Sean Couturier's Drummondville Voltigeurs swept through the first round of the QMJHL playoffs, outscoring the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 21-12. Couturier scored 3 times and tallied 5 assists for 8 points in the four games. He posted 9 dangerous shots in those four games, or 2.25 per game. That's slightly lower, but not significant, than his 2.379 dangerous shots per game in the regular season, but those 9 DS accounted for 13.8% of Drummondville's total, slightly higher than his 11.2% in the regular season, but again, it's not significant.

What intrigues me about Couturier's performance in this series is his 24.25 faceoffs per game. He took 97 faceoffs and won 56 of them for a faceoff percentage of 57.7%

We don't know which specific situations Couturier is used in for the bulk of his faceoffs - even strength, short-handed, or on the power play, and we don't know which zones Couturier is being used in. If the scouts say coach Mario Duhamel isn't protecting Couturier to any great extent, his faceoff numbers are outstanding and yet another plus for the big man. He's being relied on to take more than a quarter of his team's faceoffs - much like Sidney Crosby and Mike Richards.

I believe that a big playoff performance from Couturier will cause his draft stock to rise to previous levels. If he continues with numbers like these, his "fall" will be a thing of the past.