A year after winning their third division title in franchise history last season, the Prince George Cougars missed the playoffs, mainly due to the process of losing their top offensive stars ahead of the 2017-18 WHL Regular Season, a reality many of their rivals in the division have no undergone. To build upon that, last year’s young stars are now a year older and with more of a stable footing in the league should provide a better effort than last year’s 58-point effort. Things still won’t be easy, but even with the introduction of new General Manager Mark Lamb, there was no big offseason shakeup of the roster, leaving the team’s young core in tact for the coming seasons. The Cougars capitalized on the value of both Dennis Cholowski and Josh Anderson at the 2018 WHL Trade Deadline, adding several assets for the coming years that Lamb will be able to play with to keep his team in the spotlight as a divisional contender. What the Cougars have now is a window with their talent like Gauthier, the Cougars will look to improve upon their 13-15-5-1 record in the B.C. Division last season and will get plenty of opportunity to compete for a spot in the 2019 WHL Playoffs.