It would be a blow to any NHL hopeful to have your dreams dashed due to a bureaucratic error. That is the unfortunate case for Shawn Element, who will not be going to the Chicago Blackhawks rookie camp because someone with the team forgot to send in the proper paperwork on time, making the 19-year-old ineligible to attend.
Element is the current captain of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He has not been drafted by an NHL team, but received an invite from the Blackhawks to attend their camp. According to Bryer MacPherson, Digital Media Coordinator with the Titan, the same thing happened to some players in the Western Hockey League (WHL), as well.
Element, a centre who stands six-feet tall and 190 pounds, has yet to play for Acadie-Bathurst. He was traded there from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in June of this year. In 2013, while playing in a peewee tournament, Element was hit from behind, damaging three vertebrae in his neck and back. He was just 12-years-old at the time.
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