How many players drafted in the fifth round by the Canadian in the last 10 years have played a game in the NHL?
Only one, and that’s Joshua Roy.
Since 2018, how many fifth-round picks have managed to score nine points or more in the NHL in less than two years after being drafted?
Only one, and that’s Joshua Roy.
Joshua Roy was drafted in 2021. No one else in that round, that year, had that many points in the NHL. Nobody in the fourth round or the third round either.
In 2020 and 2019, no fifth-round selection had managed nine points in the NHL two years after being drafted. The last one is Yegor Sharangovich, but he was drafted at 20 years old. Roy was 18.
About 15% of fifth-round picks manage to play more than 100 games in the NHL, according to a study by scout Jokke Nevalainen.
Does Koberstein and Staum mean anything to you?
In other words, statistically, that Joshua Roy played a game in the NHL is already an achievement.
Nikolas Koberstein, Matt Bradley, Casey Staum, Cole Fonstad… these are some of the Canadian’s fifth round picks over the last 10 years. Not only did none play a single game with the big club, but none played a single game in the NHL.
Aside from Roy, the only one who is likely to succeed is goaltender Jakub Dobes, drafted in 2020.
Yes, that shows that Trevor Timmins was often in trouble. But it also shows how extremely rare it is, what happened to Roy.
If he had been a first round pick, yes, it would be disappointing to see him start the season in Laval after a very respectable nine points in 23 games with the Canadiens last year. It was very promising. Like many people, I got excited imagining him in the top 9 this year.
But it seems like we’re forgetting… he’s a fifth round pick! There are 149 players favored over him in the 2021 draft. There are reasons. Like his defensive play and his involvement.
Already incredible
Despite this, the Beauceron proved to almost the entire league that he should have been drafted earlier, precisely by improving several facets of his game with Stéphane Julien and the Sherbrooke Phœnix in 2022-2023.
So much improvement that he broke through the Canadian’s training in his first professional year. It’s already incredible.
He is only 21 years old and has a bright future ahead of him. A referral to Laval is not abnormal. It’s the opposite. Everything he managed to accomplish so far was abnormal and remarkable.
We are excited by the young people of CH and that can make you lose your mind. You still have to be realistic.
