not an exact science, but I’m proud of the work the staff has done in the last three or four years for sure,” added Thibeau.
“The first and second round selections, other than kids that didn’t report, I think are track record in the early rounds speaks for itself we have a lot of players playing and contributing to our team and you know that’s not always the case.”
“Our motto is, if you’re not passionate about a player that you want to put a sweater on, then get him off our list. It doesn’t matter how good the player is, so if our scouts aren’t passionate about the player then let’s not draft that person.”
“We want to draft people that our scouts are passionate about and that they really want to bound the table and really want them on our team.”
“We don’t want to have players on our list because everyone else has them on our list, or that Central Scouting has them on their list, that’s not what we are about,” stressed Thibeau.
Having three first rounders this June is a perfect storm for the Wildcats to set up a potential run at a championship the next two seasons. The first overall selection Caleb Desnoyers eventually became a lottery pick with the Val d’Or Foreurs struggles, but the pick was acquired in the Jordan Spence trade on January 7, 2021.
The 13th overall selection is Moncton’s pick, but the 18th pick overall was originally held by the Sherbrooke Phoenix but was then acquired by the Cats in the Francseco Iasenza trade with the Victoriaville Tigres on December 18, 2022. Everyone in the major junior hockey builds toward “their” season. Trusting the process and sticking to the blueprint is imperative for present and future success. When is the right time to pull the trigger on a trade in the draft? How difficult are those trades to construct? How difficult is it to find the right trade partner on draft day?
“It’s definitely not easy, it’s no different when teams call us to move down,” confessed Thibeau.
“It’s expensive to move up and it takes a lot of work.”
“Everyone is exploring different options, it’s something that takes time, it has to be something that is good for both teams, the team moving up and down, it’s all about finding middle ground and seeing you can find a match that is good for both teams.”
“It happens every year,” Thibeau said when discussing trading or acquiring first round picks.
“We did it a couple of years ago when we moved down and picked Loshing and acquired two other assets, it happens every year, it’s very doable, but it’s all about finding a partner that has that will or are willing who has a player in their mind that really and that they’re willing to part with additional assets to get.
“If you look at every draft there’s always someone wanting to move up, to get that player they really want, it’s a good thing, it’s part of being passionate of who you want, whether it’s the Wildcats or any organization, when a scout is passionate about a player, it’s up to the GM to see if they can move up to select that player for their scouting staff,” explained Thibeau.
It’s always intriguing to look back at the decisions made on draft day and access that success. There’s excitement in the air when it comes to the Moncton Wildcats and the next two seasons, but with that excitement comes even more options and speculation on the direction they will take especially after the decision not to enter into the running to host the 2025 Memorial Cup.
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