The promise of the Caps’ prized prospects from the Quebec League, Mathieu Perreault and Francois Bouchard, has caught the attention of the NHL’s web site. Tuesday’s superb feature includes some eye-opening assessments from Caps’ GM George McPhee. On Perreault’s size:
“While the knock on the 5-foot-8, 151-pound Perreault is his small frame, Washington General Manager George McPhee has looked beyond that in making his evaluation.
“He’s not a big kid, but he’s a very bright player and we’ve always said that if you’re good enough, you’re big enough,” McPhee told NHL.com.
We’ve been big supporters of Perreault’s since we laid first laid eyes on him at his first Development Camp, but in this piece he flexes a bit of moxie in responding to critics who see only his size: “I feel I’ve already proven I’m better than a sixth round player,” he told NHL.com. He is also inspired by another undersized Q graduate — Daniel Briere.
“(Briere) is a smaller player like me, but he’s not scared of anything and very smart on the ice,” Perreault told NHL.com. “He’s the type of player I want to become. Ever since I started playing hockey, my size has really been a motivating factor and the fact (McPhee) would say something like that means a lot. Really, though, my size is never something I think about on the ice. I just go out there and play my game as if I were a bigger hockey player. I won’t change a thing and if (McPhee) thinks I’m doing well, I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.”
Is there quality character stacking up high in this organization or what? In noting that Bouchard was among the final cuts made at 2007’s training camp NHL.com demonstrated that it had done its research on the Caps’ other Quebec prospect. This is the type of reporting that’s all too infrequent in mainstream hockey media.
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