Triton
01-02-2006, 09:22 PM
http://www.moncton-wildcats.com/archives/20060102_en.php
The Moncton Wildcats celebrated New Year's Eve in style by making the most
high-profile trade in franchise history.
They finished off 2005 with a bang on Saturday night by acquiring star defenceman Luc Bourdon from the Val d'Or Foreurs.
The 18-year-old Shippagan native gets the dream opportunity to come back to his home province and be a vital piece of the puzzle for Moncton, which is host team in the 2006 Memorial Cup.
Bourdon, 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, was the first French Canadian selected in the 2005 National Hockey League draft. He was claimed in the first round, 10th overall, and he almost made the Vancouver Canucks this season.
He's currently playing for Team Canada at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship in Vancouver and has one goal and five points in four games.
His plus-four rating is tied for second best on the club and he was named Canada's Player of the Game in a 4-0 win over Norway.
This marks his third international hockey experience. He played for Team Atlantic at the world under-17 championship and Team Canada at the world under- 18 championship.
"We knew we had to bring in some marquee guys combined with what we already had in order to enhance our chances of accomplishing our goal," said Moncton head coach and director of hockey operations Ted Nolan.
"We didn't want to disrupt the chemistry of the team too much.
"Luc Bourdon is one of the premier defencemen at the world junior championship right now, he almost made Vancouver this season and he's probably going to play in the National Hockey League next season. To get a guy like him, it's a big boost to the confidence of our team."
Bourdon is the biggest name to switch teams during the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League trade period, which opened on Dec. 19 and concludes next Sunday.
Moncton shipped center Ian Girard, 20, and defenceman Jean-Sebastien Adam, 19, to Val d'Or. The Wildcats also gave up a fourthround draft pick in 2007 and a first-round draft pick in 2008.
The deal was structured to allow the Wildcats to keep star left winger Brad Marchand for the remainder of this season.
In June, the Wildcats will get back their first-round draft pick in 2008 and send Marchand to Val d'Or for next season.
Marchand, a 17-year-old sophomore, has 19 goals and 39 points in 38 games this season. There's a clause in the trade which states that if he plays in the QMJHL as a 20-year-old the Foreurs will give a first-round draft pick in 2009 to the Wildcats.
Girard was Moncton's secondline center and he leads the club in scoring with 52 points, including 18 goals, in 37 games.
The Wildcats claimed him off QMJHL waivers for $500 midway through last season and he has far exceeded expectations.
Adam missed much of this season due to injury and was No. 5 or No. 6 on the blueline depth chart for the Wildcats. He's only played 12 games, but has provided physical presence and steady defensive play.
"Ian Girard is a kid that nobody thought had a chance to make our team," said Nolan.
"You have to give him every credit in the world for the way he played and battled. He made a name for himself and Val d'Or demanded that he be part of the trade. You add in Adam, who's a character guy. We're going to miss both of them.
"This is one of the hardest trades that I've ever done because you're not just talking about players. You're talking about personalities and what they bring to the team.
"We sat on this one for two or three weeks contemplating if it was the right thing to do, but when you have a chance to get Luc Bourdon you go for it. We gave up a lot, but we're also getting a lot back."
The loss of Girard means the Wildcats need a new second-line center.
"We didn't do this trade without thinking about the other things we're going to do," said Nolan. "We have a couple of things on the backburner. There's a couple of things stewing pretty good right now so hopefully we'll be able to fill the vacant spot left by Girard.
"We've been putting together a master plan since June looking at what we needed to do to try to win the Memorial Cup. That's why we brought in some guys either as free agents or through trades in the summer.
"We identified the back end. You win from goaltending out. When you look at our goaltending and defence now, it puts us in good position." Moncton, 26-10-0-2, and the Acadie- Bathurst Titan, 24-11-2-4, are tied for first in the Eastern Division.
The Wildcats visit the Prince Edward Island Rocket tomorrow night. They will return home to face the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Coliseum.
Bourdon, the third overall pick in the 2003 QMJHL draft, is a multi- dimensional defenceman. He anchored the blueline on a struggling Val d'Or squad and has two goals and 20 points in 20 this season.
The Hockey News ranked him as Team Canada's top defenceman in its world junior championship preview magazine. He stayed in Vancouver's training camp until the deadline for NHL clubs to make decisions on 18-year-olds.
Hockey's Future - an online prospects magazine - calls Bourdon "a very good two-way defenceman who plays very well in his own zone and can contribute offensively." It describes him as a physical force who hits hard both along the boards and in open ice.
Bourdon has a heavy accurate slapshot that has been clocked at 92 miles per hour.
The Canucks scouting report on their web site talks about his size and strength to go along with his solid puck moving skills and fantastic mobility.
The NHL club offers this assessment of its prospect: "The main weapon in his game is his exceptional skating ability. Displays good leadership ability and will go to war for any of his teammates. Excels at dishing out physical punishment."
"I spoke to Vancouver associate coach Mike Johnston, who's a boyhood friend and we've coached together at world championships," said Moncton associate coach Danny Flynn. "I wanted his read on Bourdon.
"Richard Rose, our consultant in Quebec, followed him on a steady basis. We also talked to Team Canada assistant coach Craig Hartsurg, who's head coach in Sault Ste. Marie (of the Ontario Hockey League). Teddy and I know him well.
"Hartsburg said Bourdon is the best defenceman in the Canadian Hockey League, probably the best defenceman at the world junior championship and if you have a chance to add him to your lineup you would have to take a long, hard look at it regardless of the price.
"That's high praise coming from a former NHL all-star defenceman, a former NHL captain who played in the Canada Cup, and a former NHL head coach."
This was Moncton's second move during the trade period. The other came when the club took care of its No. 1 need by acquiring goaltender Josh Tordjman, 20, from the Victoriaville Tigres.
The Wildcats added backup goaltender Guillaume Blouin, defencemen Keith Yandle, Andrew Mac- Donald and Maxime Belanger, and forwards Philippe Dupuis, Matt Marquardt and Tim Spencer either as free agents or through trades before the regular season began.
The Wildcats now boast likely the two best defencemen in the QMJHL in Bourdon and Yandle. MacDonald, Belanger, Oskars Bartulis and Nathan Welton round out their top six on the blueline.
Bartulis suffered a broken finger playing for Latvia at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship and he's expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
"The mandate this year is to put together a competitive Memorial Cup host team and we're working towards that," said Flynn. "Given the hand that we were dealt (when we took over in the off-season), we felt we had to make some moves."
The Moncton Wildcats celebrated New Year's Eve in style by making the most
high-profile trade in franchise history.
They finished off 2005 with a bang on Saturday night by acquiring star defenceman Luc Bourdon from the Val d'Or Foreurs.
The 18-year-old Shippagan native gets the dream opportunity to come back to his home province and be a vital piece of the puzzle for Moncton, which is host team in the 2006 Memorial Cup.
Bourdon, 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, was the first French Canadian selected in the 2005 National Hockey League draft. He was claimed in the first round, 10th overall, and he almost made the Vancouver Canucks this season.
He's currently playing for Team Canada at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship in Vancouver and has one goal and five points in four games.
His plus-four rating is tied for second best on the club and he was named Canada's Player of the Game in a 4-0 win over Norway.
This marks his third international hockey experience. He played for Team Atlantic at the world under-17 championship and Team Canada at the world under- 18 championship.
"We knew we had to bring in some marquee guys combined with what we already had in order to enhance our chances of accomplishing our goal," said Moncton head coach and director of hockey operations Ted Nolan.
"We didn't want to disrupt the chemistry of the team too much.
"Luc Bourdon is one of the premier defencemen at the world junior championship right now, he almost made Vancouver this season and he's probably going to play in the National Hockey League next season. To get a guy like him, it's a big boost to the confidence of our team."
Bourdon is the biggest name to switch teams during the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League trade period, which opened on Dec. 19 and concludes next Sunday.
Moncton shipped center Ian Girard, 20, and defenceman Jean-Sebastien Adam, 19, to Val d'Or. The Wildcats also gave up a fourthround draft pick in 2007 and a first-round draft pick in 2008.
The deal was structured to allow the Wildcats to keep star left winger Brad Marchand for the remainder of this season.
In June, the Wildcats will get back their first-round draft pick in 2008 and send Marchand to Val d'Or for next season.
Marchand, a 17-year-old sophomore, has 19 goals and 39 points in 38 games this season. There's a clause in the trade which states that if he plays in the QMJHL as a 20-year-old the Foreurs will give a first-round draft pick in 2009 to the Wildcats.
Girard was Moncton's secondline center and he leads the club in scoring with 52 points, including 18 goals, in 37 games.
The Wildcats claimed him off QMJHL waivers for $500 midway through last season and he has far exceeded expectations.
Adam missed much of this season due to injury and was No. 5 or No. 6 on the blueline depth chart for the Wildcats. He's only played 12 games, but has provided physical presence and steady defensive play.
"Ian Girard is a kid that nobody thought had a chance to make our team," said Nolan.
"You have to give him every credit in the world for the way he played and battled. He made a name for himself and Val d'Or demanded that he be part of the trade. You add in Adam, who's a character guy. We're going to miss both of them.
"This is one of the hardest trades that I've ever done because you're not just talking about players. You're talking about personalities and what they bring to the team.
"We sat on this one for two or three weeks contemplating if it was the right thing to do, but when you have a chance to get Luc Bourdon you go for it. We gave up a lot, but we're also getting a lot back."
The loss of Girard means the Wildcats need a new second-line center.
"We didn't do this trade without thinking about the other things we're going to do," said Nolan. "We have a couple of things on the backburner. There's a couple of things stewing pretty good right now so hopefully we'll be able to fill the vacant spot left by Girard.
"We've been putting together a master plan since June looking at what we needed to do to try to win the Memorial Cup. That's why we brought in some guys either as free agents or through trades in the summer.
"We identified the back end. You win from goaltending out. When you look at our goaltending and defence now, it puts us in good position." Moncton, 26-10-0-2, and the Acadie- Bathurst Titan, 24-11-2-4, are tied for first in the Eastern Division.
The Wildcats visit the Prince Edward Island Rocket tomorrow night. They will return home to face the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Coliseum.
Bourdon, the third overall pick in the 2003 QMJHL draft, is a multi- dimensional defenceman. He anchored the blueline on a struggling Val d'Or squad and has two goals and 20 points in 20 this season.
The Hockey News ranked him as Team Canada's top defenceman in its world junior championship preview magazine. He stayed in Vancouver's training camp until the deadline for NHL clubs to make decisions on 18-year-olds.
Hockey's Future - an online prospects magazine - calls Bourdon "a very good two-way defenceman who plays very well in his own zone and can contribute offensively." It describes him as a physical force who hits hard both along the boards and in open ice.
Bourdon has a heavy accurate slapshot that has been clocked at 92 miles per hour.
The Canucks scouting report on their web site talks about his size and strength to go along with his solid puck moving skills and fantastic mobility.
The NHL club offers this assessment of its prospect: "The main weapon in his game is his exceptional skating ability. Displays good leadership ability and will go to war for any of his teammates. Excels at dishing out physical punishment."
"I spoke to Vancouver associate coach Mike Johnston, who's a boyhood friend and we've coached together at world championships," said Moncton associate coach Danny Flynn. "I wanted his read on Bourdon.
"Richard Rose, our consultant in Quebec, followed him on a steady basis. We also talked to Team Canada assistant coach Craig Hartsurg, who's head coach in Sault Ste. Marie (of the Ontario Hockey League). Teddy and I know him well.
"Hartsburg said Bourdon is the best defenceman in the Canadian Hockey League, probably the best defenceman at the world junior championship and if you have a chance to add him to your lineup you would have to take a long, hard look at it regardless of the price.
"That's high praise coming from a former NHL all-star defenceman, a former NHL captain who played in the Canada Cup, and a former NHL head coach."
This was Moncton's second move during the trade period. The other came when the club took care of its No. 1 need by acquiring goaltender Josh Tordjman, 20, from the Victoriaville Tigres.
The Wildcats added backup goaltender Guillaume Blouin, defencemen Keith Yandle, Andrew Mac- Donald and Maxime Belanger, and forwards Philippe Dupuis, Matt Marquardt and Tim Spencer either as free agents or through trades before the regular season began.
The Wildcats now boast likely the two best defencemen in the QMJHL in Bourdon and Yandle. MacDonald, Belanger, Oskars Bartulis and Nathan Welton round out their top six on the blueline.
Bartulis suffered a broken finger playing for Latvia at the 2006 World Junior Hockey Championship and he's expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
"The mandate this year is to put together a competitive Memorial Cup host team and we're working towards that," said Flynn. "Given the hand that we were dealt (when we took over in the off-season), we felt we had to make some moves."