Who’s This Guy? – Nathan Beaulieu

As seen on YouTube: Canadiens’ first rounder Nathan Beaulieu and Jonathan Huberdeau, selected 3rd overall by the Florida Panthers, discuss playing for the same side at the Top Prospects’ Game and for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

MONTREAL, QC.–In light of the (very) short second development camp that just concluded and the fact that not all Canadiens’ fans may have been able to trek out to Brossard to see the eleven new potential future Habs involved, we here at All Habs want to help you get to know your prospects (and all your new Habs).  What better way to begin than the young acquisition that’s been turning heads since he was drafted just under two weeks ago, Nathan Beaulieu?

The Specs: First Habs’ pick in this year’s draft, Memorial Cup-winning defenseman with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL, born December 5th, 1992 in Strathroy, Ontario and is currently listed at 6’2”, 174 pounds.  Author of 12 goals and 33 assists in 65 games with the Sea Dogs last season, as well as a +44 rating.

The Skinny: Said to be a good skater and puck-mover.  Working hard to get his offensive numbers up but not necessarily at the expense of his skills on the back end.

The Stats (more of them, that is):

	Regular Season						Playoffs
Year	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	+/-	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2008-09	Saint John Sea Dogs	QMJHL	49	2	8	10	14	-4	4	0	0	0	2
2009-10	Saint John Sea Dogs	QMJHL	66	12	33	45	40	43	21	4	12	16	22
2010-11	Saint John Sea Dogs	QMJHL	65	12	33	45	52	44	19	4	13	17	26

What you’ve probably heard by now: That the Canadiens were lucky to get them when he did.  One of nine ranked members of his junior team and the second one selected, most observers had him around the late first tier, early second tier of the first round.

What you may not know: Nathan’s Memorial Cup win wasn’t the first in his family.  His father, Jacques, won it in 2005 as an assistant coach with the OHL’s London Knights.  Nathan also spent a lot of time around the Knights while growing up in London, and calls several of its alumni his friends.
NHL Comparable: Nathan models his game after Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings.Childhood hockey idol: Bobby Orr.

On the Sea Dogs’ memorable season: “After last year, we were losing a lot of tough players; [Mike] Hoffman, [Nick] Petersen, [Marco] Cousineau and guys like that, it was tough.  But you know, [after] the first ten games in we hadn’t lost yet, so we knew we had something special.  We were beating up on teams pretty bad, you know, and we knew that after Christmas we were going to add some players to the club and [it] was going to be special.”

On la langue de la Molière: “My mom actually taught my dad English […] I don’t know a word of French. Couple swear words, that’s from playing in the Quebec league, but that’s about it.”

On …music?: “I don’t like the heavy metal stuff. Some of the guys on the team like that, but I’m not into that stuff too much.”

Social Media User?: Yes! @n8THEggr8‘s follower count no doubt blew up after the 17th overall selection was made.