Hischier Signs Extension

Former Halifax Mooseheads forward Nico Hischier has signed an extension with the New Jersey Devils before his current entry level contract is over. The 20-year-old put his signature on the dotted line on a 7 year contract. It will come into effect at the beginning of the 2020-21 season and is worth 50.75 million dollars.

"I like the direction the organization is going in and the confidence they give me is all a player can ask for," said Hischier. "We have a young, exciting team, and I ma driven to try my best to help the team succeed every day. I was really welcomed here from day one, and I have always felt that I wanted to be part of the Devils."

Hischier has played 157 games so far (includes this year) and has recorded 101 points. The Brig, Switzerland native suited up for all 82 matches during his rookie season and scored 20 goals in 2017-18. He was originally drafted at the 2017 NHL draft and the Devils surprised some people by selecting him 1st overall.

Congratulations to Nico on being signed to a contract extension today and good luck in New Jersey.

Former Moose Starts Quest for the Cup

The National Hockey League regular season is now over and the playoffs begin tonight with three games on tap. With 16 teams making it to the post-season, there are bound to be a few former Halifax Mooseheads players that will be fighting for the Stanley Cup. Six alumni are on teams participating in this year's playoffs and while none of them will play against each other in the first round, hopefully a few will in subsequent rounds.

The New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche were bit of a surprise to make the playoffs especially the Avs who finished last in the league last season. Nathan MacKinnon played a huge part in Colorado's return to the post-season, producing his best season so far in his short career and leading the team in scoring. MacKinnon ended the regular season 5th in league scoring with 97 points in 74 games. The Avalanche will play the President's Trophy winning Nashville Predators in the opening round and will need Kid Mack to keep producing if they have any chance of defeating the Preds. Nico Hischier on the other hand, had a pretty good rookie season and was second in team scoring on the Devils. New Jersey will play the Eastern Conference regular season champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Halifax native Brad Marchand and the Boston Bruins will be taking on the Toronto Maple Leafs in Round 1. Marchand finished the season on top of the Bruins leaderboard with 85 points. Alum Jakub Voracek has his best season as well in terms of points, recording 85 in 2017-18 for the Philadelphia Flyers who will matchup against their interstate rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. This series begins tonight at 8pm ET on CBC.

In the West, Nikolaj Ehlers and the Winnipeg Jets take on the Minnesota Wild, a series that starts to tonight at 8pm ET on Sportsnet. Ehlers was able to score more goals this season than his previous two and was third in team scoring. The other matchup will be a battle of California as Timo Meier and the San Jose Sharks taking on the Anaheim Ducks. 2017-18 saw Meier play almost every game during the regular season, missing only one game.

Good luck to all six players and their teams as they battle for the chance to raise the Stanley Cup in two months time. Congrats to all them as well on excellent seasons. Check out their finals stats below.

                                                 G     A   Pts   +/-    PIM
Jakub Voracek              PHI     20   65   85   +10    50
Nikolaj Ehlers                WPG  29   31   60   +14    26
Brad Marchand             BOS   34   51   85   +25    63
Nico Hischier                 NJ      20   32   52   +10    26
Timo Meier                    SJ      21   15   36    +2     51
Nathan MacKinnon       COL   39   58   97    +11   55

Herd Word

KENNEDY
It was announced last week that former Mooseheads forward Bradley Kennedy has committed to play with the Mount Royal University Cougars hockey program for the 2017-18 season. Before getting traded at the Christmas trade deadline he played 37 games with the Herd collecting 29 points. Kennedy came to the Herd from the Charlottetown Islanders in June 2016 and was shipped to the Moncton Wildcats in January to make room for incoming overage players. The 21 year old never played for Moncton, instead choosing to finish the season with the Pictou Weeks Crushers of the MJAHL.

HISCHIER
During the month of August, NHL.com is doing analysis of each of the 31 teams, called 31 in 31, in preparation of the upcoming season. Late last week they did the New Jersey Devils. Rick Kowalsky, of the Devils' American Hockey League affiliate Binghamton Devils, said that "this year's group is by far the best-skilled group we've had at a development camp"  and it's led by Halifax's 2016 import draft pick Nico Hischier. The 18 year old is projected to be in the National Hockey League this season.

"In Nico, you're looking at a player who has high hockey sense and is very competitive, and those are things you're looking for in someone to play down the middle," [New Jersey's coach John] Hynes said. "They have to have that ability to read and think the game quickly. Now it's trying to find ways to help him be consistent and play at his maximum capacity every night."

IVAN HLINKA
Earlier this month, Team Canada which was made up of eight QMJHL players, were in the Czech Republic for the Ivan Hlinka tournament and were playing in the gold medal game against Team Czech Republic. Of those eight Q players, three were from the Mooseheads; Alexis Gravel, Jared McIsaac and Benoit-Olivier Groulx. The team went on to win the championship by a 4-1 score with McIsaac opening up the scoring for the red and white in the first period in the final match.

Congratulations to @BO_groulx57, @McisaacJared, @agravel37 & Team Canada on winning the U18 #IvanHlinka Memorial Cup 🇨🇦🏒🏆 pic.twitter.com/ZIQb5QULTC

— Moose Country (@MC_MooseCountry) August 12, 2017

MOORE
It was announced that long time radio voice of the Herd John Moore has decided to step down to focus more on his own website and to look at a broader spectrum of sports. He is still going to be covering the Mooseheads and the QMJHL but there is going to be more MHL content as well as other leagues. We want to wish John all the best in the future. The search for the next voice of the Moose has already began.

ALUM AT CAMPS 
Main training camps around the league started to begin on Sunday and as such there are a few former Herd players among the names on team rosters.
Taylor Ford      Rouyn-Noranda Huskies     traded in Jan 2017
Domenico Argento      Charlottetown Islanders     free agent invite
Morgan Nauss     Chicoutimi Sagueneens     traded in Aug 2016

CUTS
This afternoon it was announced that there were four more cuts made at training camp. The following players are no longer in camp; Felix Gascon, William Smith, Fabian Capparelli, Maxime Emery. This leaves the amount of players fighting for a spot on the Moose team at 37 young men.

Hischier Number One

The highest drafted Switzerland hockey player honour now belongs to Nico Hischier of your Halifax Mooseheads.

Nico was selected first overall at the 2017 NHL entry draft on Friday evening by the New Jersey Devils. With getting drafted at number 1 Hischier makes history for his home country in becoming the highest ever Swiss player to be selected, beating out Nino Niederreiter who was picked 5th overall back in 2010. The 18 year old also joins former Herd Nathan MacKinnon as the only Mooseheads to be drafted in the top spot.

Congratulations to Nico and his family on the accomplishment.

We'll most likely see Hischier in the Devils green and red sometime during next week when New Jersey hosts their development camp.