Guérard’s tournament was cut short due to injury, but I thought he was having a strong tournament before he went down. He flashed some impressive lateral mobility for a bigger defenseman with the puck on his stick at the offensive blueline, showing a willingness to pull it to the middle of the ice to expand his options and fire low and hard shots on net that lead to rebounds in front. His reach came in handy in the defensive zone as he was able to take away time and space from puck-carriers rather effectively, forcing them to congested areas along the perimeter and closing them off along the boards. He made a few impressive stops defending the rush as well, demonstrating adequate enough footwork to stick with speedy attackers as they came down the wing and leveraging his wingspan to reach around them and knock pucks off their stick as they tried to make a hard dash to the net.

At 6’4 and 174 lbs Guérard already possesses above-average size and reach that will have scouts highly intrigued throughout the season. He’s still a very raw prospect, whose best moments came when he was able to leverage his reach to pinch down low in the offensive zone, kill breakouts and extend offensive zone sequences. Guérard also made a handful of shrewd step ups at the defensive blueline which stopped puck-carriers dead in their tracks and either create a loose puck or forced a dump-in. There were a few bobbling issues on pass receptions and retrievals, along with some loose gaps in his rush defending, but overall his play here made me optimistic about him as a QMJHL prospect.

Guérard got off to a fantastic start in this one, asserting himself all over the ice with aggressive instinctual play and utilizing his size and reach to create advantages for his team. In the first period he did a great job of timing his step ups at the defensive blueline, either forcing dump ins behind him or knocking pucks loose with shrewd stick checks. In the defensive zone he was winning battles below the goal line to win possession of the puck and was consistently making smart plays to open teammates that helped facilitate breakouts. He was proactive in the offensive zone early on as well, jumping down from the line along the wall to perform switches with forwards and even executing a couple of passes to the middle of the ice from along the perimeter. You saw him get more and more tired as the game went along, leading to errant outlet passes and poor puck rushes up the ice, but there was a lot to like about Guérard and his performance here.

Guérard played a simple yet effective game that saw him use his 6’4 and 174 lbs to his advantage on multiple occasions. I noted several intelligent and proactive reads in both the neutral and offensive zone to either step up on puck-carriers, break up passes or keep pucks alive on pinches along the halfwall in order to extend possession time. He was able to thwart streaking attackers driving the net on multiple occasions by either outmuscling them with a physical shoulder check or using his reach to knock the puck loose. His physical strength still lacks in certain areas, puck battles below the goal line especially, but this implies he still has room to grow.