Sea Dogs Silent On Deadline Day

SAINT JOHN – Brandon Gormley will be playing Thursday at Harbour Station – but it will not be with the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Moncton Wildcats traded their star defenseman to the Shawinigan Cataractes this afternoon in the biggest blockbuster trade of the day. The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s trading period ended this afternoon at 1pm AST, but the official announcement of the Gormley trade was not made until after.

The Wildcats traded Gormley to the 2012 Memorial Cup hosts for Michael Matheson (94-02-27) and SHA 5th Round 2012, LEW 5th 2012, SHA 3rd 2013, SHA 5th 2013, 1st EURO 2013, 2nd SHA 2014. Several of these picks are expected to be returned to the Cataractes at the QMJHL Entry Draft in exchange for players.

“This is a very difficult trade for our organization and for me personally but we think long term this is the best move for the Moncton Wildcats at this time” said Wildcats Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Danny Flynn in a release. “This move is in the best interest of the Wildcats long term future. We want to congratulate Gorms on a tremendous World Junior Tournament and a great career here with Moncton. We wish him the best of luck as Shawinigan prepares to host the Memorial Cup.”

Gormley has been away from the Wildcats for a month, playing a starring role with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championships. He was named the tournament’s top defenseman, making him one of the top junior aged defenders on the planet.

It’s a big price to pay for Shawinigan, but they’re all in. When you’re hosting the Memorial Cup, you do whatever you can to improve your team.

According to several media folks on Twitter, Gormley will make his Cataractes debut this Thursday when they visit Saint John. It is the final time Shawinigan will play at Harbour Station in the regular season. Get your tickets now.

Multiple reports on Twitter also indicated that the Sea Dogs worked up to the deadline to try and acquire Gormley. According to a Tweet from Cataractes reporter Steve Turcotte, Shawinigan and Moncton had a deal done last night. Word that Gormley was heading to Quebec were leaked this morning.

After the deadline, there were some rumors that the Dogs had acquired goaltender Robin Gusse from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies but that never happened. Saint John was silent on deadline day, not making any moves.

There are plenty of questions to be asked about the Sea Dogs’ actions during the trade period, all of which we hope to address in a post tomorrow on the blog.

There were plenty of other trades made today, all of which can be seen on the QMJHL’s website.

Another big deal saw the Gatineau Olympiques trade Jean-Gabriel Pageau to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens for Alexandre Michaud, two first-round picks and a second rounder. Cape Breton sent Logan Shaw to the Quebec Remparts for Raphael Corriveau and Simon Desmarais. The Screaming Eagles also sent David Rose to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in exchange for a third-round pick.

In another big transaction, Jean-Philippe Mathieu was traded from Drummondvile to Rimouski for Alex Emond, Guillaume Gauthier and a fifth-round draft pick.