It has been reported by Mikaël Lalancette from TVA sports in Quebec, that Canucks prospect Guillaume Brisebois has requested a trade from the Acadie Bathurst Titans.

As Mikael mentions, Brisebois was selected in the USHL draft, by the Sioux City Musketeers in Iowa:

Musketeers selected in round 19 #295 Guillaume Brisebois 6.2 182lbs. ’97 LD from Acadie-Bathurst Titans. Welcome to Sioux City! #USHLDraft — SiouxCity Musketeers (@Musketeerhockey) May 3, 2016

Robert Legace at Acadie Nouvelle does a fanastic job breaking down whole situation here (in French).

GM of the Titans, Sylvain Couturier confirms (through google translate) that the Canucks prospect has requested a trade from the only junior team that he has been a part of:

“This whole thing may be a storm in a glass of water” he says. “Guillaume has the right to request a trade, but I still want to clarify that there is nothing irreparable. I would have nothing against the fact that William be with us next season.” “I say and I repeat, we love Guillaume. I do no want him. It was a good captain for us and he has good friends in the team. I always had a good relationship with him and Allain Roy. I’ll sit down with them to find a solution, no matter the direction we will take. We will certainly find common ground, “he says. “I had already spoken with teams and I expect to see what they will offer me, says the CEO. For the rest, I prefer to wait until the playoffs are completed before continuing my work. If we are to exchange William, it will not be to the detriment of the organization. The team must come first. It is not about to sit back in our reconstruction. “

It fair to suggest that Brisebois is trying to use leaving for the USHL as leverage, with hopes of being dealt to another QMJHL team.

The only problem is in that article, Robert Legace states that he has confirmed with the ‘US Circuit’ (google translate), that because Brisebois has signed an entry level contract with the Canucks, that he isn’t eligible to play there. Unfortunately, I can’t find anything to confirm or deny that report.

Players are allowed to transfer from the CHL to the USHL, but the ELC that Brisebois appears to be the issue. (Brisebois is obviously not eligible for the NCAA after this, given that he played in the CHL and has an ELC)

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It would seem odd for Sioux City to use a draft pick selecting Brisebois if they knew that he wasn’t eligible but it’s entirely possible.

This is obviously a situation that will have to play itself over time, but it’s clear that Brisebois wasn’t happy with the direction of the Titan’s and hopes to get into a better situation for his personal growth. The Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s have not been very good for the past two seasons finishing this season with a record of 27-35-3-3. They also concluded the past season with the second lowest goals for, before being eliminated in 5 games of the first round of the playoffs, after being outscored 22-13.

If Brisebois is traded over the summer to another QMJHL team, it will be interesting to see if and how much of an offensive outburst he will see. He has shown to have excellent vision and offensive instincts when given a chance:

#Canucks prospect Guillaume Brisebois’s goal today was a beauty. pic.twitter.com/pRIzeUVWP6 — Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) November 22, 2015

The issue was, that he was handling the majority of the workload for a team that just couldn’t score goals. He ended the season with a GF% of 43.45%, which was in the middle of the pack for his team. But given how much he was playing and the defensive responsibilities, it’s not surprising to see his GF% suffer.

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Brisebois is currently the Canucks highest drafted defenceman in junior, so how this plays out is of importance to the local team.





