Our Halifax Mooseheads have announced on social media that a couple of players will be attending NHL camps over the next number of weeks.
Brady James and Senna Peeters did not get drafted by any teams last weekend during the draft but according to the Herd, James received an invite to the Nashville Predators development camp. Halifax also tweeted that Peeters will attend Arizona Coyotes rookie camp. Dates for camps have not been released.
James, a goaltender, was a rookie this past season with the Mooseheads and joined the team after Alexis Gravel decided to come back to the team. The 18 year old was 6-11-0 with a 3.88 GAA and 0.887 save percentage in 2020-21.
Peeters, a right winger, registered 8 goals and 10 assists for 18 points in his second season with Halifax playing 16 games.
I'm sure we will see Zachary L'Heureux join Brady in Nashville for development camp after getting drafted by the club in the first round 8 days ago. It's been a very busy week actually for L'Heureux who signed an entry level contract with the Predators and is currently in Calgary participating in Team Canada's World Junior Summer Showcase camp after being named to the roster on July 21.
Several other Mooseheads should be attending development, rookie or training camps this summer. Elliot Desnoyers (2020 PHI), Justin Barron (2020 COL), Robert Orr (2021 CAR) and Cameron Whynot (2021 CGY) have all been drafted in the NHL.
Beginning with the 2021-22 season, the new partnerships include approximately 30 regular-season games each year delivered by TSN, in addition to select playoff coverage and the comprehensive suite of CHL national events. Additionally, the agreement includes approximately 20 French-language broadcasted games on RDS, early-season weekend games broadcasted by CBC Sports, as well as digital streaming rights featuring a CHL TV broadcast each week during the regular season on TSN, RDS, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.
Sportsnet has been home to CHL games since 1998 and signed a 12 year extension back in 2014 through to the 2025-26 season.
TSN already hosts many events on the hockey schedule including the yearly World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. If the Halifax Mooseheads are apart of any of the broadcasts this year, I'll let you know. I hope they are as it's been a couple of years since our team has been in the spotlight.
The 2021 National Hockey League entry draft was held virtually once again this past weekend
The Buffalo Sabres had the first overall selection on Friday and selected defenceman Owen Power who had spent most of the season as the projected #1 pick.
Expansion club Seattle Kraken made their first selection in team history by drafting Matty Beniers of the University of Michigan at the #2 spot. Three of the top 5 picks played the 2020-21 season with the Michigan Wolverines team.
Zachary L'Heureux of our Halifax Mooseheads was picked 27th overall by the Nashville Predators. Nashville actually traded picks to move up to select Zachary.
There were a total of 24 players QMJHL players drafted over the two days. Herd defenceman Cameron Whynot is headed out west after being selected by the Calgary Flames 89th overall while Robert Orr had to wait until the 5th round (#136) to hear his name called by the Carolina Hurricanes
Montreal, QC is expected to host the 2022 NHL Draft after not being able to in 2020.
A former Halifax Mooseheads player has been traded back to the team that originally drafted him. Jakub Voracek, who played for the Herd from 2006-08, was moved by the Philadelphia Flyers during draft day to the Columbus Blue Jackets in returned for Cam Atkinson.
Voracek was selected seventh overall in 2007 by Columbus and made the team in 2008-09. He collected 134 points in three seasons before being traded to Philadelphia in 2011. Over the last 10 years, the Kladno, Czech Republic native has scored 604 points (177G & 427A) in 727 games played for the Flyers. His best season was in 2017-18 and he was named to the NHL First All-Star team in 2014-15.
From the press release; 'The winger played junior hockey for the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 2006-08, finishing with 56-131-187 in 112 games. He captured the league's Rookie of the Year and Offensive Rookie of the Year (Michel Bergeron Trophy) after leading QMJHL rookies in assists and points with 23-63-86 in 59 appearances in 2006-07.'
There will be a 32nd team in the National Hockey League when the 2021-22 season begins in September as the Seattle Kraken have joined as an expansion team. The Kraken need players and will draft their roster from 30 of the 31 current clubs on July 21, which you can watch at 8 p.m. ET on Sportsnet.
NHL clubs are allowed to protect 8 skaters and 1 goaltender OR 7 forwards, 3 defencemen and one goalie against Seattle drafting them. For full rules of the expansion draft, which are the same to the ones the Vegas Golden Knights had to follow in 2017, click here. The Knights are exempt from the draft as they are the most recent team to join the NHL.
There are a handful of former Halifax Mooseheads that have been left unprotected.
Here's a list of who is available to Las Vegas via NHL: Jonathan Drouin - Montreal Canadiens Jakub Voracek - Philadelphia Flyers Martin Frk - Los Angeles Kings Otto Somppi - Tampa Bay Lightning Zach Fucale - Washington Capitals
Meanwhile, Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Nico Hischier (New Jersey), MacKenzie Weegar (Florida), Nikolaj Ehlers (Winnipeg), Timo Meier (San Jose) and Brad Marchand (Boston) were all protected by their respective clubs.
Seattle will make their first entry draft selection on July 23 when they pick 2nd overall. The 2021 NHL Entry Draft will be held virtually once again this year with Round 1 being held Friday and Rounds 2-7 on Saturday.
Dom Ducharme has officially made it to the big leagues.
Former Halifax Mooseheads bench boss Ducharme signed a 3 year deal on Tuesday to become the 31st head coach in Montreal Canadiens history. The Joliette, QC native was named interim coach of the Habs back on February 24th and led the team to a Stanley Cup finals berth.
"Dominique has managed to set his system in place and establish himself as a head coach in a very unusual season with challenging circumstances. While our team has gone through its fair share of adversity, he has shown a lot of control over the situation as well as showing calm and great leadership. These are important qualities that we look for in a head coach and he fully deserves the chance to lead our team and take it to the next level", said general manager Marc Begevin.
Ducharme coached the Mooseheads for 5 seasons, 2011-2016, before moving onto the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The 48 year old hoisted the President Cup and Memorial Cup with Halifax in 2013. Congrats to Dom on the new contract.
VRANA I don't pay too much attention to the European leagues so I missed one of the alumni winning a championship during the 2020-21 season. Petr Vrana captained his Trinec club to a Czech Extraliga first place back in April. Ocelari Trinec won the best-of-7 series 4-1 with a 3-0 victory on April 26 over Liberec. Congrats to Vrana and his team on becoming champions.
MHL DRAFT A number of Herd prospects were also recently drafted into the Maritime Hockey League this past weekend. There was a total of 120 players that were selected by the 12 teams. Halifax drafted Travis Badcock in 2020 while the other 5 names below were picked in the 2021 draft.
Travis Badcock Rd 1, #5 Miramichi Jack Martin Rd 2, #19 Edmundston Logan Crosby Rd 3, #27 Pictou County Liam Welsh Rd 4, #46 South Shore Jack Milner Rd 8, #89 Truro Ben Wallace Rd 10, #109 Valley
Congrats to all the players selected.
TOURIGNY Former Herd head coach Andre Tourigny has yet another new team. The Arizona Coyotes announced on July 1st that they have hired Tourigny as the 19th head coach in the team's history and signed him to a three year contract.
The Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong had this to say; "Andre is a tremendous person and one of the best young coaches in the game today. He is a winner, a great teacher and a strong communicator who has a proven track record of developing young talent. We are confident that he is the right person to lead our team on the ice and we are thrilled to have him in our organization."
Tourigny coached the Mooseheads for one season, 2016-17, before leaving to coach the Ottawa 67's to be closer to home and his family. Congrats to Andre on the new gig and good luck in Phoenix.
TRAINING CAMP No word on when training camp will begin but the team has said they do have commitments from some of their players that they will be attending. According to Willy Palov, imports Attilio Biasca and Senna Peeters are returning for another season with the Mooseheads which is why Cam Russell didn't draft anyone else in the CHL Import Draft last week. Scott MacIntosh also tweeted out that Halifax will have it's last four American draftees at camp come next month. 2020 draft picks Brady Schultz and Henry Wilson along with 2021 picks Chris Battaini and Jake Freelove are going to attend. Hopefully Zack Jones will be at camp also, he had 5 goals and 13 points in 2020-21 for the Herd.
We're probably still another month away before we find out what regulations the Herd will have to follow this season and the team releasing details for training camp. With a Tuesday night game to start the pre-season, players will most likely arrive for camp the Friday before. I hope we get more info on everything sooner than later.
MOOSE TRACKS Our Halifax Mooseheads have come out with a new video, the first in what looks to be a new series called Moose Tracks and this episode showcases a behind the scenes look at the 2021 QMJHL draft day. Check out what happens in the Herd war room and hear what Cam Russell and Allie MacDonald have to say about the selections they made in the first round last month.
I hope they continue these as it would be cool to see more behind the scenes stuff throughout the season.
BURRIDGE Jeffrey Burridge, a Moose alumni who played for the team during the 2019-20 season, has been named Captain of the London Nationals junior B team. The Nationals play in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Burridge collected nine goals and 15 points in 56 games with Halifax. Read the London Press' full release here.
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE The Stanley Cup was awarded on July 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, about 3.5 weeks later than the trophy is normally won. Tampa Bay defeated the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the best-of-seven final series. Former Herd coach Dominique Ducharme missed the first two games of the final round because he was in isolation after a positive COVID test on June 17. He returned to coach the Canadiens for Game 3 but couldn't lead his team to a championship. Jonathan Drouin, who played for Halifax for two seasons, did not play in any playoff games so I'm not really sure if he will have his name engraved on the trophy.
The city of Seattle officially have an NHL team after they payed their final expansion payment a few weeks ago so there is now 32 teams in the top North American professional league. With it, the clubs will have a busy second half of July as the expansion draft goes July 21 and the entry draft is on July 23 & 24 before free agency opens July 28. I'm sure there will be lots of Mooseheads connections during these events. I will keep you updated as details become available.
CRAIG'S LIST Since we are getting close to the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button released his final rankings. There are three current Mooseheads players on the list which features 75 names in total. Sophomore Zachary L'Heureux is ranked the highest at #12 followed by Robert Orr at #57 and Cameron Whynot two picks later. For the full list, click here. L'Heureux was also ranked #30 by the NHL Central Scouting Services in their final rankings.
Hockey Canada has announced it's roster for the 2021 under-18 team summer development camp which will be held July 25-August 4 in Calgary, Alberta.
Three Halifax Mooseheads players that were rookies during the 2020-21 season are among the 45 invitees. Forwards Markus Vidicek and Jordan Dumais along with defenseman Jake Furlong have been named to the roster. Both Vidicek and Dumais scored 10 goals during the regular season for Halifax and finished with 31 and 29 points respectively.
From the press release; the players include four goaltenders, 15 defenceman and 26 forwards. Of the 45 invitees, two won a gold medal with Canada's National Men's Under-18 Team at the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championships in Frisco and Plano, Texas.
"This stage of our Summer Showcase is about bringing together the top under-18 players in Canada to work and learn from an elite-level coaching staff, giving them the necessary skills for their hockey development to grow and succeed,' said Alan Millar, director of player personnel for Hockey Canada.
Over the 11-day camp, the players will be split into two teams, Red and White, and participate in practices and intrasquad games. The camp will also feature combined practices and intrasquad games with Canada's National Junior Team on August 2-3. The summer camp is typically used to evaluate and select Canada's roster for the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, but Canada will not participate in this year's event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Congrats to our guys on being invited to the summer camp and good luck to all the players.
A couple of former Halifax Mooseheads players have won the 2021 Kelly Cup.
Defensemen Randy Gazzola, Matt Murphy and the Fort Wayne Komets are the ECHL champions. The Komets won the trophy on Friday evening after defeating the South Carolina Stingrays 2-1, winning the best-of-five series 3-1.
Gazzola, who played for the Mooseheads in 2012-13 for 39 games, picked up an assist in the game last night and was a +2. The Thorold, ON native finished the playoffs 2 goals and 7 points in 13 games played. Murphy meanwhile didn't suit up for the last few games but had 4 assists in 11 games during the post-season.
Congratulations to Randy, Matt and Fort Wayne on becoming Kelly Cup champs!
