Wake up, hockey fans, the season isn’t over quite yet.

More accurately, the next season is just about to begin.

While the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League drafts (expansion and entry) are still a few weeks away, Thursday marks a critical day for the Lewiston Maineiacs and for the rest of the league’s teams.

While too many people will be clamoring to the big screens to see George Lucas’ latest attempt to fleece the American Star Wars-loving public, team officials, specifically general manager/head coach Clem Jodoin and his assistants Ed Harding and Jeff Guay, along with the scouting staff, will submit to the league a list of 16 names. The 16 teams that played in the 2004-05 season must submit a list of the 16 players they will each protect from their 55-man rosters from possible selection in the expansion draft.

In other words, the Maineiacs are going to pick 16 people who, unless a team is willing to trade two Sidney Crosby’s and a bag of brand new hockey pucks, will remain with the team at least through the entry draft, and most likely through next season.

The Maineiacs have some interesting choices to make. Do you keep a player like Alexandre Picard, who is almost assuredly playing in the American Hockey League next season, to prevent him from being snatched up in the expansion draft, or do you take the chance? How about Jonathan Paiement, also a potential 20-year-old starter and all-star?

Twelve of the names write themselves onto the list, but it is the final four that make things difficult.

Goalies: Is there a doubt in anyone’s mind that Jonathan Bernier is going to be phenomenal? He is the prohibitive favorite to be the No. 1 goaltender in camp in August. And he’s only 17! Protect him. Travis Fullerton is an able backup, and Marc-Andre Perron had a great year in Double-A, but to waste three protection spots on goaltenders may not be wise. Let’s come back to this one.

Defense: This is one area where the Maineiacs are deep. Michal Korenko, Chad Denny and Jonathan Cameron will only be 18, Sebastien Piche will be 17 and Brandon Roach and Paiement will be 20. There is a slight chance that the entire defense will be exactly the same next season, as it was last season.

Still, assume Paiement gone, if not to the AHL to the ECHL or to another team. He was unhappy here and it showed in his on-ice performance.

That leaves five with experience. Protect them all, and we’re down to 10 spots.

Forwards: Chicoutimi aside, Lewiston had the best young nucleus of forwards in the QMJHL last season, and they will only grow and, barring injury, thrive for two or three more years. Mathieu Aubin, Marc-Andre Cliche, Alex Bourret, Pierre-Luc Champagne, Eric Castonguay and Stefan Chaput are locks to be protected. They aren’t a bad first two lines, either. Protect them all, even if you may trade one later. That leaves four places.

On the fence

Now it gets murky. Four places left and plenty of talent to go around. Olivier Legault is the biggest player left on the roster, Maxime Mathieu has the heart of a lion and Marc-Andre Daneau will do anything he is told with the promise that he will be better for it. Keep them all, right? Well, what about Ryan Murphy, or Derek Bailey, or Colby Gilbert? All three will be 20 next year and will be risks at best to make the team, especially if this year’s entry draft yields a bumper crop of talent like last season’s.

And then there are Guy Belisle, Marc-Andre Crete (a defenseman, but still on the fence), Pierre-Luc Faubert (remember him?) and Jonathan Remillard (another defenseman that played in AAA last season).

The solution? Daneau, Mathieu, Legault and Fullerton.

That gives the Maineiacs two goaltenders, five defensemen and nine forwards. Don’t forget, just because a player is unprotected, doesn’t mean they will be snatched up, either. Each team has a list just like this, with the same problems and in some cases fewer solutions. Rimouski, for example, will be shattered, and with all of the quality 19-year-old players last season, there will plenty of 20s to go around for next year.

Just because the rain hasn’t stopped falling for a month doesn’t mean hockey season is over. Perhaps the most exciting time for the QMJHL is just getting started, and will culminate with the spectacle of the draft on June 4. Buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Justin Pelletier is a staff writer. He can be reached at [email protected]