The announcement of the retirement of Éric Chouinard’s jersey from the Remparts brings us back to a painful decision by the Canadian that has always been described as one of the organization’s worst mistakes in the draft.

It’s a long time ago, but this saga has always fascinated me because I think it’s unfair to blame the Canadian. And I think that most people who were in the same position as the CH would have made the same decision.

That means: Draft Éric Chouinard at 16^e In 1998, he went in the first round ahead of Simon Gagné, whom the Flyers selected 22nd^e.

Chouinard has played 90 games in the NHL while Gagné has 822.

In 1998 I was 10 years old. I hardly missed a Remparts match. They played for PEPS at Laval University. We were crowded but it was fabulous.

The city walls were too strong. They finished first in their division ahead of the Océanic, which included a certain Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards.

The Remparts relied on David Bernier, Martin Moïse, Philippe Tremblay and Gordie Dwyer, who beat everyone up.

My favorite was Martin Grenier, a monster on defense who later moved from the Avalanche to the Bruins as part of the Raymond Bourque transfer. The goaltender was Patrick Couture, who had a GAA of 1.85 and a save percentage of 0.934. It was crazy. It’s still the record.

And to this whole group we have added the two young 17-year-old sensations who previously played with the mighty Governors de Sainte-Foy (midget AAA): Éric Chouinard and Simon Gagné.

That year, Chouinard scored 41 goals, three fewer than Lecavalier. The son of Guy, a prolific scorer for the Atlanta Flames, he had an 83-point season. And all of this with a height of 1.90 m, a weight of 90 kg and as a middle player. He was Boy Scout nirvana.

When we compared

In terms of points, he is better than Alex Tanguay, Manny Malhotra or Rico Fata, all players who were drafted before him in the same year.

Simon Gagné played 15 fewer games than Chouinard this year, i.e. 53. And he scored 30 goals and 69 points. At 17 it’s really big.

But for me, and I wasn’t the only one, the “king” was Eric Chouinard. It was the tall center player who filled the goal. He didn’t run like the wind, but of course that didn’t stop him from achieving.

This didn’t affect the weaker Simon Gagné. He was also one of the first-round candidates.

The following year, Gagné exploded with 120 points, including 50 goals. But Chouinard was still dominant with 109 points, including 50 goals.

Simon Gagné surprised when he broke into the Flyers’ lineup the following year. But Chouinard did not disappoint when he returned with the Remparts. With Mike Ribeiro (who came to Quebec after starting the season with CH), Chouinard scored 57 goals in 50 games.

As you know, Chouinard had two very interesting seasons in his debut in the American League (75 points in 113 games), but he played only 13 games with the Canadian and got four points. CH then traded him to the Flyers for a second-round pick, which became Maxim Lapierre.

After a stint with the Flyers and the Wild, he headed to Europe where he had a brilliant 12-year career.

A life in ice hockey

Most CH fans don’t care that he had a great career in Europe. They don’t care that he is the top scorer in Remparts history and made a huge contribution to the rebirth of the Remparts.

For them, Éric Chouinard is another Réjean Houle disaster. A first-round pick that turned out to be a flop when Simon Gagné was available.

Photo credit: archive photo

Maybe Gagné had more potential or Chouinard had deficiencies in his game. But the reality is that few people would have looked up to Éric Chouinard at the time of the draft even if Gagné had been available.

And I hope that the Remparts’ decision to retire his jersey will allow as many people as possible to remember Éric Chouinard first and foremost as that electrifying player who put the Remparts back on the map with his extraordinary talent . .

He never chose to be selected ahead of Simon Gagné or to be selected in the first round. And he made a living playing hockey. There are only a few young ice hockey players who can make this dream come true. This does not include Chouinard’s involvement in ice hockey in Quebec, in the M18 AAA and with the QMJHL as disciplinary prefect.