In the Pipeline: Xavier Bernard

Team: Charlottetown Islanders, QMJHL
Position: D
Shoots:Left
Age: 19
From:Mercier, QC
Height: 6-foot-3
Weight: 203 pounds

Xavier Bernard is back where his hockey dream started: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Now a member of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's (QMJHL) Charlottetown Islanders, the Devils drafted 19-year-old defenseman has embarked on a playoff run in the very rink where he was drafted into the junior league. Bernard was drafted by the Drummondville Voltigeurs at the Eastlink Centre in P.E.I. in 2016. He was the Voltigeurs' first-round selection.
After two and a half seasons later, Xavier was traded from Drummondville to Charlottetown as both teams addressed needs heading into a playoff run. Bernard joins a Charlottetown blue line that has two other NHL draftees. The Islanders are one of just two QMJHL teams to have three NHL drafted blueliners.
Bernard is now competing with the Islanders for a chance to hoist the President's Cup, the QMJHL championship.
Three games in against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, Bernard's Islanders currently hold a 2-1 edge.
Bernard may be chasing the President's Cup right now, but the 19-year-old has bigger dreams for himself, which began to take shape in June 2018.

Bernard had to wait a while, but his name was eventually called on the second day of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft in Dallas. The New Jersey Devils made the selection of the then-18-year-old from Mercier, Quebec in the fourth round, 110th overall. Bernard was New Jersey's second pick of the draft.
Whisked through all the media attention, Bernard, whose first language is French, kept repeating: "This is so special for me. I'm just really proud" to the media that gathered around his podium.
It was a dream come true, as it is for a young hockey player to put on an NHL jersey for the first time as a member of the club.
"This draft isn't just for me," Bernard said at the time. "It's for my parents too, my brother and my grandparents. I'm so proud to have this jersey on. I'm proud and excited to be a part of the Devils family."
Bernard is a big kid. He's 6-foot-3, 203 pounds and has a big shot. After attending his first NHL camp in September in Newark, he was sent back to his junior team in the QMJHL to continue to gain experience. Devils amateur scout Pierre Mondou describes the importance of the time Bernard will spend in junior as a way to "gain the mileage in order to polish his game."
Bernard finished the 2018-19 QMJHL regular season with 25 points (6g-19a) in 66 combined games with Victoriaville and Charlottetown.
In 187 junior games, he has 18 goals and 48 assists for 66 points, with an additional 167 penalty minutes. He also boasts a plus-31 plus/minus over his junior career.
He was also a member of the CHL's Top Prospect game in 2018, which was where he met his future fellow-Devils draftee Ty Smith. Smith was New Jersey's first-round selection in 2018, while Bernard was the teams' second pick in the fourth round.
"I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg," Islanders head coach and general manager Jim Hulton told the PEI Guardian's Jason Malloy in February. "I don't think he realizes how good he is or how good he can be. He's a very humble young man. Once it comes together here, which it has the last few games, he has the ability to dominate games."
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When asked how he would describe his game, Bernard pointed to another French-Canadian defenseman, who has found significant success in the NHL: San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Opponents, he notes, should take note of his 6'3 frame: "I like to hit," he says with a smile. But what is important to Bernard is the focus on rounding out his game to become a complete defenseman.

Mondou has spent enough time with Bernard to be able to describe him as "a good kid with a lot of passion". And as part of the scouting report he provided to NewJerseyDevils.com, Mondou has noted the improvements in the young defenseman's game since the June draft.
"His skating is very good," Mondou explained. "Especially for a big man, he sees the transition well and has the ability to move the puck up the ice very well too. He is able to find his open teammates and when he has to, he excels at being the puck carrier."
That sentiment has followed Bernard over the course of his young career. Before he was drafted, Troy Dumville of NHL Central Scouting described Bernard as a player that "knows the game well, is a good defender and can find the open man when he has the puck."
But what impresses Mondou the most is Bernard's desire to improve his game through hard work. The Devils amateur scout has seen the defenseman play on multiple occasions and says there is one aspect of his game that may be the most impressive.
"I have seen him play so often," Mondou recalled. "I really cannot recall one game where he did not come out with a complete effort, the effort level is always there."
Follow Xavier as he and the Charlottetown Islanders continue their playoff run for the President's Cup by keeping up with the New Jersey Devils prospect on his social media channels:
Twitter:

Instagram:
Bernyy55