A steal by the Canadiens: the two men behind Joshua Roy's draft selection are revealed

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MarcO
January 16, 2023 (9:13 PM)

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When Joshua Roy passed to Dylan Guenther for the goal that won Canada the gold medal at the last World Junior Championship, all Canadiens fans were jubilant. No doubt because the Quebec forward belongs to the Montreal organization and his selection in the fifth round of the 2021 draft is a real steal.

However, it was a close call for Roy to be ignored by Habs management in the summer of 2021. It was two former players in the organization who made a difference in this matter.

According to the excellent journalist Kevin Dubé of the Journal de Québec, Serge Boisvert and Donald Audette insisted that the Habs consider selecting the forward from the Beauce region.

Boisvert and Audette, both Canadiens scouts and responsible for the Quebec territory, had seen and heard the same things as everyone else about Roy. He had decided to return home for the 2020-2021 season. Afterwards, he had asked the St-John Sea Dogs organization for a trade.

Roy blamed the management for the lack of coaching and was traded to the Sherbrooke Phoenix:

"We felt that his involvement was not always at 100%. Also, he had asked to be traded and when you do that, something is not right. On the other hand, we could see that he was not well supervised in Saint John and that had been replaced with Stéphane Julien, in Sherbrooke."

Thereafter, things have returned to normal for the young forward, but although he was on the list of the Habs for the 2021 draft, Roy was still available when the fifth round began. That's when Boisvert and Audette would have stepped in:

"When we got past the fourth round and took William Trudeau, Donald and I went and talked to Trevor [Timmins] and Martin Lapointe. We told them we couldn't pass up a talent like Joshua Roy in the fifth round. We had nothing to lose, and everything to gain."

Finally, with the 150th overall selection, Roy had become the property of the Montreal Canadiens. Boisvert was sure that another team would have selected him, made it this far in the draft.

"I was sure he would have gone at that rank. I thought other teams would bet on him."

We know the rest, Roy exploded with the Phoenix by winning the QMJHL scoring championship last year. He added two gold medals with Team Canada at the last two world juniors.

It's unclear at this point what kind of career he will have in the NHL, but if he does, fans and the Habs organization will owe Serge Boisvert and Donald Audette a debt of gratitude.