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Fantasy Summary

A responsible two-way center with quality hockey smarts and instincts that is looking for an offensive breakout.


Observations

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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

Attributes
Fantasy Upside 4.0
NHL Certainty 3.0
Country CAN
Position C
Roster Type Minors
Shoot/Glove Left
Date of Birth April 30, 1997
Height 6‘1”
Weight 192 lbs
Drafted 2016 Round 6; Overall: 171

Stats

 Season Team League GP G A TP PIM      Playoffs GP G A TP PIM 
 2008-2009 Sherbrooke Harfangs PeeweeQC Int PW2 0 22 0|        
 2009-2010 Sherbrooke Harfangs PeeweeQC Int PW2 0 11 0|        
 2011-2012 Sherbrooke Harfangs M15 AAAESMBAA24 10 1222 -|        
 2012-2013 Magog CantonniersQM18AAA37 10 2131 14|Playoffs5 2 46
  Team Québec White QGC-165 2 13 0|        
 2013-2014 Magog CantonniersQM18AAA22 7 1623 10|Playoffs11 4 610 12 
  Sherbrooke PhoenixQMJHL17 0 11 6|        
 2014-2015 Sherbrooke PhoenixQMJHL55 4 1519 32|Playoffs6 0 00
 2015-2016 Rouyn-Noranda HuskiesQMJHL63 20 2545 43|Playoffs20 5 1116 24 
  Rouyn-Noranda HuskiesMemorial Cup5 1 12 8|        
 2016-2017 Rouyn-Noranda HuskiesQMJHL59 23 2952 37|Playoffs13 6 511
  QMJHL All-StarsJr Super Series2 1 12 0|        
 2017-2018 Hartford Wolf PackAHL68 9 918 2|        
 2018-2019 Hartford Wolf PackAHL72 11 1526 18|        
 2019-2020 Hartford Wolf PackAHL13 1 23 4|        
 2020-2021 Hartford Wolf PackAHL4 0 11 0|        
 2021-2022 Colorado EaglesAHL39 3 1013 18|        
 2022-2023 LukkoLiiga51 14 923 18|Playoffs5 1 12
 2023-2024 LukkoLiiga36 6 713 12|Playoffs3 0 22
  LukkoChampions HL11 3 14 2|        

Highlights