The rebuild of the Halifax Mooseheads continues.
On Sunday, the Mooseheads dealt veteran forward Benoit-Olivier Groulx to the Moncton Wildcats.
The Wildcats sent a first-round pick in 2021 and a pair of second-round picks (in 2020 and 2022) to the Mooseheads in return for the Anaheim Ducks prospect.
In 26 games this season with Halifax, Groulx had 15 goals and 41 points.
The deal came after he was the final cut by Hockey Canada for the Canadian National Junior team on Friday.
Shipping him out continued a busy stretch for the 2019 Memorial Cup hosts — they’ve completed five other deals since Dec. 15 — as the team continues to rebuild ahead of the Jan. 6 QMJHL trade deadline.
In total, the Mooseheads have acquired a pair of first-round picks (2020 and 2021), four second-round picks (three in 2020 and one in 2022), a fourth-rounder (2020) and a pair of overage players in winger Kevin Gursoy and centre D’Artagnan Joly.
In an interview with the Chronicle Herald, Halifax general manager Cam Russell wouldn’t go into details but admitted other deals were possible ahead of the trade deadline.
“There’s no sense going half in,” Russell said. “Sometimes it’s the unfortunate part of the cycle of junior hockey. But the reality is that these players that we’re trading now, it’s because we acquired them four or five years ago at the other end of the cycle. We brought Groulx in because we started a rebuild and had the assets to draft him.”
LET’S STAY TOGETHER
Some teams in the Ontario Hockey League’s Western Conference are going to have tough decisions to make ahead of the league’s trade deadline on Jan. 10.
As the Christmas break hit this week, there are 10 teams in the conference that are separated by 10 points, which includes three teams — the Saginaw Spirit, Guelph Storm and Windsor Spitfires — tied atop the group at 42 points, with the Storm being the more surprising member of the club after winning the OHL title last season.
The Kitchener Rangers, who sit fifth in the conference, have also been hot in recent weeks.
The team won 10 of 11 games heading into the break, riding a hot streak that came on the heels of a coaching change in which general manager Mike McKenzie took over as bench boss on an interim basis following the firing of Jay McKee.
EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR ROCKETS DEFENCEMAN
Kelowna Rockets defenceman Kaedan Korczak will enter the second half of the Western Hockey League regular season with a new deal in tow.
The veteran defenceman inked an entry-level contract with the Vegas Golden Knights last week, adding some excitement to an already exciting year for the blueliner.
Korczak is second in team scoring behind Nolan Foote, with five goals and 28 points, and appears poised to hit career-highs offensively this season for a Rockets team that is set to host the Memorial Cup in the spring.
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