As pointed out by our diligent links post maker the Leafs have likely passed on signing prospect Joel Champagne which means he will go back into the entry draft. As a blogger I feel like it's my job to ask "why?".
Champagne finished with 13 points in 16 games, dropping their semi-final matchup against Saint John in 6 games. He was one of the top faceoff men through the course of the playoffs as well, taking the second most in the Q with 436; Kelsey Tessier had 559 in an extra 5 games played. Champagne finished with a 58.5% efficiency in the circle, third among players with more than 100 faceoffs taken. I would expect him to jump to the Marlies next year. - Carl Peelash
Worth noting here is that Joel Champagne at 20 years old is 6'4" and 220lbs. He's a center who's excellent in the dot and seems like a good candidate to be a third line energy guy.
Maybe as a prospect he was lazy defensively, maybe as a prospect Champagne didn't hit enough; these things are irrelevant. Brian Burke has said he wants some big kids to play his style of game and passing on Joel Champagne while handing a contract to Brayden "Playdough ankles" Irwin (to quote mf37) seems like a terrible move.
We traded Jiri Tlusty for a big kid in the QMJHL: Phillippe Paradis. Let's compare their stats:
| Champagne | Paradis | |||||||
| Season | GP | G | A | Pts | GP | G | A | Pts |
| 1 | 62 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 45 | 11 | 12 | 23 |
| 2 | 70 | 18 | 22 | 40 | 66 | 19 | 31 | 50 |
| 3 | 52 | 24 | 37 | 61 | 63 | 24 | 20 | 44 |
| 4 | 65 | 38 | 41 | 79 | - | - | - | - |
Remember that Champagne is three inches taller than Paradis and also appears to be better on the faceoff dot. I asked Mirtle to ask around on this for us so hopefully we'll hear an answer on this, but on a Wednesday morning it's hard to understand this move and one wonders about Brian Burke's plan here.