SYDNEY, N.S. — The well-known junior hockey cycle is one fans hope ends with a championship for their team, but sometimes that is not in the cards.
The Cape Breton Eagles have fallen victim to the cycle — as eventually happens to all teams — but were not successful in winning a title.
The local Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team’s cycle came to a prompt end last March when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the playoffs and Memorial Cup.
Cape Breton had made additions to its roster acquiring Shawn Element, Tyler Hinam and Xavier Bouchard during the winter trade period and believed they had enough to be a contender.
Last January, the Eagles were icing the organization’s second-oldest team in its history with a 19.36 average age, only behind the 2002-03 club which had an average age of 19.38.
Flash forward a year later to today and the Eagles are a much younger team and will likely only get younger as the club looks ahead to its 25th anniversary in Cape Breton next season.
Although the rebuilding process began last June with the league’s entry draft, the recent trade of captain and leading scorer Element has proven the direction the team is taking in this year’s trade period — and it’s not a surprise.
“We’re slowly moving into that and progressively getting younger,” said Eagles general manager Jacques Carrière. “(We’re) hopefully banking on some talent. I think we had a good draft last year.”
Last week, the Eagles traded the 20-year-old Element to his hometown Victoriaville Tigres. In exchange, Cape Breton acquired 20-year-old forward Félix Paré, second-round picks in both 2021 and 2022 as well as a third-round pick in 2023.
“We’re fairly satisfied with what we got back,” said Carrière of the deal. “I had an agreement with Shawn that I was going to give him a chance to win. The plan was for him to win with us last year.
“Last summer, I told him if we were going to make a run he was going to stay with us, otherwise I’d give him a chance to go and win and that’s what I did, I kept my word.”
When the season began in October, the Eagles were icing the youngest team in the organization’s history with an average age of 17.91. Today, the team’s average age is 18.05.
Jérémy Langlois (2019), Zach Welsh (2019), Connor Trenholm (2019), Jacob Santerre (2019), Nicolas Ruccia (2020), Lucas Canning (2020) and François-James Buteau are picks from the previous two drafts currently on the roster. Jack Campbell (2019) and Jacob Squires (2019) have joined the team via trade during the off-season.
Among the Eagles prospects currently playing under-18 major this season, Keifer Lyons and Kian Bell have shown promise for the team’s future.
Lyons, a fifth-round pick in 2020, has appeared in nine games with the Saint John Vitos of the New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island Under-18 Major Hockey League, posting 14 goals and 21 points.
Dartmouth’s Bell, a 13th-round pick in 2019, is tied for the league-lead in points (17) with Cape Breton West Islander James Beaton — who was originally invited to the Eagles camp before the pandemic — and goals (11) with Nick Mahar of the Sydney Mitsubishi Rush.
“They’re having pretty good seasons,” said Carrière.
“There’s a lot of guys that we didn’t get to see in training camp because of the COVID-19 rules that only allowed us to invite 35 players to camp. It was too bad for us because it was a year when we had lots of picks and would have loved to see those guys in camp.”
The QMJHL winter trade period began on Dec. 20 and was originally scheduled to finish on Jan. 6. However, the league extended the trade period until Jan. 25 at 1 p.m. Atlantic time.
Carrière admits making trades has been difficult this year given the uncertainty of the second half of the season, playoffs and Memorial Cup due to the pandemic.
“You almost have to have a lawyer standing next to you when you’re doing trades because so many things are factored in that we don’t normally have — it’s pretty hard right now," said Carrière.
“Last year, we made trades and couldn’t chase our dream of winning a President Cup and going to the Memorial Cup, so I think lots of teams that are front-runners this year are thinking of that when they have a trade in mind.”
How difficult has the trade market been this season?
On Dec. 15, 2019 — only the second day of the trade period — 26 players found new homes after being dealt by their respective teams.
Meanwhile, this year, just over two weeks into the trade period, 22 players in total have been traded with three significant deals completed.
“It’s all created by the uncertainty,” said Carrière. “There’s talks going on, but nobody is ready to move right now because of the uncertainty.”
Last year, Cape Breton made five trades during the trade period. To date, the team has only made one deal, however, Carrière hasn’t closed the door on making more moves.
“We’re listening right now,” said Carrière. “We’re listening to see what’s going on across the league and if we can make our team better.
“The first and foremost interest is always to make our team better and that’s what we’re trying to do. If we do anything from now until the end of the trade period, it’s going to be with that in mind.”
Currently, no games are being played in the QMJHL due to an extended Christmas break. The league expects to resume action on Jan. 22 with protected environment events in Chicoutimi, Drummondville, Rimouski and Shawinigan.
As of now, no plan has been announced for the Maritime teams, however, play is anticipated to resume for those six clubs on Jan. 22 as well.
Eagles players arrived in Sydney on Sunday. The Maritime players are with their billet families, while the Quebec players are currently in self-isolation for 14 days at a local hotel.
Cape Breton’s next scheduled games are set for Jan. 22 and Jan. 23 in Charlottetown against the Islanders at the Eastlink Centre.
Jeremy Fraser is the sports reporter for the Cape Breton Post. He's been with the publication for four years. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @CBPost_Jeremy
