It’s “Timo Time” in Rouyn-Noranda, as the Huskies picked up Timo Meier from the Halifax Mooseheads in the final moments of the QMJHL trade period on Wednesday.
In return, Halifax receives first- and second-round picks in 2017 and a fourth-round pick in 2018. The second-round pick will reportedly turn into a 2016 pick at the draft.
Adding Meier, the ninth overall pick of the 2015 NHL draft by the San Jose Sharks, gives the Huskies the biggest offensive weapon available on the trade market. His goal-scoring is down slightly — he has 11 goals through 23 games after a 44-goal campaign last season — in a season shortened from time at Sharks training camp and while serving as captain for Switzerland at the world juniors. Moving from the rebuilding Mooseheads to the President Cup contending Huskies should give Meier’s numbers a boost.
The Huskies have been in first place virtually all season and are consistently the highest ranked team in the CHL Top 10 weekly rankings. They’ve been feeling the heat from the Val-d’Or Foreurs, who passed them in the standings to grab first place last night, although the Huskies have played two fewer games. Earlier in the day, the Huskies completed the Nikolas Brouillard trade by sending Louis-Filip Côté to the Québec Remparts. In return, Québec sent back Rouyn-Noranda’s original 2018 first-round and 2016 third-round picks. Côté was the eighth overall pick of the 2015 QMJHL draft and has eight points in 29 games in his rookie season.
Shawinigan goes all in
It doesn’t quite have the same ring as “Timo Time,” but it’s “Timashov Time” in Shawinigan. The team had to wait for the world juniors to end to announce the anticipated trade of Sweden’s Dmytro Timashov from the Québec Remparts to the Shawinigan Cataractes. Timashov also had to waive a no-trade clause to finalize the deal that sends a first- and third-round pick in 2017 and a third-round pick in 2018 to the Remparts. Timashov is 10th in points with 53 and third in points per game with 1.83.
On Tuesday, they added more scoring depth bringing in 20-year-old Danny Moynihan from the Halifax Mooseheads. Moynihan is 14th in league scoring with 50 points. Shawinigan also received Québec’s 2016 third-round pick in the deal while sending overage defenceman Zachary Taylor and a 2016 first-round pick the other way.
The moves give Shawinigan four players with at least 50 points — Alexis D’Aoust (65) and Dennis Yan (51) are the others — and that doesn’t include Anthony Beauvillier who has 41 points and is averaging 1.95 points per game.
In a smaller depth move, Shawinigan sent winger Giovanni Fiore to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in exchange for defenceman Jonathan Deschamps.
The moves of the past 24 hours cap off a busy trade period that previously saw Shawinigan pick up defenceman Cavan Fitzgerald, forward Gabriel Gagné and goaltender Philippe Cadorette.
Shawinigan sits in first in the East Division with 53 points, good for third overall. The rest of the division (Québec, Rimouski, Victoriaville, Chicoutimi and Baie-Comeau) were sellers over the trade period, so locking up the East should be no problem. With these moves, it’s MasterCard Memorial Cup or bust.
Val-d’Or stands pat
They’ve only been in first place for a day after a 4-1 win over Gatineau on Tuesday, but the Val-d’Or Foreurs were relatively quiet on deadline day. They acquired Alexandre Delisle-Houde and a 2016 fourth-round pick (via Gatineau) in exchange for William Gignac and second- and fourth-round picks in 2017. Gignac has 22 points on the year while Delisle-Houde has 16.
The Foreurs flipped Cole Rafuse, the 20th overall pick of the 2015 QMJHL draft, to Acadie-Bathurst for a 2018 first-round pick.
Finally, the Foreurs acquired goaltender Daryl MacCallum from Chicoutimi for a ninth-round pick in 2017. Val-d’Or is the fourth stop of the season for MacCallum, who went from Charlottetown to Acadie-Bathurst to Chicoutimi this season.
Other deadline day trades
