PWHL New York swooped in front of PWHL Montreal and PWHL Boston who were both set to select U Sports star Emmy Fecteau. Boston grabbed her with the 31st overall pick.
PWHL New York swooped in front of PWHL Montreal and PWHL Boston who were both set to select U Sports star Emmy Fecteau. Boston grabbed her with the 31st overall pick.
With the first pick of the 6th round, the 31st in the PWHL draft, New York selected from the Concordia Stingers, Emmy Fecteau. In Montreal, many people didn’t understand why the team didn’t pick her in the 5th round.
Well, according to what The Hockey News has learned, during the break between the 5th and 6th rounds, Montreal and Minnesota were about to make a trade in which Montreal would have advanced and picked third in the round, right after New York and Ottawa.
The reason?
To draft Fecteau, ahead of Boston, which had the fourth pick in the round. Boston was very interested in Fecteau, to the point they met with her a few times before the draft. It’s fair to think Montreal had done their homework, knew about Boston’s interest, and wanted to draft before them.
In the process, Daniele Sauvageau and her team forgot about New York, and especially who is running the hockey operations for the team.
GM Pascal Daoust is from Blainville, Quebec, so very connected to the players to watch in the province. Also, New York’s director of scouting and analytics is Christophe Perreault, who used to have those same titles with the Montreal Carabins in the RSEQ. He saw play Fecteau many times in the past few years, knew her very well and knew what kind of player he was selecting.
In Fecteau, New York is getting a two-way player, who can be very efficient in the middle six forwards. Plus, she’s a natural leader, in and out the ice. Since her season is over, Fecteau worked on her shape and has lost 15 pounds. This summer, she will start working with a power skating coach, in order to improve her skating and be ready for the training camp next fall.
As it ended up, Minnesota and Montreal didn’t make the trade, but Montreal took a timeout prior to choosing their 6th round’s pick, the kind of things you do when your pick gets taken by another team.