Lucas Beckman’s goal this season was to dominate the QMJHL. That was going to be hard in Baie-Comeau, where his seventh-ranked .905 save percentage had led to only a 4-14-3 record on a rebuilding Drakkar team.
After a late December trade to the first-place Chicoutimi Saguenéens, Ottawa’s fourth-round draft choice in 2024 will now have that opportunity.
Soon after the QMJHL lifted their holiday trade freeze on Dec. 27, The Drakkar sent Beckman to the Saguenéens in exchange for 20-year-old defender Xavier Daigle, 18-year-old goalie Mathias Hernandez, a first-round pick in the 2028 QMJHL draft, and Shawinigan's second-round pick in 2026.
Beckman has been held out of the Drakkar lineup since late November with mononucleosis, but is eager to write a fresh chapter when he does get the opportunity to return with the Saguenéens. He will travel with the team to Halifax, Charlottetown, and Moncton from Jan. 15–17.
“I’m excited to get going. They’re taking care of me, I’m just excited to get going again,” Beckman told Sens360 ahead of his first game with Chicoutimi. Beckman is taking his schooling online, making the transition west from Baie-Comeau to Chicoutimi fairly seamless — and welcome for his parents in Montreal.
“My parents basically had to allocate a day to go up and a day to go back down,” said Beckman of the more-than-eight-hour drive from Montreal to Baie-Comeau, located up the north bank of the St. Lawrence.
Still just 18 years old himself, Beckman has already appeared in 95 QMJHL games over the past three regular seasons and playoffs with the Drakkar — and has another year of junior eligibility remaining, making the trade especially enticing for the Saguenéens as they make their playoff push.
The Drakkar, meanwhile, were stuck in the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Beckman had managed just four wins in 23 starts despite a competitive .905 save percentage. “I want to win, of course, I’m a competitor. It was hard to lose,” said Beckman about his final season with Baie-Comeau.
His resume includes a nine-game stint in 2023–24 (while he was in Grade 11), where he won seven of nine starts while recording a .938 save percentage and 1.32 goals-against average after serving as a post-Christmas call-up for the Drakkar, who set a franchise record that year with 53 wins.
“It couldn’t have been a better situation,” said Beckman about that season. He had the opportunity to get shots during practice from Hurricanes draft pick Justin Poirier, who scored 51 goals that season and currently leads the University of Maine Black Bears with 17 goals in his freshman NCAA season.
Beckman also backed up Charles-Edward Gravel in the playoffs as Baie-Comeau fell in the finals to the Drummondville Voltigeurs. “Even though I was the backup, I saw what it took, and I think I’m going to be able to bring that to this team, and hopefully bring us far,” said Beckman.
The 18-year-old is also ready to battle in the crease with the incumbent Raphael Precourt, who has played to a .910 save percentage and 2.21 goals-against average in 28 games heading into the weekend trip.
“I think it's going to be good for me. Of course, I love to play every game that I can. There's never enough, but also, you know, rest is good, and we're going to push each other to get better,” said Beckman.
“He’s going to play one, have a good game. I'm going to want to outdo [that]. You know, I think it could be a really good thing. No, it's never been a bad thing to have two starting goalies on one team. Last year, Moncton had [Mathis Rousseau] and [Rudy Guimond] and they had a lot of success with that duo, so hopefully, we’re able to do something like that and push each other.”
