St. Andrew's College has been producing NHL draft picks for a few years now but could have a first-rounder in 2024, which would put it ahead of the QMJHL, says Ken Campbell.
St. Andrew's College has been producing NHL draft picks for a few years now but could have a first-rounder in 2024, which would put it ahead of the QMJHL, says Ken Campbell.
Each year since 2017, St. Andrew's College, a tiny private school north of Toronto with an enrollment of 650, has produced at least one NHL draft pick directly off its varsity roster. It has also supplied a steady diet of Div. 1 college players, particularly to Cornell.
But this year, the school might have its first-ever first-round pick in hulking center Dean Letourneau, who scored 127 points for his prep school team this past season. He's 6-foot-7 and 210 pounds and growing, and if the team that drafts him doesn't convince him to play major junior hockey next season, he's off to either the USHL or Boston College.
That would represent one more first-rounder for St. Andrew's than the entire QMJHL will likely produce in this draft. In fact, the QMJHL hasn't had a first-rounder since 2022, when Nathan Gaucher and Maveric Lamoureux were taken.
Whether this is just a down cycle for the QMJHL or an indication that neither Quebec nor the Maritime provinces are producing elite players, it's a concern.
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