Gabriel Fontaine

February 2021 – Fontaine seems to have gradually lost ground in the Rangers’ depth chart. The continued development of recent draft picks and the organizations appetite to explore free agency to fill out their bottom-six will likely force him to spend another full season in the minor leagues. Brayden Olafson

October 2020 – Despite a relatively unproductive and injury riddled third season in the AHL, Fontaine was given a qualifying contract offer of $770,000. In this case, Fontaine has little leverage that would warrant a better contract. In all likelihood, the 23-year-old center will return to Hartford with a goal of becoming a more consistent offensive contributor. With injuries in the NHL lineup, he may be given an opportunity to audition in the NHL, however, anything short of an excellent performance in the upcoming year will likely lead to him becoming an unrestricted free-agent in the summer of 2021. Brayden Olafson

March 2020 – The third-year pro has shown little offensive growth since graduating from the CHL in the fall of 2017. Although his production has been relatively stagnant, he has, at times been an effective 200-foot pro. A shoulder injury in November derailed his entire year though and we’ll likely have to wait for September to see him in action again. At this point his odds of becoming an NHL player someday are low. Brayden Olafson

March 2019 – The former Rouyn-Noranda Husky has continue to develop into what looks to be a better pro than junior player. Despite never clearing the point per game mark in the CHL, Fontaine has quickly found his way in the AHL, by making consistent contributions offensively, while retaining the tw0-way aspects of his game that earned him this opportunity in the first place. His future as an NHL player isn’t certain, however, the right amount of patience is seeming like it could pay off with this sixth-round draft-pick. Brayden Olafson

September 2017 — Fontaine played for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL in 2016/17.  The 20-year-old finished with 23 goals and 29 assist in 52 games, a slight improvement over prior year however strong enough to sign an ELC with the Rangers in April 2017.  Heading into 2017/18, Fontaine has been named to the roster for the NYR prospects tournament in Traverse City and is expected to challenge for a roster spot with the Hartford Wolfpack.  Fontaine is known for playing a responsible, two-way game down the middle and his NHL potential is more aligned to a bottom six forward role.  Geoff Kent

September 2016 – While he was passed over in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, Gabriel Fontaine showed that hard work and improvement will be noticed by NHL scouts. Fontaine, while playing second fiddle to a stacked Rouyn-Noranda first line, put up respectable numbers this year both in the regular season (20 goals and 25 assists in 63 games) and in the playoffs (five goals and 11 assists in 20 games). Fontaine will likely get increased responsibilities when he returns to Rouyn-Noranda this year as the team tries to fill the holes left by Francis Perron, Timo Meier, A.J. Greer, and Julien Nantel. Dylan Finan