The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada was confident of being among the leading teams at the start of this season. However, for various reasons, the organization’s hockey committee had to readjust the plan in early December.
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In the first half of the 2022-2023 season, several tiles fell on the heads of the Armada leaders. First up should be one of the QMJHL’s top scorers over the past year, Patrick Guay, coming to Blainville-Boisbriand.
However, Guay was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the last NHL selection auction. The latter convinced him to sign a first pro contract rather than play a final season in the QMJHL. Guay has been rotating between the ECHL and the American League since the start of the season.
Then, in another possible deal with the Charlottetown Islanders, defenseman William Trudeau was also set to join the Armada. Once again, the Basses-Laurentides team went away empty-handed.
After being cut out of the Canadiens’ camp, Trudeau made his place with the rocket. He is now an indispensable player for head coach Jean-François Houle.
New game plan
There was also the case of Russian striker Ivan Miroshnichenko. The first-round pick from the last European draft failed to make it to America this season.
This bad news forced General Manager Pierre Cloutier and his team to revise their game plan that had been laid out from the start.
“We wanted to have a competitive and representative team that can fight in the first third of the league,” said Pierre Cloutier. After that, anything can happen.
“Due to the circumstances that we know, we had to readjust our goal. The goal was to bring back players with our identity. We can’t say we have a target audience for next year, but we can’t say the opposite either. »
“Our goal until the end of the season is to continuously develop ourselves. »
End on a high note
The Armada has shown encouraging signs in recent weeks. Bruce Richardson’s squad managed to hold their own against the might of the Courteau Circuit.
“We were competitive and our losses were no more than two goals apart,” said Cloutier. We have a young team with talent. We have a renewed chemistry internally. The best is yet to come. »
Barring a collapse at the end of the season, the Armada will make the playoffs. However, he could face a top team in the first round with seven rookies.
“With parity in the circuit, you never know what can happen. I wouldn’t bet against my team in the playoffs. We will take the opponent who will be in front of us. Our goal is to win. »