NHL Season Begins Tonight

The National Hockey League regular season begins tonight and there are multiple alumni on team opening night rosters for 2021-22. While no former Halifax Mooseheads players will play this evening, it should be an exciting season to cheer on these guys. 

For the last few years, there has been eight alumni with full time positions in the NHL while another one (Filip Zadina) has spent the time going up and down between the NHL and AHL but looks to have a full time spot on the Detroit Red Wings this season. 

Former Herd captain forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx has made the Anaheim Ducks opening night roster. Clearly the 21-year-old had a great training camp so it will be interesting to see how long Groulx is able to stay with the big club. Groulx turned pro last season after playing 3 and a half seasons with Halifax and another half season with the Moncton Wildcats from 2016-2020. In 42 games played for the San Diego Gulls, BO scored 10 goals and picked up 29 points for the club. 

Here is the full list of alumni on NHL teams' opening night rosters 
Jonathan Drouin, 26 - Montreal Canadiens (TBL 2013, 8th season)
Nikolaj Ehlers, 25 - Winnipeg Jets (WPG 2014, 7th season)
Benoit-Olivier Groulx, 21 - Anaheim Ducks (ANA 2018, 1st season)
Nico Hischier, 22 - New Jersey Devils (NJD 2017, 5th season)
Nathan MacKinnon, 26 - Colorado Avalanche (COL 2013, 9th season)
Brad Marchand, 33 - Boston Bruins (BOS 2006, 13th season)
Timo Meier, 25 - San Jose Sharks (SJS 2015, 6th season)
Jakub Voracek, 32 - Columbus Blue Jackets (CBJ 2007, 14th season)
MacKenzie Weegar, 27 - Florida Panthers (FLA 2013, 6th season)
Filip Zadina, 21 - Detroit Red Wings (DET 2018, 4th season)

Congratulations to Benoit-Olivier making the Ducks roster and good luck to all ten players this year. I'll have more alumni updates all season so keep checking back. 

Drouin and the Canadiens will kick off their season on Wednesday evening visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs at 8pm Atlantic time in the first game of the season to include a former Moosehead. You can watch the game on Sportsnet. Groulx and the Ducks hosts Ehlers and the Jets a little later in the evening at 11pm, in a match that can be seen on Sportsnet360. The Avalanche will not actually have MacKinnon in the lineup tomorrow night after he tested positive for the coronavirus today.