QMJHL Entry Draft first round recap

The 2020 QMJHL Entry Draft continues today.

After last night's YouTube broadcast of the first round, the remainder of the draft won't be aired anywhere. Fans can follow along pick-by-pick on the league's draft page.

There were some concerns heading into last night's broadcast given the disastrous draft lottery show. Those concerns quickly went away though, as the league produced a high quality program with much of the same video that would have been used if the draft was held in-person.

Unlike the draft lottery, last night's show was broadcast from a studio. Commissioner Gilles Courteau announced the picks from a podium.

Behind the scenes! Here's what our studio looks like for the very first virtual #QDraft of our history! 💻 pic.twitter.com/QPAvR9FLJ1

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) June 5, 2020

The Cape Breton Post's Jeremy Fraser tweeted that 5,500 people were watching the broadcast at one point.

Saint John Sea Dogs alumni Mike Hoffman and Nathan Beaulieu were among the former QMJHL players to send video messages of "good luck and best wishes" before the draft started.

The only negative was the amount of time it took for trades to be confirmed, especially the Jakob Pelletier deal that was all but confirmed 45 minutes before the draft even started. But, again, trades taking a long to confirm is something that happens at in-person drafts as well.

All in all, this was probably the most entertaining thing most of us have watched over the past three months. Kudos, QMJHL.

The Sea Dogs have another busy day ahead of them. Here's where the team is currently picking.

Round 2, 34th overall (Rimouski)
Round 2, 38th overall (Sherbrooke)
Round 4, 59th overall (Bathurst)
Round 4, 70th overall (Charlottetown)
Round 5, 88th overall (Charlottetown)
Round 7, 120th overall
Round 9, 156th overall
Round 11, 192nd overall
Round 13, 228th overall
Round 14, 246th overall

More notes...

• TVA Sports' Mikael Lalancette broke the Jakob Pelletier trade about 45 minutes before the start of the first round. The Val-d'Or Foreurs traded a 2020 first round pick (eighth overall - ); a 2021 first round pick; along with a few other picks and a prospect in exchange for the the Wildcats forward. Here's a good summary.
• The QMJHL is well known for its draft production, and it started things off on a familiar note: a lengthy video tribute of the past season which was followed by a speech from the scholastic player of the year.
• The actual picking of players didn't start until 7:55 p.m.
• As expected, the Olympiques selected defenseman Tristan Luneau first overall. A University of Wisconsin commit, Luneau was with the team's staff and put a Gatineau jersey on. It was later confirmed that he'll join the team.
• An interesting note from RDS' Stephane Leroux: Luneau is the first defenseman to go first overall since Saint John picked Luke Green in 2014.
• After Quebec born players went back-to-back - Luneau and Antoine Verreault - Maritime players went back-to-back-to-back with Leighton Carruthers going third, Samuel Savoie fourth and then Evan Nause fifth.
• After much speculation about where Evan Nause would go, he landed with the Quebec Remparts at fifth overall. Nause went sixth overall to the Val-d'Or Foreurs last year but opted to play in the USHL. There was a report that Nause wanted to land with two Maritime based teams, which obviously didn't happen. Now we wait to see if Nause, who played with Cam MacDonald last season, reports. Patrick Roy believes there is a 75% chance he plays in the QMJHL.
• It didn't take too long for the first goaltender to be selected. After calling a timeout, the Foreurs selected the top ranked netminder in Vincent Fillion at No. 6.
• There was a lengthy delay heading into the eighth overall pick due to the Foreurs/Wildcats trade being finalized. The delay was also due to Moncton swapping the eighth overall pick to Gatineau for a first (13th overall), second (2020) and a third (2022). The trade gave Gatineau four of the top eight picks in the draft.
• Defenseman Michael Mastrodomenico went ninth overall to Shawinigan. Willy Palov tweeted that the d-man is 50/50 on playing junior or NCAA.
• South Shore forward Luke Woodworth, ranked sixth by HockeyProspect.com and seventh by Central Scouting, slid to 11th where he was selected by the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
• The Wildcats finally picked at 13th, selecting Quebec born forward Yoan Loshing, who played in the GTHL last season.
• Halifax took forward Markus Vidicek with the 14th overall pick. A Lac St-Louis Lions product, the Mooseheads acquired Vidicek's teammate earlier this week in a deal with Saint John: Robert Orr.
• Leroux noted that Nathan Drapeau, taken 15th by Saint John, was the youngest player picked on Friday night. He turns 16 on Dec. 28.
• Bathurst also went to the GTHL at No. 16, taking Moncton native Lane Hinkley at 16.
• Moncton Flyers defenseman Dyllan Gill was the final pick of the first round, going 20th to Rouyn-Noranda. The broadcast ended rather abruptly and didn't give Gill a highlight package like the rest of the drafted players were given.
• One of the biggest slides of round one was Justin Cote, who remains undrafted. He was ranked sixth by Central Scouting and 14th by HockeyProspect.com. He'll likely go early in today's second round.
• Four New Brunswickers were taken in the opening round. Two Nova Scotians went.
• We knew this was going to be a defense heavy draft: nine of the players picked in the first round were d-men.