Nathan Legare's Baie-Comeau Drakkar are in a bit of a rebuilding phase.
After going all-in last season and finishing tied for the No. 1 spot in the QMJHL's Eastern Conference with a 49-15-2-2 record, the Drakkar currently rank sixth of ten teams in the conference with a 21-23-1 record. In the recent trade period, they traded No. 2 leading scorer and captain Gabriel Fortier for a 16-year-old rookie and five high to mid-range draft picks.
With the trading period closed, Legare will remain with the Drakkar for the remainder of the season, and has already been named captain to replace Fortier.
Legare is the Drakkar's leading scorer with 23 goals and 23 assists in 41 games, a 15-point lead over any other Drakkar player still on the roster. That's production at a rate of 1.12 points per game, a slight dip from last year's rate of 1.28 points per game, but some of that can be attributed to the supporting cast not being what it was last season.
Legare has been on a hot streak as of late, with seven goals and six assists in his last 10 games. He scored goals in each of the Drakkar's last two games, although his team fell short of a win in both games.
On Jan. 18, the Drakkar went down 1-0 early in the first period. Legare scored a power play goal later in the period to tie the game:
The Drakkar fell 5-4 in overtime that game.
After a scoreless first period on Jan. 19, Legare opened the scoring 18 seconds into the middle frame, an unassisted even strength goal:
The Drakkar went on to allow the next five goals and eventually fall 6-3.
While Legare's offensive production is slightly lower this season, he's taking significantly more shots. Last season, he took 271 shots over 68 games, for a rate of four shots per game. This season, he's attempted 233 shots over 41 games, for a rate of 5.7 shots per game. His total 233 shots rank No. 1 in the QMJHL. The QMJHL also tracks their own statistic called "dangerous shots," of which Legare has 112, the fourth-most in the QMJHL.
Legare will still be too young to move to the AHL next season, as he just turned 19 a week and a half ago. Next season his options are still limited to the NHL or being sent back to juniors as a result of the NHL-CHL agreement. In 2021-22, he will be eligible to play for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Here’s how the rest of the Penguins’ prospects in juniors, college, and Europe did this week:
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FORWARDS
Judd Caulfield
Position: Forward
Size: 6-4/207
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, fifth round
Team: North Dakota (NCAA)
Season totals: 19 games, 3 goals, 5 assists
Caulfield played in two games this week and scored one goal:
Liam Gorman
Position: Center
Size: 6-3/196
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2018, sixth round
Team: Princeton (NCAA)
Season totals: 19 games, 3 assists
Gorman and Princeton did not play this week.
Filip Hallander
Position: Center/Wing
Size: 6-1/190
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2018, second round
Team: Lulea HF (SHL)
Season totals: 9 games, 3 goal, 3 assists
Hallander scored two goals in two games this week.
When asked in a Swedish video interview on Lulea's Youtube channel (that I spent about 30 minutes translating) if he'll be moving to North America next season, Hallander said "we'll see." And, before games, he eats pasta. He also likes to fish. Ground-breaking stuff.
Nathan Legare
Position: Right wing
Size: 6-0/205
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, third round
Team: Baie-Comeau Drakkar (QMJHL)
Season totals: 41 games, 23 goals, 23 assists
Legare played in two games this week and scored two goals.
Linus Olund
Position: Center
Size: 5-11/183
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2017, fifth round
Team: Brynas IF (SHL)
Season totals: 31 games, 1 goal, 6 assists
Olund was scoreless in two games this week.
Nikita Pavlychev
Position: Center
Size: 6-8/225
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2015, seventh round
Team: Penn State (NCAA)
Season totals: 17 games, 4 goal, 6 assists
Pavlychev was scoreless in two games this week. He got tossed in Penn State's Jan. 17 game for throwing a punch, but didn't receive a suspension for doing so.
Samuel Poulin
Position: Wing
Size: 6-1/207
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2019, first round
Team: Sherbrooke Phoenix (QMJHL)
Season totals: 31 games, 19 goals, 24 assists
In Poulin's second week back from his injury, he played in three games and scored two goals and two assists.
Valtteri Puustinen
Position: Wing
Size: 5-9/183
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Team: HPK (Liiga)
Season totals: 35 games, 13 goals, 18 assists
After missing two weeks with an injury, Puustinen returned and picked up one assist in one game.
DEFENSEMEN
Calen Addison
Size: 5-10/180
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2018, second round
Team: Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL)
Season totals: 33 games, 8 goals, 23 assists
Addison returned to Lethbridge for the first week since winning gold at the World Junior, and scored one goal and one assist in two games.
Santeri Airola
Size: 5-11/165
Shoots: Right
Drafted: 2019, seventh round
Team: SaiPa (Liiga), Kettera (Mestis)
Season totals: 2 games with SaiPa; 19 games, 7 assists with Kettera
Airola recorded one assist in one game with Kettera this week.
Ryan Jones
Size: 6-2/186
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2016, fourth round
Team: Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA)
Season totals: 24 games, 2 goals, 6 assists
Jones was scoreless in two games this week.
Antti Palojarvi
Size: 6-1/172
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2017, sixth round
Team: Lukko (Liiga), Lukko U20 (Jr. A SM-liiga), Hokki (Mestis)
Season totals: 5 games with Lukko; 14 games, 3 assists with Lukko U20; 12 games with Hokki
Palojarvi returned from injury this week and was scoreless in two games with Hokki.
Clayton Phillips
Size: 5-11/183
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 2017, third round
Team: Penn State (NCAA)
Season totals: 24 games, 2 goal, 7 assists
Phillips was scoreless in two games this week.
William Reilly
Size: 6-2/196
Drafted: 2017, seventh round
Team: Rensselaer Polytech (NCAA)
Season totals: 23 games, 7 goal, 8 assists
Reilly played in two games this week and was scoreless.
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