BUFFALO — In his first days in Drummondville, the Voltigeurs initiated winger Dylan Dumont, a prospect the Sabres recently drafted in the sixth round, by throwing him headfirst into the fray.
They wanted Dumont, who possesses a slick skill set, to develop a more complete game as a rookie in the Quebec Maritime Junior Hockey League.
“Being able to contribute as much away from the puck than with the puck,” former Drummondville coach Sylvain Favreau told GNN Sports.
So while they awarded Dumont, who turns 18 on Aug. 17, opportunities to showcase his talent skating on the first or second line, they also took him a bit out of his comfort zone.
“We gave him opportunities to succeed, but we also gave him opportunities for failure, and not because we don’t like him, but it’s just for him to have those lessons,” Favreau said.
For example, Favreau said they had faith in Dumont to take defensive-zone faceoffs late in a period. If he missed a coverage, he learned a lesson that will stick with him.
“Those types of opportunities, he got a lot, and he really (had) a lot of success, and his growth was incredible,” said Favreau, who on Thursday was hired as an assistant coach by the Syracuse Crunch, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s AHL affiliate.
The 6-foot, 168-pound Dumont still thrived on the offensive side, scoring a team-high 28 goals and 44 points in 62 games for an overachieving club led by some 17-year-olds. Dumont’s numbers, significant for someone that young in major junior hockey, helped convince the Sabres to select him 188th overall June 27.
The speedy neophyte scored many of those goals off the rush and in front of the net by utilizing his best assets, according to Favreau, his skating and soft hands.
“He’s someone that can put the puck (in) the net, and in tight, he’s got great hands, he can finish,” he said. “He can finish off the rush with a good shot and shot selection, he moves his feet.
“Where he has to gain is on the physical side, needs to become a more complete player physically, and that’s going to come with maturity.”
In the postseason, Dumont scored four times in five games during the Voltigeurs’ first-round loss to the Val-d’Or Foreurs. More importantly, he and the other youngsters experienced the rigors of playoff hockey against an older, heavier team.
“You saw kind of good and bad, which is totally normal for kids that age competing,” Favreau said. “… It was intimidating for some of our guys to play against these guys, and probably why they had success in that first round against us.”
Dumont has the potential to be a sneaky good choice for the Sabres, who need an infusion of forward prospects in the organization.
The Sabres, having traded away picks, drafted just five players this year. They need to make their limited selections count.
Dumont did not attend the NHL Scouting Combine but said he had a “great chat” with the Sabres one week before the draft.
Following last Thursday’s session of development camp in LECOM Harborcenter, Dumont sounded thrilled to have been taken by what he called “an amazing organization.’
“It was a dream come true,” he said.
Dumont, who grew up about 30 minutes from Montreal in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, watched the Sabres’ memorable second-round playoff series against the Canadiens.
From about 400 miles away, he said he could feel the energy when the Sabres scored at home.
“The whole thing was electric,” he said of the entertaining seven-game series the Canadiens clinched in overtime at KeyBank Center. “The fans were unbelievable.”