Hockey Canada announced their roster for the upcoming Hlinka Gretzky Cup and two Halifax Mooseheads sophomores will be participating in the tournament that begins today. Forward Mathieu Cataford and defenceman Dylan MacKinnon made the under-18 team meaning that they will be in Red Deer, Alberta for the next week.
Photo - Hockey Canada Twitter
Cataford, who was drafted by Halifax 6th overall in 2021, led the QMJHL's 16-year-old age group in points with 46 (17G & 29A) last season in 62 games. The Saint-Constant, QC native had a goal, an assist and a penalty in Canada's final pre-tournament match on Friday, helping the red and white to a 6-0 victory.
MacKinnon was selected by the Herd one spot before Mathieu last summer. He picked up a goal and an assist during the 2021-22 regular season in 52 games.
Congrats and good luck to Dylan, Mathieu and Team Canada this week. The home country will kick off the tournament tonight with a match against Switzerland at 7pm MDT. See the full schedule here.
A pretty big trade happened on Saturday in the National Hockey League and it included a former Halifax Mooseheads player. Defenceman MacKenzie Weegar was acquired by the Calgary Flames along with Saint John Sea Dogs alum Jonathan Huberdeau, Cole Schwindt and a draft pick in exchange for Matthew Tkachuk.
Weegar was drafted by the Florida Panthers in 2013 after helping the Herd to a Memorial Cup and has played all six of his NHL seasons with the team. Over the course of 306 games played, the 28-year-old has scored 27 goals and collected 121 points. He has one year left on his current contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
"This is super cool for me, playing in a Canadian market," said the Ottawa-area native. "I never really thought I would play in a Canadian markets. This is going to be super exciting for me and my family. Lots of history with Calgary. I got to watch them growing up, obviously a lot and seeing them on (TV) all the time. The fans here are so passionate. They're loud. When When Johnny and I have come to Calgary, and played against the Flames,, it has been crazy. Watching the playoffs and seeing the Sea of Red and stuff like that."
Some more signings from former players in professional leagues:
Herd alumni Bradley Kennedy has signed with Glasgow Clan of the Elite Ice Hockey League. The 26-year-old spent five years with the Mount Royal Cougars than played 5 games with the Fort Wayne Komets in 2021-22 after MRU's playoffs were finished. "I had a few good talks with the coach and watched some videos which gave me a really good feeling about the organisation," Kennedy said.
Former Moose captain Maxime Fortier is sticking around Europe after signing with the HockeyAllsvenskan's IF Bjorkloven earlier this month. The 24-year-old had 11 goals and 13 points in 29 games played for HC Ajoie of NL during the 2021-22 regular season.
A little closer to home, the St. Louis Blues announced on July 15 that they have signed forward Martin Frk to a one-year, two-way contract. Frk played six games with the Los Angeles Kings in 2021-22 season but was in the lineup for the Ontario Reign for most of the season, scoring 40 goals and 73 points in 58GP. The 6-foot-1 forward was originally drafted No. 49 overall by Detroit in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He has played in 124 career NHL games with the Kings, Detroit and Carolina, while recording 41 points (20 goals, 21 assists). Hopefully he'll be able to stay in the top league a bit more this upcoming season.
It may be the off-season but there is still lots that happen in the hockey world in terms of news so I thought I would catch you up.
Summer time is when players start to make university commitments if they haven't been invited to pro camps. A few universities have announced that some Halifax Mooseheads alumni will be on their rosters come September. On July 12, the uOttawa Gee-Gees announced that they have recruited Ottawa native David Lafrance for the 2022-23 season. The 21-year-old played this past season with the Herd collecting 6 goals and 14 points in 68 games played.
The same day, the Acadia Axemen have added defenceman Brendan Tomilson to their program this fall. Tomilson played two seasons with Halifax between 2019-2021 where he recorded 17 points in 80 games. The Cameron, ON native captained the OJHL's Pickering Panthers in 2021-22 and helped lead them to the Junior A championship series. He scored 55 points (14G & 41A) last year leading to the 20-year-old winning the OJHL Defenceman of the Year.
Tomilson said; "While playing in Halifax for a couple years I heard a lot about the atmosphere around Acadia and how close of a community it is with having the small-town feel. Acadia offers both a first-class education as well as a first-class hockey program that sees a lot of players turn pro, and after talking to the coaching staff it felt like a perfect fit for me from all aspects."
The final one that I have seen that has committed so far is Ryan Barbosa. The 24-year-old is actually transferring from the University of Windsor to the Toronto Varsity Blues for the 2022-23 season. With the Lancers, Barbosa collected 26 points.
"Ryan's proven to be one of the top defenceman in the OUA during the last few seasons," said Varsity Blues head coach Ryan Medel. "He brings a little bit of everything to the table. He's mobile, he can move pucks out of his own end and he's effective up top on the powerplay."
Good luck to these guys with their new teams come the fall.
Now that the NHL entry draft is over, teams are now turning their attention to development camps and seeing which prospects they want to bring into training camp later in the summer. Only two current Mooseheads were drafted last week but a couple more received invitations. Check out the list below to see who will participate in development camps this week.
Alexis Gravel - Chicago (2018) - invited to Seattle Kraken development camp July 11-13 Raphael Lavoie - Edmonton (2019) - Edmonton Oilers development camp July 11-15 Mathis Rousseau - undrafted - invited to Columbus Blue Jackets development camp July 11-13 Justin Barron - Colorado (2020) - invited to Montreal Canadiens development camp July 10-13 Elliot Desnoyers - Philadelphia (2020) - Philadelphia Flyers development camp July 11-15 Bobby Orr - Carolina (2021) - Carolina Hurricanes development camp July 10-14 Xavier Parent - undrafted - invited to New Jersey Devils development camp July Cameron Whynot - Calgary (2021) - Calgary Flames development camp July 12-14 Zachary L'Heureux - Nashville (2021) - Nashville Predators development camp July 11-15 Jordan Dumais - Columbus (2022) - Columbus Blue Jackets development camp July 11-13 Evan Boucher - undrafted - invited to Calgary Flames development camp July 12-14
As of the writing of this post, San Jose has not released their camp roster or dates but I expect Jake Furlong will be in California this week.
Good luck to all the players participating in camps this week. If any of our guys (current or former) make rookie or main camps in September, I'll let you know.
Here are some notes from the NHL entry draft that was held in-person in Montreal...
For the first time in about 40 years, the host of the draft also had the first overall pick. The Montreal Canadiens took Slovakian left winger Juraj Slafkovsky at #1 and quite a few fans in the Bell Centre were not happy about it.
In a turn of events, Shane Wright - who was the top ranked prospect all season - fell to the fourth pick where the Seattle Kraken took him.
The Anaheim Ducks took three QMJHL players in this year's draft, including two from the Gatineau Olympiques.
Halifax Mooseheads forward Jordan Dumais, who led the team in scoring with 109 points, was drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets late in the 3rd round, 96th overall.
Defenceman Jake Furlong was selected 140th overall by the San Jose Sharks. The other two ranked Herd players, 3rd year forward Markus Vidicek and new import prospect David Moravec did not get drafted.
No word on where the 2023 entry draft will be located.
The 2022 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Entry Draft was held on Monday and Tuesday this week and our Halifax Mooseheads added 15 new prospects over the two days. Just like the last couple of years, the draft was held virtually once again.
Owen Phillips Photo - Herd website
Halifax went locally with a number of their selections this year, including Upper Tantallon native Owen Phillips who the Herd drafted with the 7th overall pick. The 16-year-old d-man played for the Pittsburgh Penguins Elite program where he totalled 48 points in 84 games. "This is an exciting day for us. He was the player we were targeting and we're ecstatic that he will be suiting up for the Mooseheads. He's the real deal," Russell said.
Cam Russell and the brass made a trade on Tuesday afternoon as well, moving forward Vincent Gauthier to the Shawinigan Cataractes for their eighth rounder and Cape Breton's third round selection in 2023. Good luck Vincent in Shawinigan.
Also on Tuesday was the US draft where Halifax used its two selections on centres James Marshall and Will Doherty. The team has had luck the last decade in getting their American born players to report to camp and do well once they make the team.
Congrats to all the players who were drafted over the last few days and welcome to Moose Country to the guys selected by Halifax. Full list of QMJHL draftees can be found here.
HOCKEY CANADA SUMMER CAMPS Three Halifax Mooseheads players will be in Calgary later this month for summer camps put on by Hockey Canada. After participating in the camp last year, 19-year-old Zachary L'Heureux was invited to the National Junior Team camp while new sophomores Mathieu Cataford and Dylan MacKinnon will be among the 44 players set to participate in the National Men's Summer U-18 Team camp.
The U-18 players 'will compete for an opportunity to wear the Maple Leaf at the 2022 Hlinka Gretzky Cup in Red Deer, Alta. The selection camp, which takes place July 20-23, will include a variety of on- and off-ice sessions. Following the selection of the final roster on July 24, Team Canada will play a pair of games against Red and White teams from Canada's National Junior Team summer camp.' MacKinnon had two points in an injury filled season that saw him play only 52 games in his rookie season. Cataford, meanwhile, led the QMJHL's 16-year-olds with 46 points in 62 games and was nominated for rookie of the year.
44 players will also be on the ice for the Junior Team camp which is set for July 23-27. "This is an exciting first step as we begin preparations for the upcoming season and the opportunity to compete at the 2023 World Juniors on home ice in Halifax and Moncton this December," Alan Millar added. " We are excited about this group of players, and we look forward to returning to the ice for a highly-competitive camp to kick off a new season."
DUMAIS
Second year forward Jordan Dumais was once again rewarded for his discipline during the Canadian Hockey League awards that were held on June 28 in Saint John, NB. Dumais was one of the three nominations for the CHL Sportsman of the Year and named the 2021-22 recipient. Other nominees were Logan Stankoven of the Kamloops Blazers and Windsor Spitfires' Wyatt Johnston. The 18-year-old picked up only six penalty minutes during the regular season leading to him winning the QMJHL Sportsman of the Year award.
Big congrats to Jordan on winning the award.
FINAL RANKINGS
The final rankings were announced awhile ago but with the 2022 NHL Entry Draft coming up in a few days, I thought I would remind you where a few of our Herd players were ranked at the end of the season. Despite recording 109 points in 68 games, Jordan Dumais did not move up in the rankings and is still anticipated to go in the third round.
Rankings amongst North American skaters Jake Furlong #68
Jordan Dumais #73 Markus Vidicek #116
You can catch the first round on Sportsnet at 8:00 p.m. AT on Thursday night, with rounds 2-7 happening on Friday afternoon.
MEMORIAL CUP
After many delays, the 2022 Memorial Cup tournament was played in late June with the host Saint John Sea Dogs winning the final game and lifting the trophy on home ice. The Sea Dogs had a long break before playing in the Memorial Cup after getting ousted by the Rimouski Oceanic in Round 1 of the QMJHL playoffs. Saint John defeated the OHL champion Hamilton Bulldogs 6-3 on June 29 to win their second national championship in franchise history.
Final standings
Saint John Sea Dogs (hosts) Hamilton Bulldogs (OHL champs) Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL champs)
Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL champs)
CHL IMPORT DRAFT
Our Mooseheads used the 33rd overall pick in Friday's CHL Import Draft to select defenceman David Moravec of Czechia. The 2003-born Moravec is 6-feet-tall, weighs 190 points and is the 44th ranked European skater for the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He recently represented his country at the 2022 World Junior Hockey Championship and has also played internationally at the U16, U17 and U18 levels. Moravec had four assists in 40 games in the 2021-22 season.
Welcome to Moose Country David!
Cam Russell didn't use his second pick in the draft as forward Attilio Biasca is expected to be back on the team in 2022-23. The team also did not make any trades over the weekend when the summer trading period opened up on Saturday.
Photos - Elite Prospects, Herd website, CBC website, The Hockey Writers
A couple of former Halifax Mooseheads players became champions late last month.
In the American Hockey League, the Chicago Wolves won the Calder Cup on June 25. Chicago's roster boasts a Mooseheads alum in defenceman Cavan Fitzgerald. The 25-year-old had a goal and 6 points in 17 games and will now have his name engraved on the trophy as a champion forever. The Wolves went 14-4 during the playoffs after leading the AHL in the regular season.
Congrats to Cavan Fitzgerald and the Chicago Wolves on winning the 2022 Calder Cup!
Forward Nathan MacKinnon scored in Game 6 of the finals to help his Colorado Avalanche win the Stanley Cup on June 26. MacKinnon's goal tied the game up early in to the second period as the Avalanche won the series clinching match 2-1. Colorado had a really good post-season after another strong regular season, losing only four games in the playoffs.
The Avs' route to the Finals started with a 4-0 series victory over the Nashville Predators, than they had a date with the St. Louis Blues a series which they won 4-2. Colorado swept their Western Conference final series against the Edmonton Oilers to meet up with the Tampa Bay Lightning for the ultimate trophy. The club finished the regular season with a 56-19-7 record, their best season in franchise history. Nathan finished the playoffs with 13 goals and 24 points in 20 games played.
A big congrats to Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche on winning the 2022 Stanley Cup!
Photos - Calder Cup on Twitter & The Hockey Writers
