Russian Kulebyakin selected by Halifax

Photo - Herd website

The Halifax Mooseheads selected Russian forward Oleg Kulebyakin in the 2025 CHL Import Draft with the ninth overall pick on Wednesday afternoon. 

Kulebyakin scored 33 goals and 39 assists in 33 games played with the Carolina Junior Hurricanes U16 AAA team last season. He is a 5-foot-10 winger who weighs 170 pounds. 

"Well we think he's going to be a scoring machine. Obviously we're not going to put too much pressure on him," Cam Russell said after the draft. "Great vision, like I said, ability to score is incredible so very excited to bring in a player of Oleg's caliber."

General Manager Cam Russell talks about adding forwards Oleg Kulebyakin 🇷🇺 & Jasu Mensonen 🇫🇮 at the CHL Import Draft. #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/ubbIqHy7qK

— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) July 2, 2025

With the rule change that will allow teams to carry 3 European players on their roster for the 2025-26 season, the import draft now has 3 rounds instead of just two. At 70th overall, Halifax then added forward Jasu Mensonen of Finland. The 18-year-old scored 5 goals and 21 assists in 40 games with Lukko U20 team while also adding 16 points in 29 games suiting up for the blue and white internationally at the U18 level. 

Photo - Neutral Zone

It is expected that Kulebyakin and Mensonen will join German defenceman Carlos Handel as the three import players on the Mooseheads roster this upcoming season.  

Halifax passed on their third pick as did many other clubs. Czech forward Tomas Poletin was drafted with the first overall pick by the Kelowna Rockets. 

CHL Import Draft on Wednesday

Photo - Herd website

The 2025 CHL Import Draft is set to take place on Wednesday, starting at noon Atlantic time. 

With the NCAA eligibility rule change this past season, the Canadian Hockey League decided to make an adjustment to the import draft expanding it to three rounds in 2025. This is caused by the league allowing teams to carry 3 European players on their roster for the upcoming season. 

Our Halifax Mooseheads will have a pretty high pick this year at ninth overall along with current selections at 70th and 131st. The team announced that defenceman Carlos Handel will return to play for the Mooseheads in 2025-26 so expect Halifax to pass on their last pick. 

The Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League now hold the first pick after acquiring it earlier this month from the Moose Jaw Warriors. They will be followed by the Peterborough Petes of the OHL and the Victoriaville Tigres of the QMJHL. 

Here is how the Mooseheads drafted in the last 5 Import Drafts. 

2024: 43rd overall - Carlos Handel

2023: 50th overall - Yannik Ponzetto

2022: 33rd overall - David Moravec

2020: 5th overall - Atillio Biasca

Herd Word

Since I haven't posted all summer, below you will find some news that you may have missed if you are not on social media. 

Photo - TSN

CATAFORD MVP, ALL-STAR TEAMS
A couple Halifax Mooseheads players were announced as finalists for QMJHL awards back in May to celebrate the 2023-24 season. Mathieu Rousseau had a chance to win the Patrick Roy Trophy as the league's top goaltender, however it was given to William Rousseau of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. Meanwhile, Mathieu Cataford was nominated for two awards; the Marcel Robert Trophy (best scholastic player) and the Michel Briere Trophy. The 19-year-old won the latter, being named the QMJHL's regular season Most Valuable Player. He 'had an outstanding season with career highs in goals (40), assists (50) and points (90) to lead the team in scoring while finishing third in the QMJHL scoring race.'

After the individual awards were handed out, the league announced the all-star teams for the 2023-24 season which included forward Mathieu Cataford on the first team while the second team included goaltender Mathis Rousseau and forward Markus Vidicek. Congrats to these three guys on being recognized for their efforts.

Photo - Herd website

NEW HOCKEY STAFF
There were a number of staffing changes once again for our Halifax Mooseheads during the off-season. The first move was head coach Jim Midgley being released of his duties after Halifax bowed out of the 2024 playoffs with a first-round exit. GM Cam Russell made the announcement on April 16, saying the team also dismissed assistant coach Liam Heelis. 

A little less than two months later, Andrew Lord was hired as the 14th head coach in team history while Brad MacKenzie was promoted to associate coach. According to the press release, 'Lord is the reigning ECHL Coach of the Year after leading the Greenville Swamp Rabbits to a 44-23-4-1 record and the team's first South Division Championship in more than a decade.'

"We are thrilled to have Andrew join our staff and excited to watch him take the reigns of our young, revamped roster," said Russell. 

Two additions to the hockey staff were announced in late July as Morgan MacDonald was named the full-time Video & Player Development Coach while Charles Grant is the new Goaltending Coach. The positions were made available after Joey Perricone and Jon Sim departed. 

Welcome to the team to the new staff members. 

HISCHIER WINS SILVER
Former Halifax Mooseheads forward Nico Hischier has a silver medal after Switzerland lost to Czechia in the 2024 IIHL World Championship game back in late May. The Swiss finished second in Group A with a 5-1-0-1 (w-otw-otl-l) record during the preliminary round to advance to the quarter-finals. They defeated Germany and Canada (in a shootout) to make it to the gold medal match. Hischier had 6 goals and 5 assists in 10 games played during the tournament and finished 7th in scoring. 

Alum Cam Critchlow also participated in the tournament for Team Great Britain, who unfortunately finished 15th overall.  

QMJHL ENTRY DRAFT
Our Halifax Mooseheads added 15 prospects to their roster and made a couple of trades during the 2024 QMJHL Draft weekend that was held June 7-8 in Moncton, NB. 

Before the draft began, Halifax moved forwards Markus Vidicek and Dylan MacKinnon along with two third rounders to the Moncton Wildcats in two separate trades for Shawn Carrier and three 2026 draft picks. The Mooseheads received a first round draft pick in 2024 plus 4 other picks in exchange for Mathieu Cataford from the Rimouski Oceanic. 

Photo - Herd website

With the first rounder, the Moose drafted Halifax native Daniel Walters 11th overall. Walters played the 2023-24 season with the Halifax McDonalds where he scored 27 points (9G & 18A) in 27 games. 

Full list of selections is below:
RD 1 #11 - C Daniel Walters - Halifax Macs U18
RD 2 #34 - LW Caylen Blake - Mount St. Charles Academy
RD 3 #48 - C Amelio Santini - Lac St. Louis Lions U18
RD 4 #71 - RD Logan Trewin - Halifax Macs U18
RD 5 #89 - LD Mickael Fournier - Quinte Red Devils U16AAA
RD 6 #107 - LD Gavin Sudds - Halifax Macs U18
RD 7 #125 - G Nicolas Gillham-Cirka - Taft School USHS
RD 8 #143 - RW Noah Olmedo-Matte - College Esther-Blondin
RD 9 #150 - C Nico Ciardiello - Mount St. Charles Academy
RD 9 #161 - LW Thomas Cote - Quebec Blizzard
RD 10 #179 - F Elie Champagne - South Kent School
RD 11 #197 - LD Cole Bent - Cole Harbour U18
RD 12 #215 - C Cole MacLeod - Cole Harbour U18
RD 13 #233 - G Thomas Laplante - Mille-Isles QM17AAA
RD 14 #251 - RW Will Bent - Mount St. Charles Academy 

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft was held on July 3 and the Mooseheads used their first of two selections to pick defenceman Carlos Handel from Erlangen, Germany. According to the press release, Handel is 6-foot-1 and played both at the J18 and J20 levels this past season with the Malmo Redhawks program in Sweden. "We've been watching him for the last year-and-a-half. We saw him about 18 months ago in Germany and he just dazzled us as an underage player. He's a heck of a hockey player and he plays a complete game," said General Manager Cam Russell. 

Handel will join sophomore Jan Sprynar as the team's two import roster spots for the 2024-25 season. 

TEAM CANADA WINS HLINKA
The annual summer Hlinka Gretzky Cup saw Team Canada be on top of the podium once again. Forward Liam Kilfoil scored in the championship game to help the Canadians win Gold as they beat Czechia 2-1 in Edmonton, AB. Kilfoil added two assists during the tournament, playing five games. A total of 22 players with ties to the CHL won the ultimate trophy. 

Prospect Carlos Handel participated in the tournament as his German team finished 6th out of eight teams. 

Congrats to Liam and Team Canada on becoming champions. 

Photo - Hockey Canada website

OTHER THINGS

• Goaltender Alexis Gravel agreed to teams on an ECHL standard player contract with the Orlando Solar Bears
• Former Mooseheads head coach Jon Greenwood was announced the new bench boss for the Truro Bearcats junior A team and will be joined by alum Ryan Falkenham who played for Halifax from 2011 to 2015 
• The WHL will host the 2026 Memorial Cup and five teams have announced they intend to bid on hosting: Brandon, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Spokane and Kelowna   
• Current Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers helped Team Denmark book their ticket to the 2026 Olympics at the beginning of this month as the Danes won all three games in the final qualification tournament
• Jim Midgley wasn't out of a coaching job for long as PWHL Toronto announced he would be an assistant coach for the upcoming season 

Herd Word

Below you will find a round up of some more news that has happened this summer. 

NHL DRAFT 
Two Halifax Mooseheads players heard their name called in Nashville during day 2 of the NHL entry draft back on June 29. Forward Mathieu Cataford was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the third round, 77th overall. Not long after at 83rd overall, the Nashville Predators picked defenceman Dylan MacKinnon. Both players improved in their points amount during their sophomore year last season but had dropped in the CSS rankings by the year-end list. Predators amateur scout J-P Glaude said about MacKinnon, "He's a hard defender and is tough to play against. He's explosive and has a strong lower body; we view him as a type of guy who is hard to find in hockey these days." 

A few notes about the draft. To no one's surprise, Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats was made the first overall selection by the Chicago Blackhawks. Drummondville Voltigeurs' player Tyler Peddle waited inside the Bell Centre through both days to hear his name called last at 224th overall in the 7th round. Unfortunately, Herd forward Markus Vidicek didn't get selected for the second year in a row. 

Photo - Herd website

IMPORT DRAFT
Despite having the max two Euro players on the team already, general manager Cam Russell used the Mooseheads first round pick (44th overall) in the 2023 CHL Import Draft on Switzerland forward Yannik Ponzetto. The 17-year-old played at both the U17 and U20 level with Kloten Elit last season where he had 26 goals and 52 points in 34 games in the Swiss U17 league. 

"We were happy to be able to get Yannik at that spot. He's a big, skilled winger who will be able to immediately step in and play," Russell said. 

The team announced that Ponzetto has committed to coming to Halifax and that former captain Attilio Biasca will return to his hometown to play hockey during the upcoming season. 

GRETZKY CUP
The 2023 Hlinka Gretzky Cup was earlier this month and Canada were able to repeat as champions after defeating the Czech Republic in the gold medal game by a score of 3-2 in overtime on August 5. Former Herd coach Sylvain Farveau was apart of the championship team as an assistant coach meanwhile general manager Cam Russell also received a medal as a member of the Program of Excellence management group. Halifax's 2023 import draft selection Yannik Ponzetto participated in the tournament for Switzerland who finished 6th overall. Ponzetto picked up a goal and two assists in four games played. 

Photo - Herd website

CANADA SUMMER MEETINGS
We may see some Mooseheads representing the maple leaf later in 2023 as there were five players named to Hockey Canada's Program of Excellence summer meetings rosters. Prospect Liam Kilfoil, who Halifax drafted 31st overall in the 2023 Q draft, is among the sixty-six under-17 players that were selected. The 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge will take place November 2-11 in Charlottetown and Summerside, PEI. 

Meanwhile, veterans Jordan Dumais, Jake Furlong, Markus Vidicek and Mathis Rousseau were selected to participate in the under-20 meetings along with 41 other players. The 2024 World Junior Championships will take place from December 26 to January 5 in Gothenburg, Sweden. According to the release; 'players took part in virtual meetings that covered a variety of topics, including education on the Program of Excellence, sport safety presentations, short-term international competition preparation and meetings with the Hockey Canada management group. Players will continue to be evaluated through the early portion of the 2023-24 season before the Canadian rosters are named.' 

Congratulations to these five young men and good luck. I hope we can cheer them on with Team Canada this winter. 

Photo - QMJHL website

WILDCATS TO HOST DRAFT
It was announced last month that the city of Moncton along with the Moncton Wildcats will host the 2024 QMJHL Entry Draft. The draft is schedule for June 8 at the Avenir Centre. This will be the second time the Wildcats have hosted the draft, having held the event in 2009 as well but it was in the Moncton Coliseum, the club's previous arena. 

Moncton will also host the the 2024 Kubota CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game in January. 

FIGHTING BANNED
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced its safety regulations for the 2023-24 season on August 10 and as expected, there have been changes made to the fighting rules. According to the document, 'as soon as a fight occurs, those engaged must be systematically ejected from the game.' Read the full update below and you can see the league's safety regulations here. 

Photo - Adam Kimelman on Twitter

MANN-DIXON
Former Mooseheads goaltender Blade Mann-Dixon has been named the Goaltender Coach and Video Coach for the Cape Breton Eagles the team announced recently after the Eagles promoted staff member Scott Gouthro. "I'm extremely excited to be a part of the Eagles organization and join the community of Sydney," says Mann-Dixon. "It's a surreal experience coming back to coach in the league after playing for four years. I am grateful for the opportunity and very thankful to have someone around with as much experience as Scott." The Antigonish, NS native is a graduate of his hometown St. F.X. University after playing for Moncton, Charlottetown, Saint John and Halifax while in the QMJHL. 

Herd Word

Photo - Source du Hockey

NHL DRAFT RANKINGS

The Central Scouting Services released their final rankings last month for the 2023 NHL draft and there are a few current Halifax Mooseheads players on the list. Sophomore Mathieu Cataford was the highest ranked Herd player at #36 after finishing the season with 31 goals and 75 points. He dropped from 27th on the mid-term rankings. 18-year-old Dylan MacKinnon was ranked #61 while Markus Vidicek found himself at #175. MacKinnon had a huge jump in his point production in his second season, picking up 23 points in 61 games. 19-year-old Vidicek had 32 goals and 80 points during 2022-23. 

The highest ranking QMJHL player is Ethan Gauthier of the Sherbrooke Phoenix who is at #16. The 2023 NHL Entry Draft will be held June 28-29 in Nashville, TN. 

FINAL SERIES
The three final series across the Canadian Hockey League are now set after games on Monday. Fourth place Peterborough came up with another upset in the Eastern Conference final, winning Game 7 3-2 to move on to the OHL championship series. The Memorial Cup hosts Kamloops Blazers are out of the WHL playoffs after losing to the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2 two nights ago. Below are the matchups for the championships.

WHL - E1 Winnipeg ICE vs. W1 Seattle Thunderbirds
OHL - W2 London Knights vs. E4 Peterborough Petes 
QMJHL - 1 Quebec Remparts vs. 2 Halifax Mooseheads

SOLD OUT
Round four tickets for Games 1 & 2 at the Centre Videotron went on sale this past Friday before the Quebec Remparts even knew who their opponent was going to be. Quebec fans went all in, selling out both nights in less than 20 minutes according to the team. 

However, like normal, there are people reselling them on Ticket Master if you would still like some but you'll have to fork up some money. The cheapest I saw yesterday was $59 for one ticket and went up to over $250 each. 

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
Recently, the Canadian Hockey League announced the order of selection for the import draft. 'Your Halifax Mooseheads hold the 50th overall pick while their second round pick is 110th overall thanks to a strong season that saw the Herd post a 50-11-4-3 record. Current imports Attilio Biasca and David Moravec are eligible to return next year as 20-year-old overage players.' So it will be interesting to see if the Herd actually use their selections. The Erie Otters of the OHL will pick first overall followed by the QMJHL's Acadie-Bathurst Titan and the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). The 2023 Import Draft will take place on July 5 at 11am ET.  

Photo - Trinec Twitter

ALUMNI CHAMPIONS
A couple of Moose alumni are once again champions. Sternberk, Czech Republic native Petr Vrana captained the HC Ocelari Trinec to franchise fifth Czech Extraliga trophy on April 28. According to Elite Prospects; the 38-year-old had an assist in 3 games played during the regular season and two points (1G&1A) in 20 playoff matches. Trinec won the final series 4-2 against the Mountfield HK. 

Defenceman Konrad Abeltshauser won the DEL championship for a fourth time in his career. The EHC Red Bull Munchen battled it out against the ERC Ingolstadt and got the 4-1 series win. The 30-year-old scored 4 times in the regular season and had 18 points while in the post-season he had 4 points in 18 games. 

Congratulations to both players on getting another trophy. 

DUMAIS
According to Saltwire, 'Halifax general manager Cam Russell said on Monday there's "a really food chance" Jordan Dumais will be cleared to play at some point against the Quebec Remparts.' He could possibly play in Game 1 on Friday. Dumais missed the last four games of the semi-final series after getting injured in the second period of Game 2 against the Sherbrooke Phoenix. 

It would be great to see Dumer return to the lineup but Halifax has played really well while he was out so does Sylvain Farveau make changes to a good thing even if Jordan is ready. 

Herd Word

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

Herd Word

Just like last year, I took a break over the summer to decide what I want to do with this blog. I have decided to keep it going but I might not post as often this season. Below you will find some of the story lines concerning the Mooseheads and former players from the last few months since the COVID-19 shutdown.

LEAGUE AWARDS
Considering that our Halifax Mooseheads did not have a very good season unfortunately, there was no surprise that no players were nominated for any league awards. However, it wasn't a total loss. The Mooseheads own Allie MacDonald won the Denis-Arsenault Trophy as the academic advisor of the year. Congratulations to Allie. See the announcement here with a special guest.

Former Herd Benoit-Olivier Groulx was awarded the Guy Carboneau trophy as the top defensive forward for the 2019-20 season.

Zachary L'Heureux
Photo - Neutral Zone

TRADES
Halifax made a few roster moves days before the draft in June to help bolster it's young roster. The first trade Cam Russell and company made was to acquire forward Robert Orr from the Saint John Sea Dogs in exchange for 2nd and 4th round picks in the draft.

Later in the day, the Mooseheads announced that they picked up two more forwards, Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers from the Moncton Wildcats. The deal completed earlier trades involving Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Jared McIsaac. They sent the 2nd and 3rd round picks in 2020 back to the Cats along with a 5th in 2021 and 2nd and 3rd round selections in 2022.

1st round pick Markus Vidicik signing a commitment letter to
join the Mooseheads
Photo - Herd Twitter

QMJHL DRAFT
The QMJHL draft was held virtually for the first time in history with the first round done on June 5 while round 2-14 were completed the next day. The Mooseheads brass had multiple picks this year, unlike in 2019.

Multiple moves were made over the two days with most involving the exchange of picks. Russell moved the team's 27th and 60th overall picks plus a 2021 third round pick to Charlottetown for the 22nd overall pick. Halifax used the selection to get defenceman Jake Furlong. The two clubs came together for another trade as the Islanders sent veteran Liam Peyton to the Moose in exchange for a 2020 ninth round pick and a 2021 fourth round pick.

Below is 12 guys that Halifax selected.
RD 1 #14 - C Markus Vidicek - Lac-St-Louis Lions
RD 1 #18 - RW Jordan Dumais - South Kent Selets Academy 15's
RD 2 #22 - LD Jake Fulong - Mt. St. Charles Academy
RD 2 #28 - C James Swan - Lac-St-Louis Lions
RD 4 #61 - G Mathis Rousseau - St-Eustache Vikings
RD 4 #66 - RD Alex Carr - Cole Harbour Wolfpack
RD 5 #78 - LD Alexandre Tessier - St-Eustache Vikings
RD 8 #132 - C Braeden MacPhee - Moncton Flyers
RD 11 #186 - LD Jackson Dorrington - Cushing Academy Penguins
RD 12 #204 - D Travis Badcock - East Coast Blizzard MAAA
RD 13 #222 - LD Sid McNeill - Oakland Jr Grizzlies 15's
RD 14 #240 - LD Brady Schultz - Elite Hockey Program 16U

Click here for a list of all draftees. 

In the import draft held at the end of June, Halifax selected Attilio Biasca with the 5th overall pick. This means that the team has moved on from Marcel Barinka.

Photo - Avalanche Twitter

MACKINNON
Kid Mack had another really good season for the Colorado Avalanche and he is being recognized for it. Nathan MacKinnon, who played for the Herd from 2011 to 2013, was nominated for the Ted Lindsay Award, the Lady Bing Trophy and the Hart Trophy. The latter is for the league's most valuable player while Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton) and Artemi Panarin (New York) were also nominated. MacKinnon led the Avalanche in scoring with 93 points in 69 games which was also good enough for being top 10 in the league during the regular season.

Congrats to Nathan for being nominated. The award winners will be announced during the conference finals.

NHL PLAYOFFS
It's August and there is playoffs being competed right now, just another sign of how weird this year as been. A number of alumni participated in the qualifying round and there are still four left as of the writing of this post.

Nikolaj Ehlers and the Winnipeg Jets were ousted by the Calgary Flames 3 games to 1 in the qualifying round while MacKenzie Weegar and the Florida Panthers also didn't make it past that round after losing 3-1 to the New York Islanders. Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Jakub Voracek (Philadelphia), Jonathan Drouin (Montreal) and Brad Marchand (Boston) are still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup.

Good luck to all the players participating in the playoffs, especially our former players. 

Herd Word

Since I've been on hiatus the last few months, I thought I would update you on some news that has happened.

Cole Foston with GM Cam Russell
Photo - Mooseheads Twitter

QMJHL DRAFT
The Q draft was on June in Quebec City, QC and Halifax didn't make a selection until the fourth round where they took Cole Foston with the 70th overall pick.

Only two trades were made in the first round while there were many draft picks switched between teams however the Mooseheads didn't make any moves during the day. Joshua Roy was selected 1st overall by the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Below is the 11 players selected by our Herd:
RD 4, #70 - F Cole Foston - Cole Harbour Wolfpack
RD 5, #88 - D Keegan Hunt - Moncton Flyers
RD 6, #106 - G Brady James - Lac-St-Louis Tigres
RD 7, #124 - C William Robitaille - Levis Chevaliers
RD 8, #142 - D Lucas Robinson - Western Nfld Kings
RD 9, #160 - RW Vincent Paquette - College St. Hilaire U18
RD 10, #178 - RW Olivier Tourchot - St. Eustache Vikings
RD 11, #196 - D Michael Sack - Cole Harbour Wolfpack
RD 12, #214 - D Justin Fernet - Trolet Harfangs
RD 13, #232 - F Merle Putman - Weeks Midgets

Click here for a list of all draftees.

NEW COACHES
Halifax announced a few changes on the bench for the upcoming season. The first being a fifth head coach in the last 5 years. Jean-Jacques Daigneault was named the bench boss for the 2019-20 season after Eric Veilleux was given a promotion to coach the AHL's Syracuse Crunch. This is the first head coaching position that Daigneault has had. The Montreal, QC native has been an assistant coach for the Phoenix RoadRunners (ECHL - 2005-06), Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL - 2007-12), Montreal Canadiens (NHL - 2012-18) and San Antonio Rampage (AHL - 2018-19). Halifax also got a new goaltending coach with the arrival of Joey Perricone. While not a coach, the Mooseheads announced that Chris MacDonald has moved on as well and have named Alex Ryan as their equipment manager.

IMPORT DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League import draft was held at the end of June and our Mooseheads selected just one player since Marcel Barinka is returning to the lineup, there is only one Euro spot open. Halifax drafted Deurne, Belgium native Senna Peeters 48th in round 1 (47th overall). The 17-year-old played the 2018-19 season with the South Kent Selects Academy 16U team, collecting 66 points in 59 games.

Timo Meier
Photo - The Hockey News

SIGNINGS
A number of former Herd players have signed contracts over the summer. Defenceman Mackenzie Weegar put his name on the dotted line of a new agreement with the Florida Panthers of the NHL. The 25-year-old signed a 1 year 1 way contract. Press release. Forward Timo Meier's entry level deal ended after the 2018-19 season and the San Jose Sharks determined that he was worth 4 more years. Meier has 108 points in 193 NHL games played. Press release.

After being drafted in 2017, Arnaud Durandeau signed an entry level contract shortly after the Memorial Cup tournament ended and will play pro during the upcoming season. The 20-year-old was signed by the New York Islanders and since he would be an overager in 2019-20, the Isles can send him down to one of their affiliates instead of the QMJHL. Press release. With a fantastic season on the Memorial Cup hosting team, Samuel Asselin secured himself a contract with the Boston Bruins and will play this year in Providence for the AHL Bruins.

American Danny Moynihan received an all clear from his doctor that he is healthy enough to play hockey again. The 23-year-old was signed by the ECHL Tulsa Oilers earlier this month and will be joined his brother Connor. The two brothers played for the Mooseheads for 2 and a half seasons from 2013-2016. Press release.

Cameron Critchlow has signed a professional contract overseas. The Manchester Storm of the EIHL announced that Critchlow will join their team for the 2019-20 season. Press release.

NHL DRAFT
Despite multiple Halifax Mooseheads being ranked by Central Scouting Services for the 2019 NHL draft, only one was actually selected in Vancouver. Raphael Lavoie was had to wait until the second day to hear his name but he finally did when the Edmonton Oilers picked him 38th overall.

The 18-year-old had a pretty good season, scoring 32 goals and 73 points during 62 regular season games. In the playoffs, he stepped up his game and his 20 goals led the QMJHL during the post-season.

Congratulations to Raphael on getting drafted. He participated in the Oilers development camp at the end of June and will undoubtedly

TRAINING CAMP
This year's training camp for the Herd started with a bit of a bang, as the team announced they had traded forward Xavier Parent a day before camp opened. The 2001-born player was moved to the Sherbrooke Phoenix in return for Cam Whynot and a 3rd round pick in 2021. Parent played two seasons for Halifax, collecting 64 points. Xavier was selected 4th in the 2017 QMJHL draft by the Mooseheads. Whynot, a defenceman, was recently picked in the 2019 Q draft and is a Kentville native. The 16-year-old has been projected by scouts to be a standout D. The trade shocked some people but the team is without their top back end player; Jared McIsaac until the end of November and Jocktan Chainey announced that he is stepping away from hockey to concentrate on schooling.

So Halifax announced that camp would open with 51 players attending. The club made their first round of cuts the morning after the first pre-season game, releasing 8 players on August 19. They than announced another trade, acquiring D Jason Horvath from the Shawinigan Cataractes for a 2020 6th round pick. Another round of cuts were made on August 22 when 6 hopefuls were released. The biggest round of cuts were made on August 24 with the 11 young guys cut leaving 27 at camp. It was announced that Kyle Petten decided to return to the MHL Campbellton Tigers.

An updated roster can be seen below.

Photo - Mooseheads website

Herd Word

Photo - Moose website

EURO DRAFT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft was at the end of June and your Halifax Mooseheads used one of their two picks during the day. With the 10th overall selection (11th originally but Sherbrooke passed), Cam Russell and company drafted 17 year old Filip Zadina of the Czech Republic. All of the scouts call him a dynamic offensive player. With a late '99 birthday this is Zadina's draft season. In international junior play he has 73 points in 65 games. For more on his stats click here.

FAVREAU
With the promotion of Jim Midgley to the Herd's head coach, Halifax was without a second assistant coach until June 29 when the team announced that they have welcomed Sylvain Favreau to the bench staff. Favreau was Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations with the Cumberland Grads of the CCHL in Ontario during the 2016-17 season. On joining the team, Sylvian said: “I am very proud and excited to join such a storied franchise and to pursue my coaching career with the Mooseheads. I look forward to working with Jim Midgley and Jon Greenwood. The Mooseheads’ talented group of players and the organization’s focus on developing players to their full potential presents a great and welcome challenge."

TIDE FEST
This weekend, Brett Crossley of your Mooseheads along with 2017 Q draft pick Justin Barron were in attendance to help kids attending Tide Fest shoot on a gigantic blown up Zach Fucale. Each child got the chance to be able to score on the former fan favourite.

HISCHIER
The New Jersey Devils announced today the signing of Nico Hischier to a 3 year entry level contract. In his first season with the Halifax Mooseheads, he led the QMJHL rookie scoring with 86 points during the regular season while also being second in team scoring. Hischier was named the CHL & QMJHL rookie of the year, Q offensive rookie of the year as well as top professional prospect. The Swiss star has a good shot at making the devils come October. Nico was impressive during the Devils' scrimmages this week while showing off his stickhandling skills and skating along teammate Jocktan Chainey.

Good luck in New Jersey Nico and congratulations on signing your first pro contract! Moose Country is cheering for you loud and proud.

GRENIER
Herd alumni Alexandre Grenier has signed a one year two way deal with the Florida Panthers on July 3rd. Grenier was on the Utica Comets this past season and spent 3 seasons with the Vancouver Canucks organization after the team drafted him in 2011. Will be interesting to see if this gives Alex another chance at making the NHL or if he spends most of 2017-18 in the American Hockey League. Read more here.

Photo - Canadiens' twitter

DROUIN
Since being traded to the Montreal Canadians, it was presumed that Jonathan Drouin would change his jersey number since the team already had a #27 on player Alex Galchenyuk. The Sainte-Agathe, Quebec native announced earlier this month that he will be wearing number 92 for the upcoming season. It was thought that Drouin would go with 72 so it was a surprise to all that he went with 92.

ROOKIE TOURNIMENT 
With training camp just around the corner, there has a change in the name of the mini tournament the Halifax Mooseheads will participate in. Last year, the Moncton Wildcats welcomed the 5 other Maritime teams' rookies to the Hub City Showcase. This year the tourney is called the Rookie Challenge. Tickets for this are on sale now, you can call to secure your tickets to see the defending champs; your Mooseheads. The tournament runs from August 18-20 at Superior Propane Centre in Moncton.
We are about a month away from the rookies reporting to camp and making it that much closer to the regular season.

Herd Word

DEVELOPMENT CAMP
Matt Murphy and Jonathan Drouin are the first Halifax Mooseheads players to be invited to NHL development camps. The Ottawa Senators released information on their camp and Murphy was on the roster. The Sens camp begins on Canada Day and will run until July 7th with an evening scrimmage, practices and a 3 on 3 tournament to end camp. Murphy gets the invite despite being passed over in two consecutive drafts. A year ago today, Jonathan Drouin was drafted third overall by the Tampa Bay Lightning who invited him to their camp for a second year. Tampa Bay's camp will run July 2-6.

CHL IMPORT
The Canadian Hockey League Import Draft is on Wednesday. It begins at 11am/ET. Your Mooseheads pick 50th and 110th overall. However don't expect Halifax to use either pick, according to Willy Palov.

BOUDREAU

Titan Nation reported that former Mooseheads player Matt Boudreau has been signed to play with a team in France next season. Boudreau will play with the Brest Albatros during the 2014-15 season. 

PRESEASON

Tickets to the three home preseason games will go on sale August 1st. Camp starts on August 11 and the first preseason game will be at the Halifax Forum on August 16th. 

Herd Word

NHL AWARDS
Happy NHL awards day!! Tonight the 2013-14 National Hockey League awards will be presented in Las Vegas. The show can be seen on TSN starting at 8pm Atlantic time. Former Halifax Mooseheads star Nathan MacKinnon is one of three canditates for the Calder Trophy which is presented to the NHL Rookie of the Year. The other two are teammates from the Tampa Bay Lightning who join the Colorado Avalanche as the teams with the most nominees with four each.

WORLD JUNIORS
It was announced on Monday that three Moose players have been invited to their country's world junior development camps which will be held in August. For the third straight year, Jonathan Drouin and Zach Fucale have been invited to Team Canada's camp that is held in Brossard and Sherbrooke, Quebec every summer. Not exactly sure how this will play out with NHL team camps but either way that is a busy month for both boys and I will have details when they become available. Camp is August 3-8 this year. I guess coming to the Canadian Hockey League and playing quite well was good for Timo Meier who got the news on Monday that he has been invited to Team Swizterland's camp. It will be held in Arosa, Swizterland sometime in August.

GALLANT
Gerard Gallant has been hired as the Florida Panthers new head coach. He was the assistant coach of the Montreal Canadiens for two years after spending three years as head coach of the Saint John Sea Dogs. This reunites Gallant with former Dogs player Jonathan Huberdeau.

NHL DRAFT
The National Hockey League Entry Draft is on Friday and the Mooseheads have three players who are projected to be drafted. The highest ranked player being rookie sensation Nikolaj Ehlers, who has gone up in the draft rankings throughout the season with his play. Some are hesitant to really believe he is as good as he is because he spent a lot of time with Jonathan Drouin. Thirty of Drouin's 79 assists were on the PP but probably a third were actually on Ehlers' goals. Last night on TSN, Bob MacKenzie released his final rankings (1-30) in the first of many pre-draft shows that TSN is hosting this week. For the full list click here.

Matt Murphy and Danny Moynihan are also eligible for this year's draft. Moynihan is ranked #77 in the final Central Scouting rankings. In his second year of eligibility, Murphy is ranked #128. In a year that had big names and four Moose drafted, there just wasn't enough space for Matt.

CHL IMPORT DRAFT
Just a reminder the Canadian Hockey League import draft is on July 2nd (next Wednesday). The Sarnia Sting will pick first while the Quebec Remparts, Saint John Sea Dogs and Shawinigan Cataractes are the only QMJHL teams in the first 10 picks. Your Mooseheads will pick 50th and 110th overall. I will have a recap of Halifax's picks at the end of the night.

Herd Word

SIGNINGS

Former Mooseheads player Stefan Fournier, who aged out this last season, was signed to a 3-year tryout contract by the Montreal Canadiens today. This comes a day after his team mate Jonathan Drouin was signed to a 3 year tryout contract by the team who drafted him, the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

DROUIN 

Jonathan Drouin was also invited to the Bolts developmental camp. On the first day he was on the ice for a bit and then greeted fans while giving them autographs.

IMPORT DRAFT

The CHL import draft was on Wednesday. The Mooseheads had three selections, passing on the only original pick that they had in the second round. The Herd picked Nikolaj Ehlers, a Danish centre, with the 6th overall pick and Timo Meier, a Swiss winger, with the 12th overall chose. Both players were born in 1996. Ehlers actually played with Patrick Kane, Tyler Seguin and Marc-Antoine Pouliot on the Beil's Men's Swiss Elite team during the lockout.

CAVENDISH
Seems like a few Halifax players are in Prince Edward island this weekend for the Cavendish music festival. Kenny Chesney was playing tonight. Chris Clarke and Liam Alcalde are just a couple of the players in PEI this weekend.

CHL Import Draft

The last CHL Import Draft that goaltenders can be drafted goes today. It was announced last month that Hockey Canada with the Canadian Hockey League banned European goaltenders from the leagues. They also said that this year's import draft would be the last time these Euro puck stoppers could be drafted.

The Import Draft begins at 12 noon Atlantic time with the Halifax Mooseheads picking three times over the two rounds. This draft includes the 60 CHL teams. Halifax will pick 6th and 12th overall in the first round and 114th overall in the 2nd round. The second round pick is the only one that is originally ours, as Shawinigan gave us the 6th pick and Sherbrooke had the 12th.

The Vancouver Giants will pick 1st overall followed by the Ottawa 67's and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, respectively. The Saint John Sea Dogs are the only other Maritime division team picking in the top 10.

Good luck to all players and teams!

Herd Word

IMPORT GOALIES
The Canadian Hockey League in association with Hockey Canada announced on Tuesday that the 2013 CHL Import Draft will be the last for European goalies to be drafted. Current goaltenders are able to continue to play with their junior teams until their eligibility has expired while goalies selected in this year's draft can play their four or five years in the CHL. The biggest issue that Hockey Canada is seeing with European goalies playing in the CHL is that they learn how to play our style of game and become better goaltenders thus beating Team Canada at national competitions and in the National Hockey League. "In partnership with Hockey Canada, the CHL has identified the need to further develop Canadian goaltenders by providing increased opportunities for them to compete in our league and succeed at the next level," David Branch, CHL president, said in a statement explaining the reason behind the change.

Press release.

TICKETS
Season tickets and 15-game packs for the Mooseheads 20th season will go on sale on Monday June 17 at 9am for fans who do not currently have either or. Current holders were supposed to renew their seats by May 31 and those seats that did not get renewed were released for the public and other current holders who wanted to change seats. I do not believe that the prices have changed since last season. For the full list of prices and benefits of being a holder click here.

BANNER
Not only is the 2013-14 season the Herd's 20th season in Halifax as a member of the Quebec league, it is also #Banneryear. The Mooseheads will raise their 3 banners on home opening night in September. They will raise the most likely raise a banner for being Regular Season Champs, as well as the customary President's Cup and Memorial Cup Champions banners. I cannot wait for the home opener and I will have lots of pics posted on here so stayed tuned. I think they should invite Nathan, Jonathan and Zach back if they make the NHL and they should also invite back Konrad, Stephen and Stefan back because they were the biggest part of this championship season.

NHL DRAFT
I guess Chris Clarke is going to go support his Moose teammates in New Jersey at the upcoming NHL Entry Draft. He had this to say on twitter today:

The National Hockey League Entry Draft is on June 30 this year and is being held by the New Jersey Devils. It is only one day this year and it is on a Sunday. Normally it is a Friday and Saturday I believe with Round 1 being on Friday and Rounds 2 through 7 on Saturday.

SCHEDULE
The schedule for the 2013-14 QMJHL season should be out really soon which is good I am excited to find out when the season opener is. According to @HFXMooseheads twitter in a reply to a fans question if it was out already, "Should be in the next few weeks. In the final stages right now." Come back in July (probably) and I will have the schedule posted under the 'Schedule' tab above.

Photo: Twitter