Did the Predators draft Brad Marchand 2.0?
Power forward Zachary L'Heureux has drawn comparisons to the universally despised Boston Bruins star, in more ways than one.
Personal note: I planned on running this piece on Friday night after the first round of the NHL draft, but literally during Zachary L’Heureux’s media availability, the Montreal Canadiens announced they had drafted Logan Mailloux, thereby hijacking the proceedings. I didn’t want to let a good story like this be overshadowed by a tone-deaf choice by a tone-deaf organization, so I let it sit for a couple of days. I hope you enjoy it.
This past season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, there were a total of 57 suspensions handed out totaling 102 games. Zachary L’Heureux of the Halifax Mooseheads received four of those sentences and sat out 13 games. And he really managed to keep things fresh. Highsticking, flipping the bird at opposing fans, ripping the helmet off a player during a fight and spitting at an opponent were a few of his favorite things. If you total up the number of games served in suspensions in the QMJHL in 2020-21, Zachary L’Heureux sat alone and felt shame for 12.75 percent of them.
With that in mind, you’d be excused if you were under the impression that the Nashville Predators drafted Tom Wilson 2.0 when they chose L’Heureux 28th overall in the draft Friday night. But those who have watched L’Heureux more closely liken him more to Brad Marchand. Which is tantamount to choosing between a broken arm and a kick in the pills with steel-toed boots.
“I’d like to compare myself to (Marchand), of course,” L’Heureux said after his selection. “I have a lot of work to do to get to his level. But I’m kind of following in his footsteps with the journey that he had. It wasn’t always easy for him and it’s not going to always be easy for me. I like to be compared to him.”
Well, he’s off to a great start if his two years in the QMJHL are any indication. Because like Marchand, he’s developing a reputation and a growing list of enemies. According to his agent Allan Walsh, who enjoys the occasional confrontation himself, L’Heureux actually likes fighting. “He’ll text me after a game and say, ‘Yeah, I got three points tonight,’ and in big, bold letters, ‘TWO FIGHTS!’. He’s a power forward and a great power forward, big thick body and he likes to drive to the net. He’ll have two, three guys hanging onto him and he’ll still keep going.”
The first of his four suspensions came in early November when L’Heureux served four games for removing an opponent’s helmet during a fight (one game) and spitting at an opponent (three games). The fight came when, after a scoring chance, L’Heureux lost an edge and was taken hard into the boards from behind by Charlottetown Islanders defenseman Drew Elliott. L’Heureux gave as good as he got in the fight, but was cut in his mouth in the process of being fed a couple of rights from Elliott. On his way off the ice, he wanted to indicate that he was bleeding, so he did that by hocking a loogie of blood near the Charlottetown bench.
“After that fight, another player comes up and sucker punches him,” Walsh said. “So he’s got a mouthful of blood and he’s being kicked out of the game. And as he’s skating by the bench, he spit out the blood in his mouth. He said, ‘I wasn’t spitting at them, I was spitting my blood out at them.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, Zach, I don’t know if it’s good to tell it that way.’ ”
And like Marchand, the kid can definitely play. He’s exhibited that a number of times, dating back to the Canada Winter Games in 2019 when he scored 10 goals and 13 points to lead Quebec to a stunning gold-medal performance. One of those goals was the overtime game-winner in a 4-3 win in the championship game over a heavily favored Ontario team that featured fellow first round picks Brandt Clarke, Brennan Othmann and Chase Stillman, as well as Shane Wright, the early favorite to go first overall in 2022. L’Heureux was not exactly a one-man team, but consider the fact that he scored 10 goals in six games for Quebec, while the next highest scorer on the team had half the number of goals. After a point-per-game season with the Moncton Wildcats in his rookie year before getting traded to Halifax in the off-season, L’Heureux scored 19 goals and 39 points in 33 games, with 10-13-23 of those totals coming in his final 14 games. The Predators think the comparisons to Marchand are warranted, but Nashville scout J-P Glaude also sees some of the Tkachuk brothers in their newest prospect.
“He brings his A-1 game in the big moments,” Glaude said. “Having this in your organization, it’s hard to find these guys and we have it. When we interviewed players, we asked them at the end, ‘Why do you think we should draft you?’ And Zach L’Heureux responded to us, ‘You should draft me because if you take anyone in the draft and you put one puck in the corner, I’m going to get the puck. I’m going to win the battle.’ ”
Sounds an awful lot like a certain universally despised player for the Boston Bruins, doesn’t it? But if that universally despised player continues to put up elite numbers for a couple more seasons, he might find himself in the Hockey Hall of Fame someday. By his own admission, L’Heureux has a lot of maturing to do, but ask any hockey executive and he’ll tell you that he’d much rather have the problem of toning down the fire than having to start it.