At some point last season, Halifax Mooseheads head coach Sylvain Favreau felt the need to challenge scouts. It was about one of his players, Jordan Dumais.

While Dumais racked up a hundred points in his draft year, no one seemed to love this diminutive Quebec forward with great offensive ability. No invitation to the game of the best prospects. No invitation to “combine”. Relegated to No. 72 on Central’s North American list.

“I have challenged recruiter over the past year, Favreau says in a phone interview with TVASports.ca. If you make a video, show me how many times Jordan is no longer active in the game after being matched to the boards.

And the conversation ended there.

Favreau is not at all angry with these recruiters. Honest workers who know their trade, he says. He knows the reality in this environment. But let’s say today some of them bite their fingers for underestimating Dumais.

“Some said, ‘Yeah, maybe we missed our chance,'” says Favreau.

This season, Dumais is crushing the competition like very few 18-year-old players have in recent QMJHL history. With a staggering total of 130 points in 61 games, he is second in all Canadian junior majors to prodigy Connor Bedard. He is the first player in 17 years to reach such a plateau on what is now the Cecchini circuit.

“I can tell you that at the moment the Blue Jackets believe that they have committed a theft…” the Dumais coach starts on the phone.

The CH followed close on his heels

The Montreal Canadiens are among the teams that turned up their noses at Dumais. They spoke twice during the third round. First they targeted Austria’s Vinzez Rohrer of the Ottawa 67s with the 75th pick. Then Dumais was still available at the 92nd level, but we preferred Swedish defender Adam Engstrom – he’s doing very well these days too. Four rows later, Dumais was claimed by the Blue Jackets.

Several CH supporters, some more nationalistic than others, would have liked to see the organization opt for this local talent. However, it appears that the Habs have at least done their homework and shown a particular interest in Dumais.

“I really had no idea where I was going, but it’s safe to say I’ve spoken a lot with the Canadians,” the prime prospect told TVASports.ca. Much more than Columbus. In the end I didn’t really have any expectations, I knew that anything can happen in the draft.

“I spoke to the Jackets once during the season when they came to one of my games. After that there weren’t really any more discussions, in contrast to other teams with whom I talked a lot. Columbus was one of the silent teams.”

How come a prolific prospect like Dumais is ignored until 96th in the draft? It’s easy to blame the recruiters, but several factors made the evaluation in their case difficult.

Dumais is a minor player who has been elusive. His skating gave the handymen in the center a headache.

Credit: DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE/JOURNAL DE QUEBEC

“He’s a small player and they realized his skating wasn’t good enough,” Favreau said. But I think many people realized afterwards that he’s fast, even if his skating isn’t as fluid as, for example, Justin Barron, who we also saw in Halifax. People are right: It’s not a smooth skate. Only Jordan remains one of the fastest players. As far as I know, he gets from A to B faster than anyone else.”

One might have thought there were recruitment problems when Dumais, unhappy with his placement on the North American list, pointed out in an interview with La Presse’s Katherine Harvey-Pinard that the recruiters at Centrale were not “real recruiters”.

“Maybe the words he chose weren’t the right ones,” admits Favreau, who sees it mostly as an awkwardness on the part of a young man with healthy self-esteem.

The Mooseheads head coach has denied all speculation and canards questioning his player’s attitude.

“He has zero attitude problems. […] He’s an extraordinary little guy. He is a worker. He wants to be a hockey player.”

An artist

Sylvain Favreau struggles to understand the plays Dumais is able to pull off on the ice.

“He sees things no one sees. He waits a fraction of a second longer with the puck, or he acts a fraction of a second faster. He’s playing games and you’re like… Tabarnouche! You watch the video afterwards and you don’t know how he saw it. It cannot be taught. It is natural. It’s innate.”

Aside from that gift, Dumais is also a worker who, according to his coach, has qualities that translate to the NHL.

“Last year he was the first for the generated sales. He plays with vigor and tenacity and I think they saw that with Columbus at rookie camp.”

However, the main prospect has no illusions about the aspects of his game that his arrival among the pros could improve.

“I know I’m not slow, but I still have a lot of work to do on my skating,” Dumais acknowledges. I wouldn’t say my skating is really good. No way. I know that my skating doesn’t have to be average given my size, it has to be really good to get to the next level. I’m aware of that and I’m working on it a lot.

“Last summer I did one-to-one lessons with a skating coach every week. Sometimes twice a week.”

single track

After height and skating, there’s a third factor that explains why recruiters have taken the time to see Jordan Dumais in their soup.

Dumais embarked on a unique path: instead of progressing in the M18 AAA (a league once called the Midget AAA) like most of the most promising young Quebecers do, he turned to an American high school in the village of South Kent, Connecticut.

This decision affected his visibility and helped keep him a little under the radar when he arrived in the QMJHL.

“I wasn’t as well known as other guys who played in Quebec, but at the end of the day I think going to prep school, maturing and playing a lot more games was an advantage for me. over there,” argues the native of Île-Bizard.

Initially, the QMJHL was not planned, which explains the unusual route. You have to believe that there are several roads that lead to Rome.

“There should be premiership offerings in the NCAA in the United States,” Dumais explains. I wasn’t quite sure of my destination [avant d’opter pour la LHJMQ]. To be honest, when I was young I saw myself going to school and playing college hockey. Finally, I decided to trust my abilities as a hockey player.

Not a bad decision, in hindsight.