1999–2000 QMJHL season
The 1999–2000 QMJHL season was the 31st season in the history of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The league grants the Montreal Rocket an expansion franchise, returning a team to the most populous city in Quebec. The QMJHL splits into four divisions, retaining the names Lebel and Dilio for its conferences. The Lebel conference is split into the West and Central divisions, and the Dilio Conference is split into the East and Maritime divisions.
The overtime loss statistic is adopted by the Canadian Hockey League. The QMJHL had previously experiment with a single point awarded for an overtime loss in the 1984–85 QMJHL season. Sixteen teams played seventy-two games each in the schedule.
Brad Richards of the Rimouski Océanic is the top scorer in the league, wins the regular season and playoff MVP awards, and three other individual awards at the season's end. Richards helped Rimouski finish first overall in the regular season winning their first Jean Rougeau Trophy, and their first President's Cup, defeating the Hull Olympiques in the finals.
Team changes
- The Montreal Rocket join the league as an expansion franchise, playing in the West Division of the Lebel Conference.
Final standings
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime loss; PTS = Points; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against
Lebel Conference
| West Division | GP | W | L | T | OL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull Olympiques | 72 | 42 | 24 | 6 | 0 | 90 | 339 | 256 |
| Rouyn-Noranda Huskies | 72 | 33 | 33 | 4 | 2 | 72 | 272 | 288 |
| Montreal Rocket | 72 | 29 | 32 | 6 | 5 | 69 | 276 | 313 |
| Val-d'Or Foreurs | 72 | 19 | 41 | 7 | 5 | 50 | 244 | 267 |
| Central Division | GP | W | L | T | OL | Pts | GF | GA |
| Shawinigan Cataractes | 72 | 37 | 25 | 5 | 5 | 84 | 295 | 257 |
| Drummondville Voltigeurs | 72 | 38 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 81 | 307 | 280 |
| Sherbrooke Castors | 72 | 35 | 28 | 7 | 2 | 79 | 267 | 255 |
| Victoriaville Tigres | 72 | 27 | 36 | 3 | 6 | 63 | 286 | 316 |
Dilio Conference
| East Division | GP | W | L | T | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rimouski Océanic | 72 | 48 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 102 | 370 | 274 |
| Quebec Remparts | 72 | 44 | 20 | 4 | 4 | 96 | 289 | 213 |
| Baie-Comeau Drakkar | 72 | 31 | 31 | 5 | 5 | 72 | 257 | 285 |
| Chicoutimi Saguenéens | 72 | 22 | 44 | 3 | 3 | 50 | 226 | 320 |
| Maritime Division | GP | W | L | T | OTL | Pts | GF | GA |
| Moncton Wildcats | 72 | 44 | 20 | 5 | 3 | 96 | 292 | 211 |
| Halifax Mooseheads | 72 | 41 | 20 | 6 | 5 | 93 | 316 | 259 |
| Cape Breton Screaming Eagles | 72 | 24 | 39 | 3 | 6 | 57 | 230 | 302 |
| Acadie-Bathurst Titan | 72 | 20 | 40 | 8 | 4 | 52 | 227 | 311 |
Scoring leaders
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
| Player | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brad Richards | Rimouski Océanic | 63 | 71 | 115 | 186 | 69 |
| Ramzi Abid | Acadie-Bathurst / Halifax | 72 | 67 | 91 | 158 | 209 |
| Simon Gamache | Val-d'Or Foreurs | 72 | 64 | 79 | 143 | 74 |
| Benoît Dusablon | Val-d'Or / Halifax | 72 | 47 | 88 | 135 | 63 |
| Marc-André Thinel | Victoriaville Tigres | 71 | 59 | 73 | 132 | 55 |
| Jonathan Roy | Drummondville / Moncton | 73 | 64 | 61 | 125 | 50 |
| Carl Mallette | Victoriaville Tigres | 69 | 49 | 76 | 125 | 97 |
| Brandon Reid | Halifax Mooseheads | 62 | 44 | 80 | 124 | 10 |
| Jérôme Tremblay | Rouyn-Noranda Huskies | 71 | 46 | 70 | 116 | 83 |
| Dominic Forget | Shawinigan Cataractes | 67 | 38 | 78 | 116 | 28 |
Playoffs
Brad Richards was the leading scorer of the playoffs with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists).
| Conference Quarterfinals | Conference Semifinals | Conference Finals | President's Cup Final | |||||||||||||||
| D1 | Rimouski | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| D4 | Halifax | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| D4 | Halifax | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| D5 | Baie-Comeau | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| D1 | Rimouski | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| D2 | Moncton | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| D2 | Moncton | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| D7 | Acadie-Bathurst | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| D2 | Moncton | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| D3 | Quebec | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| D3 | Quebec | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| D6 | Cape Breton | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| D1 | Rimouski | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L1 | Hull | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| L1 | Hull | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L5 | Rouyn-Noranda | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| L4 | Sherbrooke | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| L5 | Rouyn-Noranda | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L1 | Hull | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L3 | Drummondville | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| L2 | Shawinigan | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L7 | Victoriaville | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| L2 | Shawinigan | 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| L3 | Drummondville | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L3 | Drummondville | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| L6 | Montreal | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
All-star teams
- First team
- Goaltender – Simon Lajeunesse, Moncton Wildcats
- Left defence – Michel Periard, Rimouski Océanic
- Right defence – Jonathan Girard, Moncton Wildcats
- Left winger – Ramzi Abid, Acadie-Bathurst Titan / Halifax Mooseheads
- Centreman – Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Right winger – Marc-André Thinel, Victoriaville Tigres
- Coach – Doris Labonte, Rimouski Océanic
- Second team
- Goaltender – Maxime Ouellet, Quebec Remparts
- Left defence – François Beauchemin, Acadie-Bathurst Titan / Moncton Wildcats
- Right defence – Jonathan Gauthier, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
- Left winger – Simon Gamache, Val-d'Or Foreurs
- Centreman – Brandon Reid, Halifax Mooseheads
- Right winger – Mathieu Benoît, Acadie-Bathurst Titan / Moncton Wildcats
- Coach – Jean Pronovost, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
- Rookie team
- Goaltender – Ghislain Rousseau, Baie-Comeau Drakkar
- Left defence – Kirill Safronov, Quebec Remparts
- Right defence – Kristian Kudroc, Quebec Remparts
- Left winger – Frédéric Faucher, Drummondville Voltigeurs
- Centreman – Chris Montgomery, Montreal Rocket
- Right winger – Maxime Bouchard, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
- Coach – Pascal Vincent, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
- List of First/Second/Rookie team all-stars.
Trophies and awards
- Team
- President's Cup – Playoff Champions, Rimouski Océanic
- Jean Rougeau Trophy – Regular Season Champions, Rimouski Océanic
- Robert Lebel Trophy – Team with best GAA, Moncton Wildcats
- Player
- Michel Brière Memorial Trophy – Most Valuable Player, Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Jean Béliveau Trophy – Top Scorer, Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Guy Lafleur Trophy – Playoff MVP, Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Telus Cup – Offensive – Offensive Player of the Year, Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Telus Cup – Defensive – Defensive Player of the Year, Simon Lajeunesse, Moncton Wildcats
- AutoPro Plaque – Best plus/minus total, Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Philips Plaque – Best faceoff percentage, Éric Pinoul, Sherbrooke Castors
- Jacques Plante Memorial Trophy – Best GAA, Simon Lajeunesse, Moncton Wildcats
- Emile Bouchard Trophy – Defenceman of the Year, Michel Periard, Rimouski Océanic
- Mike Bossy Trophy – Best Pro Prospect, Antoine Vermette, Victoriaville Tigres
- RDS Cup – Rookie of the Year, Christopher Montgomery, Montreal Rocket
- Michel Bergeron Trophy – Offensive Rookie of the Year, Christopher Montgomery, Montreal Rocket
- Raymond Lagacé Trophy – Defensive Rookie of the Year, Kirill Safronov, Quebec Remparts
- Frank J. Selke Memorial Trophy – Most sportsmanlike player, Jonathan Roy, Moncton Wildcats
- QMJHL Humanitarian of the Year – Humanitarian of the Year, Simon Gamache, Val-d'Or Foreurs
- Marcel Robert Trophy – Best Scholastic Player, Yanick Lehoux, Baie-Comeau Drakkar
- Paul Dumont Trophy – Personality of the Year, Brad Richards, Rimouski Océanic
- Executive
- Ron Lapointe Trophy – Coach of the Year, Doris Labonte, Rimouski Océanic
- John Horman Trophy – Executive of the Year, Maurice Tanguay, Rimouski Océanic
- St-Clair Group Plaque – Marketing Director of the Year, Genevieve Lussier, Sherbrooke Castors