Zadina, Other Herd in Prospects Tournaments

Believe it or not, it's the beginning of September which means the professional hockey season is around the corner. Training camps for NHL teams start this week with rookies reporting. There are quite a few Halifax Mooseheads players who are attending rookie camps this weekend. None will surprisingly be heading to camps for Canadian teams.

Photo - Detroit Red Wings website

The Chicago Blackhawks have three players on their prospect tournament roster that wore a Mooseheads jersey last season. Alexis Gravel, Jake Ryczek and Connor Moynihan are among the 25 players listed for the Traverse City tournament. Gravel and Ryczek were drafted by the Hawks in 2018 and 2016 respectively while Moynihan was recently signed by the Rockford IceDogs (Chicago's AHL affiliate). Chicago will go against prospects from Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Minnesota, New York Rangers and St. Louis.

Speaking of Columbus and Detroit, these two teams will have a few Herd players on their rosters as well. Filip Zadina and Jared McIsaac will be part of the 21 player Red Wings team that is hosting this tournament which will be held from September 7-11. The big story will most surely be Zadina who had a great rookie season for Halifax scoring 44 goals and will be looking to make the big club this year. Alumni Maxime Fortier will play for the Blue Jackets. Fortier signed a contract with Columbus' AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters earlier this summer and is expected to play for them this season.

In another tournament; the Las Vegas Rookie Faceoff will have a few players participating. Antoine Morand and Benoit-Olivier Groulx will suit up for the Anaheim Ducks who will be joined by host Vegas, Arizona, Colorado, Los Angeles and San Jose. Both Groulx and Morand are expected to be offensive forces for Halifax this year. Antoine was drafted by the Ducks in 2017 during the second round while Benoit was picked 54th overall back in June. The Sharks announced their roster and it includes alumni Cavan Fitzgerald and Cody Donaghey. 22 year old Fitzgerald will try to impress the San Jose brass for a spot with the big club as he has spent the last two seasons with their AHL affiliate. The 6 teams will go head to head from September 8 to the 11th.

Other Mooseheads players who are attending rookie camps this week:
Jocktan Chainey - New Jersey Devils
Walter Flower - Tampa Bay Lightning
Arnaud Durandeau - New York Islanders
Otto Somppi - Tampa Bay Lightning

Good luck to all the current and former Mooseheads participating in rookie camps. Hopefully we'll see some of them in main camps as well.