Now that the clean-up from Hurricane Fiona is almost complete, the Halifax Mooseheads can turn their attention some team housekeeping.
Head coach Sylvain Favreau named his leadership group on Friday morning and general manager Cam Russell pulled the trigger on a trade later in the day. Russell sent a 2023 sixth-round pick and a 2025 14th-rounder to the Sherbrooke Phoenix for 20-year-old forward Stephane Huard Jr. He gives them a second overage player alongside winger Evan Boucher.
Huard had 19 goals and 27 assists in 66 games for the Phoenix last season and led them in pre-season scoring with nine points in six games. This will be his fourth season in the QMJHL after spending his first year with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and the past two in Sherbrooke.
Huard will help offset the long-term loss of star winger Zachary L'Heureux, who is out indefinitely with an upper body injury according to a team news release. L'Heureux, 19, was just returned to Halifax by the Nashville Predators, who picked him in the first round of the 2021 NHL draft. The Mooseheads did not provide any other details on the nature or extent of his injury.
The Mooseheads also welcomed back winger Jordan Dumais (Columbus Blue Jackets), centre Markus Vidicek (Arizona Coyotes), winger Evan Boucher (Calgary Flames) and defencemen Jake Furlong (San Jose Sharks) and Cam Whynot (Flames) from their respective NHL camps this week.
BIASCA TO WEAR 'C'
Swiss forward Attilio Biasca will be the captain this season and L'Heureux, Vidicek and Dumais will be the alternates.
Biasca is entering his third season with the team but he's had bad luck with injuries since being the No. 5 pick in the 2020 CHL import draft. The 19-year-old only managed to appear in 19 games as a rookie in 2020-21 and was limited to 39 games last season. He has 22 career points but had an excellent pre-season and a strong world juniors in Alberta in August. He's also one of the most popular players on the team.
Dumais (109 points), Vidicek (65 points) and L'Heureux (56 points) are the top three returning scorers from 2021-22. L'Heureux wore an 'A' last season and Dumais and Vidicek were the team's first-round picks in 2020.
#GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/8UD8tmJVZp
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) September 19, 2022
Notes: The Mooseheads will have a fresh look this season. Their jersey colours will still be green, red and white but the design is new and the logo is also updated. ... Their cancelled Sept. 23 home game against the Charlottetown Islanders has been rescheduled for March 22 and their Sept. 24 scuttled road game against the Islanders will now be on Oct. 20. The Cape Breton Eagles will also host the Mooseheads on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. after the teams had to call off Friday's game in Sydney.
