Season Preview QUE

[QUEsteve]

Team Name: Quebec Nordiques

Article By: Stephen Wilson

Players on the Trade Block: Hampus Lindholm, Jan Ruuta, Nikita Zaitsev, Sean Kuraly, Patrick Maroon, Austin Watson

Return Ask: Solid Pick(s) and a replacement player with HL, JR, SK... pick/prospect for NZ, PM, AW

New Era in Quebec

Season 22 is the beginning of a new era in the management of the glorious Quebec Nordiques franchise. Taking the helm in his first full season is GM Stephen Wilson. The cupboards were left pretty bare for Wilson upon his hire but luckily fortune was on his side early during the draft lottery.

The Nordiques won the 2nd overall selection in the draft and after reviewing the pro and farm roster as well as the prospect pool and draft capital, quickly decided to put the pickup for grabs, knowing that they would be trading away the opportunity to draft Matvei Michkov. Several offers came in within hours, but Florida made a pitch that could not be passed up. The trade netted the organization the depth they needed to rebuild by securing C/RW Ryan Leonard with the 6th overall selection, D Tom Wallinder with 18th overall selection, and C Oliver Moore with the 28th overall selection, and they still have an additional 1st round pick next year. Although Michkov may be the "best" projected player of the bunch, the package is impressive and already making their pro debuts.

A second trade of note was made with the New York Rangers who inquired about C Mason McTavish. Although the Nordiques valued Mason, the opportunity to land additional organizational prospect depth made sense. In return Wilson acquired FWD's Josh Doan and Joshua Roy, who both project as middle-6 wingers and the #34 overall pick, whom they used on a goal scoring prospect in Colby Barlow.

Long-term, the talent pool looks well-rounded however, the short term is not pretty. The Nordiques will be sporting a team this season that is more GRIT than skill but should battle hard night in and night out. High intensity checkers are found throughout the bottom-half of the lineup with Mitchell Chaffee, Jack McBain, Austin Watson, and Benoit-Olivier Groulx looking to make an impact on the forecheck. Offensively, the team will rely on Sean Monahan and Yegor Chinakhov to score the majority of their goals while Hampus Lindholm, Jan Ruuta, and Ryan Lindgren eat big minutes on the back end.

Desperation may be the true name of the game for the baby blue. Desperation to score goals. desperation to make saves. desperation to accumulate wins. GM Wilson has publicly stated that this will be the worse year he plans to have. He has set the goal for the team at 10 wins and competitive efforts each night while the young players grow. After this, the goal is to steadily improve until "La Belle Province" sees a true contender annually in the Stastny Division.

[HartfordWhalers]

Welcome to the Stastny. Looks like you're starting to build a scary team in a couple seasons. Great start.

Rob