CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Don’t expect anyone but Pierre-Olivier (PO) Joseph to wear the C anytime soon for the Charlottetown Islanders.
With the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League trade period opening up in less than three weeks and the Isles heading to Quebec this weekend, Islanders general manager Jim Hulton knows Joseph’s name will pop up. He’s fielded calls from his counterparts across the league and his message has been the same.
“Outside of heading to the mountaintop and screaming at the top of my lungs that I’m not trading him, there’s nothing more I can do,” Hulton said Wednesday.
The league’s trades period runs from Dec. 18 to Jan. 6.
RELATED: QMJHL Talk discuss Joseph, Screaming Eagles injuries and world junior invites.
Joseph, who turns 19 on Canada Day, was drafted in the first round (23rd overall) by the Arizona Coyotes at this year’s draft. But with Arizona being a young team with established defenders like Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers and Jakob Chychrun, Hulton is gambling on Joseph returning to major junior next season for another year of growth and development.
The six-foot-two, 161-pound Chambly, Que., native has three goals and 16 assists for 19 points in 22 games this season.
Hulton said he and assistant general manager Guy Girouard, who are both coaches with the Islanders, spoke with Joseph this week to tell him he wouldn't be traded unless the player requested it, which he hasn’t.
Hulton and others have raved about Joseph’s leadership abilities since he arrived in Charlottetown a few months into the 2015-16 season.
The Islanders moved a lot of assets during last year’s trade period to bulk up a team and take a run at a league championship, but one asset Hulton refused to include was Joseph. The team made it to the league semifinal before losing to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
Many hockey observers expected this year’s team to take a step back with the loss of key guys like Kameron Kielly, Filip Chlapik, Daniel Sprong, Francois Beauchemin and Alex Dostie up front, defenders Guillaume Brisebois, Nicolas Meloche and Carl Neill and goalie Mark Grametbauer.
The Islanders (15-9-1-0) are tied for eighth place after starting the season 1-6-1-0. And with the way they have played, the Isles brass is aware of what message a Joseph deal would send to a dressing room full of players who have done everything asked of them this season.
“It’s going to be hard to take anybody away from this group,” Hulton admitted.
The team has not decided if they will buy or sell during the trade period, but Hulton expected it wouldn’t be major moves like last year, but more tweaks to the roster.
Need to know
Wheeling and dealing
While some people suggest the Charlottetown Islanders must move pieces to acquire assets traded a year ago, a closer look at the deals shows the cupboards aren’t bare.
• The Islanders traded their first-round pick in 2018 to Acadie-Bathurst for defenceman Guillaume Brisebois, but did so having acquired Val-d’Or’s first rounder in the David Henley deal.
• The Islanders have their own second in 2018, but it is a frozen asset right now. If Meloche returns to junior this season, the Islanders send the pick to Gatineau to complete last year’s deal.
• If Meloche doesn’t return, the Islanders will send the second-round pick to Sherbrooke to get their 2019 second- and third-round picks back from the Neill swap.
• If Dostie doesn’t return to junior, the Islanders will receive a second-round pick from Gatineau.
So if Dostie and Meloche don’t return to junior, the Islanders will end up with a second in 2018 and their second and third in 2019 to go with Val-d’Or’s first in 2018.
