Beaulieu showed early on in this camp that he possesses all the abilities to be one of the better defenders out of Québec this year. Despite his diminutive stature he still managed to be one of the more imposing and physical defenders, especially off the rush where he would use his high-end lateral mobility to force opposing forwards to the outside and close them out with a hard and low hip check. He was also effective in the open ice, utilizing precise timing to step up and nullify rush chances with a shrewd stick check or open ice body check. He showed versatility on his defensive zone retrievals, which allowed him to initiate crisp breakouts and controlled exits whenever he was on the ice. Beaulieu was either able to use quick cuts with his edges to gain separation from forecheckers to buy himself time to make a play to a teammate or draw in pressure towards him, shield the puck then make a subtle pass to space to his defense partner who had time to initiate the breakout.

Beaulieu had a rough start to the tournament, but I thought he got better and better as the games went on. His skating isn’t overly dynamic for a smaller defender, making it difficult for him to gain separation from forecheckers while wheeling around the net or rushing the puck through the neutral zone. His decision making was spotty early on, throwing outlet passes into covered areas and trying to force stretch passes that were easily intercepted. From the third game onwards, he started to reign in his game a bit but also began to demonstrate the traits that make him such a high-end offensive defenseman in the Québec M15 circuit. His retrievals became more deceptive, using subtle head fakes to shake off forecheckers. His footwork became more noticeable too, using his agility and mobility to beat incoming pressure rather than just trying to outrace them in a straight line. He showed great activation in the offensive zone as well, jumping into space whenever the opportunity presented itself to make himself a passing option. At 5’9 and 135 lbs he does have his issues defending bigger forwards along the perimeter in the defensive zone, but it will be interesting to see how much he grows over the course of this season and if he can maintain that level of offensive prowess in higher levels of play.

Beaulieu excelled the most getting pucks out quickly from his own zone, often opting to skate pucks out from behind his own net and use crossovers and powerful vertical pushes to gain separation from forecheckers and either move the puck up to a halfwall winger or skate the puck out for a controlled exit. He showed poise from the offensive blueline as well by keeping his head up with the puck on his stick and moving laterally to get himself to the middle of the ice looking for shooting lanes to open up. The rush defense is still a work in progress as there were a few times he got caught being too stationary and gave up dangerous rush chance, but with the toolkit at his disposal I think he has enough developmental runway to figure it out.

Although I did think he wavered a bit towards the end of the game, Beaulieu was still one of this game’s more effective and efficient players, especially on the defensive side of things. He was probably the best defender in this game when it came to retrieving pucks in his own end. He was consistently making strong plays in this regard by using his body to shield off forecheckers as he picked up the puck and made outlet passes to his wingers on both his forehand and backhand. He was also good at drawing forecheckers in towards him below the goal line before hitting a quick pivot out into space to initiate the breakout. I thought he was able to leverage his top-end skating ability to defend off the rush by gapping up on attackers and using his stick or body to remove them from the puck.

After a few underwhelming performances I thought Beaulieu had a standout performance in this one. He was using his feet to escape pressure from opposing forecheckers, displaying an impressive set of crossovers that allowed him to gain separation. His outlet passing was much improved from previous viewings, showing the ability to hit teammates accurately while under pressure. He was also activating much more in the offensive zone, using his skating ability and some deceptive head fakes to evade pressure at the blue line and get into the second wave of the defensive zone structure. He was also impressive off-puck, showcasing good awareness to jump into space in the offensive zone. He still lacks a bit in defending the rush, and it was a problem in this game, but I thought he showed more of what makes him such an impressive offensive defenseman in this one.