The Montreal Canadiens will be in the running for the first overall draft pick in this year’s NHL Draft.
There will be a huge focus on acquiring first round picks and top prospects ahead of the March 21st trade deadline. The Canadiens will be hoping to hit a home run and find a star prospect in the first round, but they will be lucky if they can find a player as good as the one they took in last year’s fifth round.
Joshua Roy slipped all the way to the 150th overall pick last year and looks like an absolute steal already.
The St. Georges de Beauces, Quebec native had some concerns about his work ethic and off ice dedication last year. His skill was undeniable, but his desire was a question mark. Well, it is not anymore as he committed to a better workout routine in the offseason as well as a stricter diet and his play on the ice has been unbelievable.
The 18 year old left winger is now leading the QMJHL in scoring, and is pretty much running away with the scoring lead after a wild weekend. His Sherbrooke Phoenix were playing a pair of games against the Victoriaville Tigres and Roy would put up nine points as the Phoenix outscored Victoriaville 18-3 in the two games.
Roy (#10 in the video) got his weekend started with a snipe on a power play. He walked into the slot and faked out an exhausted defender which opened up quite a lane for him. He took his time to pick his spot and then found it perfectly with a quick wrist shot.
His first assist of the weekend was a slick little back pass to his centre Julien Anctil. Anctil quickly moved the puck to winger Xavier Parent who cut to the net and fired a shot home from the slot.
His next assist was another quick pass to Anctil who got the puck to Parent again before the puck ended up in the net. Neither of these two assists will go on Roy’s highlight reel, but the quick puck movement shows the chemistry that has formed between these three members of the QMJHL’s most dangerous forward line.
Roy had just the three points in game one against the Tigres but was just warming up. Also, he added some tape to that highlight reel we just mentioned.
His first assist (of many, just try your best to keep track) was a simple play where he gets the puck on the right wing side and fires it to the net. It takes a fortunate bounce and his centre, Anctil, is there to open the scoring just 36 seconds into the game.
The trio of Roy, Anctil and Parent were at it again before the midway mark of the first period. This time Roy fired a rink wide backhand pass to Parent who immediately hit Anctil with a perfect pass and he one-timed it home.
Before the first period ended, Roy scrambled to keep in a puck at the offensive blue line. He then played pitch and catch with (you guessed it) Anctil before sending a perfect pass across the slot to a wide open Parent (you probably guessed that one too). Parent fired the puck into the wide open net to give the Phoenix a 4-0 first period cushion.
Roy extended the Phoenix lead to 6-0 halfway through the second period when he buried a short side shot on a penalty shot.
Roy was not done yet, He broke up a play in the defensive zone, carried the puck all the way up ice, found Parent in the offensive zone and had his fourth assist of the night.
Roy’s …one, two, three….four……fifth (right?) assist of the night came in the third period. There was a scramble in front of the net before the puck popped out to Roy at the point, where he is usually set up with the man advantage. He drew three defenders and the goaltender to focus solely on him as they expected a shot, but Roy hesitated for a second and found Israel Mianscum at the side of the net for the easiest of his 16 goals this season thanks to a pinpoint pass from Roy.
Roy is now sitting at 25 goals and 73 points in 37 games on the season. That is basically two points per game and the player is just 18 years old. He is leading the league in scoring by six points over William Dufour.
Even the Canadiens scouting staff should be embarrassed that this player was not selected until the 5th round of the 2021 NHL Draft.