Les Canadiennes add ten players in the 2017 CWHL Draft

With two veteran defenders confirmed leaving, and a third at Team Canada’s Olympic camp, Les Canadiennes focused on bolstering their blue-line and added a potential superstar at forward.

However, it is possible that they won’t have their first-round pick available to them until after the Olympics - if at all this season.

They used their first pick to draft the talented Mélodie Daoust out of McGill University. Daoust was on the 2014 Canadian Olympic team and is currently at Canada’s camp in Calgary for the 2018 Olympics. That means she would not be available to the team until after the Olympics unless she does not make the final roster.

“Melodie Daoust is a strong player in every respect,” said Canadiennes general manager Meg Hewings. “She’ll be a great addition to our lineup and she’s really the kind of player we’ll count on to help us build the organization not only on the ice but off the ice.”

Daoust, from Valleyfield, QC, has played in the CWHL before as an injury replacement. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for teams to take players before they went to university to play for them before the draft started in 2010.

She was dominant at McGill University, and should provide Les Canadiennes with a significant boost whenever she gets added to the lineup.

With their next picks, Montreal went to shore up their defence drafting Laurence Beaulieu (Stoneham, QC) out of the University of Montreal, and Natalie Barrette (Belle River, ON) from the University of Windsor.

The team has already announced the departures of Brittney Fouracres and Carly Hill, and have Lauriane Rougeau at Centralization with Team Canada. Those three were regulars on the backend for Montreal last season.

“We always want to be shoring up the defensive corps,” Hewings said about the departures. “It was important us to draft at the defence position.”

“Beaulieu was a stand out at the University of Montreal. She’s mobile and also physical,” she said. “Barrette’s an obvious choice in the draft class this year. She was a standout at Windsor and she’s also an offensive defenceman.”

In the fourth round they selected Erinn Noseworthy, who played with Barrette at the University of Windsor. She had 11 goals and seven assists in 16 games last season. She is a native of Appin, Ontario. In round five, they picked goaltender Émilie Bouchard (Casselman, ON). She played in five USports seasons with the University of Moncton and University of Ottawa.

The team did not have sixth and seventh round picks, as they were traded to Boston in the deal that saw them acquire defenders Maggie DiMasi and Nachi Fujimoto.

They rounded out the draft with F Tracy-Ann Lavigne (Montreal, QC/Concordia University), G Marie-Soleil Deschênes (Ile-Perrot, QC/University of PEI), F Cindy Laurin (Buckingham, QC/University of Ottawa), F Lore Baudrit (Castres, France/University of Montreal), and G Shayna Dominique (Mistissini, QC/SUNY-Canton).

Canadiennes draft at a glance (Team/Level and career statistics)

Round 1 - F Mélodie Daoust (McGill/USports) - 79GP - 71G-96A-167P
Round 2 - D Laurence Beaulieu (Montreal/USports) - 60GP - 5G-17A-22P
Round 3 - D Natalie Barrette (Windsor/USports) - 71GP - 6G-38A-44P
Round 4 - F Erinn Noseworthy (Windsor/USports) - 64GP - 35G-31A-66P
Round 5 - G Émilie Bouchard (Moncton/Ottawa /USports) - 55GP 1.99 GAA, .927 SV%
Round 8 - F Tracy-Ann Lavigne (Concordia/USports) - 60GP - 7G-17A-24P
Round 9 - G Marie-Soleil Deschênes (PEI/USports) - 36GP 2.00 GAA, .931SV%
Round 10 - F Cindy Laurin (Ottawa/USports) - 59GP - 13G-10A-23P
Round 11 - F Lore Baudrit (Montreal/USports ) - 53GP - 7G-7A-14P
Round 12 - G Shayna Dominique (SUNY-Canton/NCAA DIII) - 25GP - 2.83 GAA, .919 SV%