It's QMJHL Entry Draft day

The 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft begins tonight.

Held virtually for a second straight year, the first-round will take place this evening beginning at 7:30 p.m. Atlantic. Like last year, the league will be streaming the event on its YouTube page.

Rounds 2-14 and the two-round American draft will take place on Saturday morning beginning at 10 a.m. Atlantic.

After trading away the eighth overall pick in the William Dufour deal, Saint John's first selection will be 20th overall - a pick acquired from the Charlottetown Islanders. This year's first-round features 20 selections due to two compensation picks being handed out.

Saint John currently has 10 picks in this year's draft.

Round 1, 20th overall (via Charlottetown)

Round 2, 36th overall (via Bathurst)

Round 4, 73rd overall (via Chicoutimi)

Round 5, 92nd overall (via Val-d'Or)

Round 6, 104th overall (via Quebec)

Round 7, 129th overall (via Charlottetown)

Round, 155th overall

Round 11, 191st overall

Round 13, 227th overall

Round 14, 245th overall

This year's event will likely be much more chaotic than in the past due to the lack of player viewings this season. Every team likely has a much different set of rankings.

“We’ve watched hundreds of hours of video for this draft,” said Sea Dogs head scout and assistant general manager Anthony Stella in a draft preview posted on the team website. “Luckily, we were able to see some players live who actually had seasons. It’s an unfortunate year because so many players didn’t get to showcase themselves, but that’s what also makes this draft so exciting. If you looked at each team’s top 10-20, they will be completely different. Talking with agents it seems 30 different players could be drafted in the top 10. I don’t anticipate Central Scouting’s list will be a good reflection of how the actual draft will go; I’d expect it to be all over the place.”

Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie told the Telegraph-Journal (paywall) he expects there to be a lot of teams making deals to move up and down the draft order given the differences in player rankings amongst the 18 teams.

One thing that does seem certain: Magog forward Ethan Gauthier will very likely go first overall. The Sherbrooke Phoenix have the first overall selection. After Gauthier... anything could happen.

The full draft order can be found on the QMJHL website.