Alignment of the Oceanic: "Let's be patient", says Serge Beausoleil

In a press briefing Monday morning, Beausoleil admitted that he did not have all the elements to surround his star player, Alexis Lafrenière, who will play for his last season on the rimouskoise team.

We have the elements to be already very competitive. (…) Yes we have work to do, but I think we are extremely well positioned, he said.

At the end of the training camp, the Océanic has 16 forwards, 8 defenders and 2 goalkeepers. Among them are three European players and four 20-year-old athletes, while the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) only allows two European players and three 20-year-old players on each team.

We did something excellent with the whole team during this selection camp there and we went to look for elements that will serve us throughout the season in depth, but also to accumulate choices. important for the future.

Mr. Beausoleil emphasized that the market is saturated with good players currently. We adapted to the offers that were on the table, but they were not numeroushe says.

He adds that the mid-season transactions will be important and that the Oceanic will put the price to recruit missing items this winter.

Antoine Leblanc (drafted by the Océanic) during the junior draft in Saint-Jean, New Brunswick, in 2017. (Archives)

Photo: Radio-Canada / René Levesque

An impressive number of seven hockey players from the region remain with the team: veterans Ludovic Soucy from La Pocatière, Nathan Ouellet from Rivière-du-Loup, Anthony D'Amours from Trois-Pistoles and recruits Raphaël Audet and Luka Verreault from Rimouski and Christophe Chiasson of the Magdalen Islands.

The Océanic also announced Monday morning that it was acquiring Antoine Leblanc, a defender native of Sainte-Luce who played with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan since last year.

With the collaboration of René Levesque