Personally I am more then pleased with how the D corps on the Moose have been playing. As mentioned before Gazzola has been playing very well, also Weeger new addition Mackenzie Weeger.
Trey Lewis is an absolute beast and don't sleep on Brian Lovell. He's only 17 and not afraid to lay the body and is a no nonsense keep it simple dman.
2 seconds this season, 2 firsts in '14, Lovell, Ciampini, Ashley, Ryan, Drouin, Fucale... Obviously some of those are as futures...
Not the same situation as Gormley though, so it won't be as big a price we saw last year...
Why?
BLB will be in the run for sure.
Val D'Or has the assets to land him and they need offense. They have 3 1st picks in 2013, in a deep draft it would be very interesting for Saint John. They also have many young players.
Halifax learned a very costly lesson with the Brad Marchand fiasco and the following 3 years. They won't blow their brains out for 1 guy unless the price is right. As others have mentioned a guy like Tesink is far more likely.
Halifax learned a very costly lesson with the Brad Marchand fiasco and the following 3 years. They won't blow their brains out for 1 guy unless the price is right. As others have mentioned a guy like Tesink is far more likely.
Exactly, both Halifax and Rouyn have mentionned they would't damage their future seasons for a run.
I don't see why Halifax would need to mortage their future for another star forward in Huberdeau. I think Halifax will will target a top 4 defenceman and maybe a guy like Tesink. Tesink would be a suitable fit at a fraction of a price.
I say BLB land Huberdeau. They have a very solid team defensively but had a few games they didn't score much. A star forward like Huberdeau would push them over the top, imo. They have SJ's 1st already and could package that with a couple of seconds and players like Sanche, Bahl and/or Hinds.
Val D'Or has the assets to land him and they need offense. They have 3 1st picks in 2013, in a deep draft it would be very interesting for Saint John. They also have many young players.
I'm just saying there's no gun to anyones head this year... Everyone knew Shawi would have to spend everything they had to get Gormley (Ellis) because they were hosting... No saying that he won't go for a massive price, but it's not the same situation...
I think Halifax need too add one more top 3 defenseman.
Randy Gazzola might have a good start, but can he keep it up for 70 games?
The problem in the Q this year is that you dont have a lot of quality defenseman who plays for a team that will be sellers at Christmas.
Last year, you had guys like Brandon Gormley, Morgan Ellis, Jérome Gauthier-Leduc, Samuel Carrier and to a lesser extend, Jonathan Narbonne, who were playing for second and third tier team, so they were guys you knew they were going to be trade. In the end, Rimouski and Baie-Comeau kept Gauthier-Leduc and Carrier, but they must have kept their ears open until the trade deadline. It was even report in the media that Gauthier-Leduc was soon to be traded to St-John's.
So this year, Halifax doesn't have a Gormley or a Ellis to trade for, they didn't even have a Gauthier-Leduc.
Xavier Ouellet and Samuel Carrier are playing for Blainville-Boisbriand, so they won't be trade. Same for a guy like Martin Lefebvre, from Quebec.
Mathieu Brisebois, from Rouyn-Noranda, and Mathieu Gagnon, from Chicoutimi, are overager, so unless Halifax are willing to drop Steve Gillard, we forget them.
Jonathan Racine won't be trade, Moncton will try to turn things around.
Dillon Fournier is too young and worth too much for Rouyn-Noranda to be trade, especially with the good seadon they have.
Are Prince-Edouard-Island finally going to be buyers or sellers? After years of status-quo if they decide to sell, Jimmy Oligny might be a good fit for Halifax.
Same for a guy like Sephen Woodworth, from Cap-Breton.
