Filling Shoes and Patching Holes.
The Ottawa Senators are preparing to enter training camp. While a number of hopefuls are gunning for the right to pair with Erik Karlsson, blue-chip prospect Thomas Chabot sits in the driver’s seat to open camp.
The Ottawa Senators have a huge gap to fill on their blue line this season after losing Marc Methot in the 2017 Expansion Draft. The team brought in veteran Jonny Oduya to help stabilize the back end. Even so, expecting him to jump into Methot’s role will likely be too tall an ask. They also showcased a couple of prospects late last season, as well as during their playoff run, in Ben Harpur and Freddie Claesson. Both of these youngsters are poised to try their luck at making the big club this season.
However, no prospect in the Ottawa Senators organisation has quite as much punch however as the 2017 CHL defenseman of the year Thomas Chabot who recently won the QMJHL championship with his team the Saint Johns Sea Dogs.
The sky is seemingly the limit for 2015's 18th overall draft pick. Chabot is an incredibly smooth skater who’s agility is unparalleled. He’s very well rounded, moving the puck up the ice effortlessly and demonstrating great hockey IQ. Coming into 2015, he was seen as a little bit of a project, as he did struggle defensively. He wasn’t seen as having any individual high end skills other than his agility. Even Chabot had acknowledged that he would like to improve in many departments. And improve he has in the two seasons since then. His game has developed in leaps and bounds, and his numbers have consistently improved as a result. Thomas went from 41 pts in 66 games in 2015 to 45 points in 47 games in 2016 and finally 45 points in 34 games this season, as well as 23 points in 18 playoff games.
By the way, during those playoffs, Chabot averaged 35 minutes a night.
After being cut from the Ottawa Senators development camp for a very “average”performance last season, he used that shortfall as motivation and posted his best season yet, as well as turning in a dominant performance in the 2017 World Juniors. He stood out clearly amongst a loaded Canadian backend on his way to being named the top defender of the tournament.
Chabot is a QMJHL player. “The Q” has a reputation as being a league where players don’t always pride themselves on playing defence. This being the case, most QMJHL alums don’t develop the quality defensive acumen required to really challenge high end offensive players in their own zone. Compared to their CHL brethren (the WHL and OHL) there have been considerably fewer high end defensemen from Quebec drafted in the first round. In the past 10 seasons, only 8 first round defensemen have been drafted out of the Q, while the OHL has had 24, and the WHL 34.
Even then, most of the Q’s top defensive prospects have struck out in the pros. Dimitry Kulikov, Nathan Beaulieu and Simon Despres have been the three most successful. Kulikov posted 62 points in 57 games in the Q before being drafted. He made the Florida Panthers as an 18 year old, but he’s seen his offensive numbers completely dry up since then. Beaulieu has fared slightly better in some of the advanced analytics than Kulikov. His best season in the Q was after his draft year. He posted 52 points in 55 games, but failed to make the Canadiens for another two seasons. He continued to post underwhelming offensive numbers before being dumped on the Sabres this offseason. Despres has only played 49 games total over the past three seasons due to injuries. Not that he accomplished much while being healthy prior to that.
The WHL and OHL have each produced many quality players, NHL All-Stars and even a few franchise cornerstones in Drew Doughty and Alex Pietrangelo (OHL 2008), Aaron Ekblad (OHL 2014) and Seth Jones (WHL 2013).
It is important to note that Chabot has spent equal to or greater time than his QMJHL peers seasoning in the Q. He also has posted the best numbers of any of them, so nobody should be surprised if he became the best NHL player out of all of them. He could probably still benefit from at least half a season in the AHL before jumping into the NHL, but if he can live up to his soaring potential, he will undoubtedly become an All-Star and form one of the most lethal NHL pairs imaginable alongside Sens captain and top NHL defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Alec Avedissian is a hockey contributor for TheOcho.ca.
