(Nashville) Internally, at the Tampa Bay Lightning, a question always comes up in evaluation meetings: is such and such a player a “Bolt”?
“Bolt” is the nickname of the team, in English. And “being a Bolt” means showing character, being competitive, not counting the hours, and constantly striving to improve.
The Lightning found their man early in the second round in Ethan Gauthier. The Sherbrooke Phoenix forward thus became the first player from the QMJHL to hear his name in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Mathieu Darche, assistant general manager and director of hockey operations in Tampa, has always known Gauthier. He faced his father in the NHL. And he saw little Ethan score against the teams he coached in minor hockey.
So when he talks about how much he and the Lightning scouting team love Gauthier, it’s not just empty words.
Had it not been for a transaction made the day before, the young man would never have been able to put on the blue and white jersey. The Lightning weren’t expected to speak until the sixth round of this draft session. The team, however, traded Ross Colton to the Colorado Avalanche for a second-round pick, the 37th overall.
Quickly, a consensus emerged: if Gauthier was still available at this rank, we would not hesitate. That’s what happened.
Given the situation of the Lightning, the main interested party obviously did not expect to end up in South Florida. At the recent NHL prospect camp, he had met just about every team… but not this one.
You had to see him smiling with all his teeth, a few minutes after his selection, to understand that his surprise came with great happiness.
“I couldn’t ask for better!” he launched. They have a history of being a winning team; they have a good culture, an identity. They play with a lot of grit [combativeness], they play physical… It’s the best feeling of my life! »
Gauthier did not hide that in an ideal world, he would have liked to be chosen the day before. “As a competitor, you want to go out in the first round, have the stage all your own,” he said. But finding myself in an organization like that is better than the first round. There’s nothing that beats that. »
After the first round, he just crossed Mathieu Darche. Without revealing to him that the organization had him in his sights, the former Canadian simply told him not to worry about his draft rank. The Lightning is, in fact, an example of development across the league. Players drafted in the second (Nikita Kucherov, Erik Cernak), in the third (Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Alex Killorn), in the fourth (Ross Colton), even in the sixth round (Nick Perbix) have become integral elements of the training.
The message has been received. Because Gauthier has promised to show up for training camp and show that he is “as good, even better, than players who came out in the first round”.
It promises…
Minutes after Gauthier was selected, defenseman Étienne Morin (2nd round, 48th overall) and forward Mathieu Cataford (3rd round, 77th overall) became members of the Calgary Flames and Vegas Golden Knights, respectively.
In an ideal world, Morin too would have liked to be drafted in the first round, but he was happy to end up in Calgary. He enjoyed the contact he had with the management of the club and believes he left a good impression with his “cerebral” side.
Cataford had also had positive encounters with the Knights organization.
However, this vintage was particularly thin for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (LHJMQ), with 12 selections in total, including only 5 players from Quebec. In addition to Gauthier, Morin and Cataford, Quentin Miller (Canadian) and Justin Gill (New York Islanders) have found takers.
Gill confessed to being “a little shocked, but positively” upon hearing his name. In his third and final year of eligibility, he had prepared to leave Nashville empty-handed. However, he wants to “make the most of” the opportunity offered to him, after a dominant season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix.
The QMJHL nevertheless reached a historic low, sadly breaking the 1970 record of 13 selections. Its commissioner Mario Cecchini, present in Nashville, tried to put the situation into perspective. “I think we have some work to do,” he agreed. Citing a “cyclical” situation that “will go up”, he warned not to give in to “panic”. He will take “the time to analyze the situation”, he promises.
It should also be mentioned that Charles-Alexis Legault, who plays at Quinnipiac University, was drafted in the fifth round by the Carolina Hurricanes. The fact that he just won the national championship with Rod Brind’Amour’s son may not have hurt…
