(Buffalo) It’s bustling with action in the hotel lobby Tuesday noon. Here we are in the middle of the National League evaluation camp. Agents, hopefuls and team leaders shake hands, take news, have a bite to eat.
At a table, half a dozen agents from Quartexx, the former firm of Kent Hughes, are grouped together. At another, Pat Brisson and JP Barry, two bigwigs of the powerful CAA agency, settle big files, unless they talk about Canada burning and the smell of campfire that invades Buffalo without stopping at customs. Who knows.
Crusaders throughout the day: Bill Armstrong, GM of the Coyotes of [insérez le lieu de votre choix]Daniel Brière, the man who blew up Twitter at the start of the afternoon by exchanging Ivan Provorov, Dave Nonis, new assistant to the GM in Calgary, John Sedgwick, the promotion major of the Canadian for everything related to the convention collective.
It is in this somewhat intimidating environment that we sit down with Mathieu Cataford, one of the QMJHL’s good hopes for the 2023 draft. He finds us with what looks like the turkey and avocado sandwich on the lunch menu, but with the salad as an accompaniment, rather than the fries that the most unruly will order.
“It would be stupid for a general manager to come and see me eating fries!” “says the young man from Saint-Constant.
“I’m careful. Guys can eat anything and it doesn’t show. Me, it goes up quickly! I’m a guy who likes to eat extra, so sometimes it’s hard. »
Cataford is one of the hopefuls invited to this evaluation camp, where the players chain interviews with the teams, sometimes go to dinner with DGs, before submitting to physical tests on the last day, Saturday.
At 18, Cataford dreams of the NHL, like his 105 acolytes here. His road to him currently passes through the Mooseheads. A happy coincidence for a young person whose idol is Sidney Crosby, originally from the suburbs of Halifax. “Growing up, it was as if people didn’t like to take for the Canadiens and took for another team, he says. Me, it was the Penguins, my room was painted in the colors of the Penguins. »
“I live near Cole Harbour, and at the entrance there’s a sign that says ‘Home of Sidney Crosby’. I have my photo in front of the sign! »
The waiter returns as he concludes his anecdote. “Send the bill to your room?” Cataford asks him. “I will not make the National League pay! “, he says, laughing.
Play the right way
Cataford comes to 36e rank of North American prospects, according to the list of the NHL Central Scouting. Within the Cecchini circuit, only Ethan Gauthier (16e) and Etienne Morin (19e) are better ranked.
“Everyone would like to go out in the first round, he admits. Me, I see myself at the end of the first round, beginning of the second. At worst, my agent doesn’t think I’ll make it past the second round, but that’s not guaranteed. Except it’s not where you hang out, it’s what you do after that matters. Tristan Luneau came out in the second round last year and is the defenseman of the year in the QMJHL. »
For the average amateur, he doesn’t have the sexiest profile. His 75 points in 68 games this season is a nice crop, but far from the 140 points of Jordan Dumais, his teammate with the league’s top scorer.
But the points won’t necessarily be his bread and butter. “Character”, “hockey sense”, he does not cheat, sums up a scout. “The kind of player that all coaches are going to love to coach. »
Cataford recognizes himself in this description.
I’ve always liked to score goals, I’m not saying the opposite! But I always had pride in blocking a shot to help the team win, to fall back. These are things the fans don’t always notice, but your coaches and teammates do.
Matthew Cataford
Later, he was asked about his best memory of the Mooseheads’ playoff journey, which reached the QMJHL final before losing in six games against Quebec.
“It’s funny, but it’s a defeat. Against Sherbrooke, in game 2, we lost 2-0. Dumais and two other players were injured. But we came back and tied it with nine seconds left. We ended up losing in overtime, but we knew that was the turning point, because we could play with them, even with injuries. And we won the next four games. »
His role in the equalizing goal? “I was hiding the goalkeeper. Did he get a point? ” No. It’s funny to say, but if I’m not there to hide the goalkeeper, maybe we don’t score. [Zachary] L’Heureux didn’t get a point either, but he won the race for the puck on the face-off. It’s not always the points either! »
As of this writing, 18 teams, including the Canadiens, have expressed interest in meeting Cataford. “I just want to be drafted by a team that will have a plan for me,” he says.
The interview draws to a close, not before the waiter returns “A man over there took care of the bill and told me not to charge you anything. Here is a benevolent agent.