Mooseheads to pick 3rd again

Photo - QMJHL website

The Halifax Mooseheads will select 3rd overall during the upcoming entry draft. 

Even though the Herd did not finish in the lower part of the standings, the club still had a chance to win the draft lottery as they hold the Rimouski Oceanic's first round pick after a previous trade. Halifax had 6 balls in the lottery, giving them the second best odds (at 28.6%) to win, however they slid to third. 

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who had the best odds, won the lottery that was held on Tuesday night and will select first overall. Rouyn-Noranda acquired the pick from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. 

Here's how the top five currently look like:

Here they are! The Top 5 picks of this year's #QDraft! pic.twitter.com/S3TTP1BacT

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) April 21, 2026

This is the second straight year that the Mooseheads will pick 3rd overall. In 2025, Halifax selected defenceman Malik L'Italien. 

Halifax will host the 2026 QMJHL Entry Draft on June 5-6. The Moose also own the 7th overall pick, plus four more picks in the second round. 

In other news....

• There are four current players on the NHL Central Scouting final draft rankings; Oleg Kulebiakin #87, Eddy Doyle #108, Danny Walters #114 and Shawn Carrier #178. Good luck to them at the 2026 NHL Draft in late June. 
• The QMJHL semi-finals are set after the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada defeated the Newfoundland Regiment 4-2 in their series on Monday. Blainville take on the Moncton Wildcats while the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies will battle each other in the other series.
• Halifax announced on Tuesday that they have signed free-agent forward Evan Nee. Nee, a native of Arlington, Massachusetts, will join the Mooseheads as he enters his 19-year-old season. 
• Former Herd bench boss Sylvain Favreau has won the Ron Lapointe Trophy after being named the Coach of the Year after leading the Drummondville Voltigeurs to a 40-18-3-3 record in the 2025-26 regular season. 
• Mathis Rousseau, an alumni goaltender of the Mooseheads, has committed to Cornell University after entering the NCAA's transfer portal. 

QMJHL Names Scholastic POM

Every month, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announces a Scholastic Player of the Month which recognizes a player on each team with his performance on ice and in the classroom. The player is selected based on their school results, their implication, the school-hockey conciliation, their team spirit and their on-ice performances. 

For your Halifax Mooseheads, Connor MacPherson was named the Scholastic Player of the Month for March. 

Team	Player	Program	Academic Establishment
Baie-Comeau Drkkar	Liam Armit	Secondaire 5	Polyvalente des Baies
Blainville-Boisbriand Armada	Spencer Gill	Business	Athabasca University
Cape Breton Eagles	Lucas Romeo	Business General	University of New Brunswick – UNB
Charlottetown Islanders	Dylan MacKinnon	Business Administration	Athabasca / UNB
Chicoutimi Saguenéens	Alexandre Desmarais	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP de Chicoutimi
Drummondville Voltigeurs	Filip Kovalcik	High School – Grade 12	Trecin (Stredna Sortova Skola)
Gatineau Olympiques	Michel Myloserdnyy	Business	Northern Pre-University – NPU
Halifax Mooseheads	Connor MacPherson	Business General	St Marys University
Moncton Wildcats	Evan Dépatie	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP à distance
Newfoundland Regiment	Alexis Mathieu	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University – NPU
Québec Remparts	Benjamin Lelièvre	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP Limoilou
Rimouski Océanic	Luke Patterson	Business	University of New Brunswick – UNB
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies	Eliot Ogonowski	Sciences humaines	CÉGEP de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Shawinigan Cataractes	Frédéric Bergeron	Secondaire 5	Académie des Estacades
Sherbrooke Phoenix	Éloi Bénard	Secondaire 5	Académie des Estacades
Saint John Sea Dogs	Maxime Côté	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University – NPU
Val-d’Or Foreurs	Hemerick Carbonneau	Sciences de la nature	CÉGEP de Val-d’Or
Victoriaville Tigres	Simon-Pier Brunet	High School – Grade 12	Northern Pre-University – NPU

Herd Word

NHL DRAFT
I'm super late to share this but since we're getting close to the end of the National Hockey League regular season, I thought I would share where some of our Halifax Mooseheads players were among the mid-season rankings back in January. There are 3 current Herd ranked this time. We may see these guys below move up (or down) when the final rankings are released in the next few weeks. 

Eddy Doyle - #66
Oleg Kulebiakin - #68

Daniel Walters - #147

Forward Gavin McKenna of the Penn State Nittany Lions was stilled ranked #1 and I'm sure we will see him go in that spot in late June. Meanwhile, Xavier Villeneuve was the top QMJHL player on the Central Scouting listing at 15. 

Photo - Herd website

HERD SWEPT
Well, there was no great upset this season for Halifax as the team were swept by the Chicoutimi Sagueneens in the first round of the playoffs. In the 2025 QMJHL playoffs the Eastern Conference 9th ranked Mooseheads defeated the Western Conference number 1 Drummondville Voltigeurs. Despite an improvement in wins and points, Halifax finished 7th in the East but had to take on the highest scoring team in the QMJHL; the Sags. Chicoutimi certainly showed their offensive talents outscoring the Herd 24-4 in the four game series. 

So the 2025-26 season is now over for our favourite team unfortunately. There is lots to look forward to though, including the different drafts and trade deadline. It will be interesting what moves Cam Russell and co. make this summer to bolster the roster for next year.

Thanks for another entertaining year Halifax Mooseheads. 

STUDENT OF THE YEAR

Veteran forward Liam Kilfoil was announced as the Mooseheads nominee for the Marcel-Robert Trophy earlier this month. The prestigious honour is awarded annually to the student-athlete of the year - the player who best combines on-ice performance with academic success. A total of 18 nominees were announced on April 2, one player from each of the QMJHL's teams, of which three will be named as finalists soon. 

Congrats to Liam and good luck to him. If I have kept track correctly, no Herd player has actually won the trophy though an alumni did (Mathieu Cataford, Rimouski - 2023-24). 

Photo - QMJHL website

DRAFT ODDS

The 2026 QMJHL Entry Draft will for the first time be held at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, NS by your Halifax Mooseheads. Halifax currently has fourteen picks over the two days. 

A week ago, the league released the draft lottery date and the lottery odds. Despite finishing outside of the bottom 5, Moose Country will still have an interest in the lottery as Halifax has the Rimouski Oceanic's first round pick. Rimouski finished 17th overall and out of the playoffs. The lottery will take place on April 21st at 6:30 p.m. (presumedly Eastern time).and be broadcaste live on RDS 

Here are the odds:

18th position: Rouyn-Noranda (from BAC) - 9 balls or 42.9%

17th position: Halifax (from RIM) - 6 balls or 28.6%

16th position: Shawinigan (from GAT) - 3 balls or 14.3%

15th position: Victoriaville - 2 balls or 9.5%

14th position: Saint John - 1 ball or 4.8%

JERSEY CONTEST

The CHL Jersey Contest auction raised thousands of dollars with 100% of the proceeds being donated to PC's Children's Charity. 

Classic Support from Moose Country 👏👏

A total of $13,425 was raised through our Real Atlantic Superstore #CHLJerseyContest auction. 100% of the proceeds have been donated to @PC_Charity which feeds 1-million children each year.

Thank you for your generosity | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/Ac5HC9DQjT

— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) April 7, 2026

Photo - Q website

ROOKIE TEAM

Mooseheads defenceman Malik L'Italien was named to the QMJHL's All-Rookie Team last week, the league announced. 

L'Italien finished 25th in rookie scoring while playing in all 64 games during the regular season. The 16-year-old posted 4 goals and twenty assists for 24 points in his first year as a major junior player. You can find the full team below.

Goaltender: Jan Larys, Drummondville

Defenseman: Tommy Bleyl, Moncton

Defenseman: Malik L'Italien, Halifax

Forward: Egor Shilov, Victoriaville
Forward: Alexey Vlasov, Victoriaville 

Forward: Alexis Joseph, Saint John

I'm surprised that Oleg Kulebiakin wasn't named to the team but congrats to Malik on being awarded the honour.