Two London Knights heard their names called in round one of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.
On Friday night in Dallas, Texas, defenceman Evan Bouchard was selected 10th overall by the Edmonton Oilers and forward Liam Foudy went 18th to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Bouchard and Foudy were born in different calendar years but found themselves in the same draft class thanks to Bouchard being what is referred to as a “late birthday.”
Being born after the draft’s cut-off date of September 15, the Oakville native was not eligible last season. That gave scouts another year to watch him and it also gave Bouchard an opportunity to showcase all that he could do.
Heading into training camp last year, Bouchard would have had every expectation that he would play more minutes than he did in his rookie year, but surely the return of guys like Victor Mete, Olli Juolevi, and Brandon Crawley would see his role limited as he continued to learn and grow as a player.
When the dust had settled after the start of the season, Bouchard found himself as London’s top defenceman. All three of Crawley, Juolevi and Mete made the pro ranks. Mete played well enough to stay the entire season in Montreal. That meant that all kinds of responsibility had to be heaped on Bouchard. He could have struggled handling it. He didn’t.
In fact, when the Knights traded captain Robert Thomas to the Hamilton Bulldogs in January, The “C” became Bouchard’s to wear and he did that very well.
As a player, he was used in all situations and scouts and scouting services were impressed.
Mark Edwards is the founder of Hockeyprospect.com, a scouting service that pegged Bouchard as the 10th best prospect available.
Foudy will be heading to Columbus after his year took a turn as well. The departure of Thomas and other veterans like Cliff Pu, Max Jones, and Sam Miletic gave Foudy all kinds of opportunity as a top-two-line forward and he took advantage.
“He really showed his skill at the Top Prospects game,” said Edwards.
Foudy is a tremendous athlete. He still holds the OFSAA record in the Midget 400m hurdles. His mother won a silver medal in the 4 x 100m at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and his father played in the Canadian Football League and won a Grey Cup as a member of the BC Lions.
“Love the speed,” Edwards points out. “The power in those first few steps. I think he’s got one of the best top gears in this class. He obviously started putting the puck in the net. At the combine the feedback was fantastic. He was up in the top five in interviews among a lot of guys I spoke to. In testing, he was off the charts.”
From February 9 to the end of the season, Foudy had 23 points in 18 games for the Knights. Nine of those were multi-point games. The Toronto native will have the opportunity to return to the Knights for 2018-19 and look to pick up where he left off last year.
He will also have a chance to play against his brother Jean-Luc who was taken in the first round of the 2018 OHL Priority Selection by the Windsor Spitfires.
Rounds two through nine of the NHL Entry Draft will take place on Saturday from American Airlines Center.
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