2015 NHL draft profile: Rimouski D Simon Bourque

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Without Flyers defensive prospect Samuel Morin alongside him, Simon Bourque, another 2015 NHL draft hopeful, would have had a tougher trip to the Memorial Cup.

At 6-foot, 184 pounds, Bourque has adequate size to play on the blue line, but when paired with Morin, there's a lot of things he doesn't have to worry about with the 6-foot-7, 225-pound Morin patrolling the corners.

"It's awesome," Bourque said earlier this month at the NHL scouting combine. "He's a big body. He makes a lot of room for me out on the ice. He's a great leader. He's a character guy. He loves the game and he's a great teammate.

"Sam builds his own room. Going throughout the years, guys get to know him better. They aren't scared, but they respect his space. He worked a lot on his puck moving. Just skating with the puck and passing the puck. I think it's worked out really well for him."

Bourque is a solid puck-moving defenseman with a good but not great shot. He's a player who can log big minutes and plays with a lot of heart. He was part of the equation that helped the Rimouski Oceanic get to the playoff round only to lose to the host Quebec Remparts.

In a breakout year, Bourque scored 10 goals and 38 points in 68 games. He'll build on that, and that's why he has a chance to get drafted in the third or fourth round of the draft. The Flyers definitely know about his rearguard, and if they value the fact he's comfortable playing with Morin, they might just select him if he's still available at a time that they're willing to grab him. The good teams do well in the early rounds and the great drafting teams find players like this in the middle rounds and get them to the next level.

Now, when asked if he met with the Flyers, his answer was interesting.

"Nope," Bourque said. "I didn't have a chance to meet with them."

It makes you wonder if the Flyers didn't talk with him because they had a huge list of players to interview and simply couldn't get to him. Either way, all general manager Ron Hextall has to do is ask Morin about him.

With 28 playoff games under his belt in the last two seasons, Bourque could be a future second-pair defenseman who might get overlooked in a deep draft like this one.

He wears an 'A' in Rimouski along with his skyscraper partner, and the Oceanic had a good run.

Now back to Morin.

Morin has improved a lot since the Flyers selected him with the 11th overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft. His offense is something that continues to emerge — he scored a pretty goal in the Memorial Cup with Bourque playing the point. Bourque gave the big man a perfect one-timing pass, which Morin blasted home.

There's some great continuity between the two, and maybe, just maybe, they can both take it to the next level together.

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