Christmas has come a little early in Halifax, as the Mooseheads pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal with Val-d’Or and Quebec. After acquiring 17 year-old forward Maxime Sauve from the Remparts, the Mooseheads flipped him to the Foreurs for two first round picks, two second round picks and a third round pick.

Currently, Halifax’ top picks in 2008 & 2009 are frozen by the league awaiting whether or not forward Brad Malone ever finds his way to the Metro Centre in a deal made with Acadie-Bathurst on draft day in 2006. If Malone does decide that it’s time to dawn a Moosehead jersey in time for Christmas, Patenaude is going to have a mess on his hands, as his top picks in 2008, 2009, 2011 & 2012 are now spoken for. While chances of that are unlikely, anything is possible, and one must tip his hat to the Halifax GM for having the guts to try. If Malone does not report by the end of the season, the league will thaw the 2008 & 2009 first rounders and they will go to Val-d’Or and the Mooseheads 2011 & 2012 top picks will be returned to them.

The Moosehead faithful are an understandably desperate lot. The region has not won a major championship in hockey since 1977 when the Nova Scotia Voyageurs won their third American Hockey League Calder Cup in six seasons. The next time the city would get a whiff of a championship was the 2000 Memorial Cup, losing to the Barrie Otters of the Ontario League in the semi-final as the host team. In 2005, Halifax would be the runner up to Sidney Crosby and the Rimouski Oceanic who held no prisoners in a four game sweep for the Presidents Cup trophy.

With Jakub Voracek (16-34-50), Ryan Hillier (21-22-43), Peter-James Corsi (20-21-41), Tomas Knotek (13-28-41) and Bryce Swan (13-12-25), then add Marchand (21-23-44), it makes the Mooseheads a bonafide contender, no way around it. Conceivably, five out of the six could easily finish in the top 10 in scoring in the league when game 70 arrives in March, which would be unheard of since the 1970-71 season when Guy Lafleur, Michel Briere, Andre Savard, Jacques Richard and Richard Grenier did it for the Quebec Remparts.

When all is said and done at this point, the next time Halifax will pick in the first and second rounds will be 2010. Sure, after the run this year, there will be a firesale of mostly spare parts of what is left in Sydney at the draft next June in order to jumpstart the rebuilding process, but it could be another five to six years after that before the Mooseheads become a factor again. Val-d’Or went for broke in 2001 and it proved successful, but they fell off the charts and weren’t heard from again until last season. When GM’s play these games with the future in order to win now, it comes at a hefty price tag in the forseable future. All in all, when you factor in that each pick / player usually yields 4-5 seasons worth of service, 26 seasons worth (+/-) of service was given up here for roughly a half season of use of just one player.

The trade here could indeed win the Mooseheads the Presidents Cup and Memorial Cup, but only one man remaining in the league holds the key of just how much of a battle it is going to be.

Watch The Huskies

GM & Head Coach Andre Tourigny of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies has the assets to tip the scale, and after six seasons of coming up short, it may just be time for him to go for broke. This years Huskies squad is one that resembles last seasons MAINEiacs in the way that they approach the game, and have many contributors to the scoresheet.

After acquiring netminder Jhase Sniderman from the Moncton Wildcats in mid-November, Rouyn has gone 9-3 and is battling it out with perrenial favorite Gatineau Olympiques in the Telus Division for the top seed. While the addition of Sniderman was great for the short term, the question remains of if the 20 year-old can get it done in the post season.

In comes the MAINEiacs and the services of one Jonathan Bernier. If there is one team in the league remaining that hasn’t put all their eggs in one basket in trades, it’s Rouyn-Noranda. Knowing Lewiston and their conservative history around trading star players, it would take a kings ransom to pry the 19 year-old away from here, and Rouyn is the only one left that can come up with the assets necessary to pull the trigger on a deal.

Not saying that there are rumours going around, or anything imminent about to happen, but it makes too much sense that Tourigny would be inquiring on a possible deal. With the Mooseheads adding Marchand, he would be foolish if he wasn’t.

Another factor is next season’s Memorial Cup bid placed by the MAINEiacs. For Lewiston to be competitive next season, they are going to have to make deals to get offense into the team. With Stefano Giliati not returning and Stefan Chaput likely destined for the AHL, coupled with only two 20 year-olds to be considered that are both on the blueline (Michalik & Durand), Lewiston is going to need to make some serious moves to contend for the Memorial Cup if they indeed get the bid. The MAINEiacs will have to make deals just to be competitive regardless if they get the bid or not.

Judging from the past of how these teams make deals, chances are if anything gets done, it won’t be until after the World Junior Championships conclude, and could even be a deadline deal. A short list of who could possbily come this way in a deal would likely include 17 year-olds Jarrad Struthers (9-13-22) and Jean-Sebastien Berube (5-7-12) and 18 year-old Maxime Macenauer (11-20-31), although Macenauer would likely not come until the draft as he is an integral part of the Huskies.

Again, this is all pure speculation, but it makes too much sense that something could happen between the two teams.

offthepost@lewistonhockey.com