“We Haven’t Seen Enough of Him”

“We Haven’t Seen Enough of Him”

Life as a 16 year old forward in the QMJHL isn’t easy.

Life as a 16 year old forward in the QMJHL on a deep offensively gifted team is even harder.

That’s what life’s been like for Moncton Wildcats Shawn Carrier.

Carrier has had a very solid rookie campaign despite his limited role with the Cats.

As I wrote on August 17, 2023;

“Daniel Lacroix returns behind the bench and will possess significantly more talent throughout the line up than the last couple of seasons. Obviously, that’s every coaches dream to have more talent, but Lacroix will have his work cut out balancing the line up and making sure every player succeeds within their desired and given roles. Lacroix relied heavily on predominantly two and half lines and his top 4 a season ago. That can’t happen this season.”

Carrier has struggled to gain traction in the Wildcats lineup, but doesn’t mean he’s struggled.

Every time the tenacious gritty skilled forward stepped on the ice in whatever role he was given, he seemed to always impress.

From a scouting perspective as a player Shawn Carrier doesn’t leave you wanting more, but actually the complete opposite. From a scouting perspective “we just haven’t seen him enough.”

When given an opportunity Carrier has not only showcased his tenacity, character and compete level he’s showed his breakaway speed and skill.

Carrier has the potential to be a future game breaker in the league and beyond.

There’s no question, he’s the type of player that can drive offence, but is also the type of player that would do anything to help the team win.

“We haven’t seen Shawn Carrier’s best hockey.”

Clearly it’s hard to see someone’s best hockey in a limited role, especially on a deep team.

In saying that it’s easy to see and identify a future impact player by observing their intangibles, skill and character.

Shawn Carrier is a hard working throw back type of player that works hard in all three zones. There’s no backdown in Shawn Carrier, we just haven’t seen enough of him.

He’s on a tremendous trajectory, obviously, some scouts will point to his size and stature as being a potential hit on his path to the pros, but this kid plays a lot bigger than his 5”9 frame.

There’s a lot of similarities between Shawn Carrier and another former Wildcat forward who just so happened to be a 17 yr old on a championship team.

Comparisons and comparables aren’t always fair, but in Shawn Carrier’s case the sky is the limit.

This kid is a star in the making. We haven’t seen enough of him this season, but the best is yet to come.

Forget about the stat sheet and the 11pts in 56 games. That’s 8 goals in 56 games in an extremely limited 4th line role. We just haven’t seen enough of him, and that’s ok because from a scouting perspective we will see him a ton next season when he’s an impact forward in the QMJHL.