Five QMJHL players picked in first round

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Five players from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League were selected in Tuesday's first round of the 2020 NHL Draft.

As expected, Rimouski Oceanic forward Alexis Lafreniere was picked first overall by the New York Rangers.

In five career QMJHL games against Saint John, Lafreniere recorded five goals and eight assists over three seasons. It's unclear where - if anywhere - Lafreniere will play until the NHL season starts up, which is planned for Jan. 1.

Dawson Mercer was the next QMJHL player taken, going 18th overall to the New Jersey Devils. Mercer's teammate in Chicoutimi, Hendrix Lapierre, went 22nd overall to the Washington Capitals. The two were watching the draft together in the same room.

Halifax Mooseheads defenseman Justin Barron was selected 25th overall by the Colorado Avalanche. Then, with the next-to-last pick of the first round, the Dallas Stars took Mavrik Bourque of the Shawinigan Cataractes 30th overall.

19 of the 31 players picked on Tuesday were from the Canadian Hockey League.

A few other tidbits...

• From Sportsnet: Lafreniere was the first Quebec born player to go first overall since Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003 and the first Quebec born skater to go first since Vincent Lecavalier in 1998.
• The last time Lafreniere was drafted? The 2017 QMJHL Entry Draft - which was held in Saint John.
• Sudbury's Quinton Byfield, who was selected second overall by the Los Angeles Kings, had two goals and an assist with Canada Black at the 2018 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge held in Saint John and Quispamsis.
• The Ottawa Senators... did something cool!?
• According to TSN, Mercer is the seventh Newfoundlander to ever be selected in the first round.
• On the NBC broadcast, Pierre McGuire compared Mercer to Mike Fisher and made some sort of bizarre reference to him marrying someone like Carrie Underwood.
• The Capitals hadn't selected a QMJHL player since 2010 when they picked Stanislav Galiev from Saint John and Samuel Carrier from the Lewiston Maineiacs (!).
• Barron joins Nathan MacKinnon, Ryan Graves and Shane Bowers as Nova Scotians in the Colorado Avalanche system.

Rounds two through seven take place Wednesday afternoon beginning at 12:30 p.m. Sea Dogs players to keep an eye on: Jeremie Poirier (ranked 18th amongst North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting), William Villeneuve (99th), Charlie DesRoches (179th) and Brady Burns (207th). Poirier is expected to hear his name called fairly early.

The Sea Dogs have had a player selected in every NHL Draft since 2014.