Cats Send 9 Players to NHL Rookie Camps
Published on September 11, 2025 under Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Moncton Wildcats News Release
In sports terminology 'the starting nine' is usually associated with baseball, referring to the nine men a team puts on the diamond each night.
These days, the Moncton Wildcats have a different interpretation.
The reigning Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League champions have nine players away at various National Hockey League rookie training camps and tournaments as the regular season looms with games next Thursday and Friday in St. John's against the new Newfoundland Regiment.
Call it the price of success. After a record-breaking regular season and a march to the Gilles-Courteau Trophy as league champions a year ago, NHL teams want a closer look at some of the players who helped make it happen.
So the Detroit Red Wings have 19-year-old goaltender Rudy Guimond, 18-year-old centre Grayden Robertson-Palmer, and giant six-foot-seven inch defenceman Carl-Otto Magnusson in Frisco, Texas for a pair of games against Dallas Stars rookies Sept. 13 and 14; the Utah Mammoth are bringing first round draft choice Caleb Desnoyers and New Brunswick's Gabe Smith to a 2025 Rookie Showcase in Highlands Ranch, Colorado to strut their stuff against rookies from the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights - Desnoyers is still recovering from off-season wrist surgery and won't play. Utah plays games Sept. 12 and 13.
Forward Alex Mercier and defenceman Eerik Wallenius will be with the Ottawa Senators rookies in Montreal against fellow freshmen from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens; the Boston Bruins want a look at defenceman Dylan MacKinnon when the baby Bruins congregate in Buffalo against the rookies from the Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils, while the San Jose Sharks want to see just what they have in winger Teddy Mutryn, whom they drafted in the third round of the NHL entry draft in Los Angeles last June. Mutryn will be in Irvine, California against the rookies from the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. Moncton fans will be anxious to see Murtryn in action: He was acquired from the Val d'or Foreurs for a pair of draft picks in the off-season.
The Wildcats open the season on a four-game road trip, with games against the Regiment in St. John's Thursday and Friday and then a pair in Cape Breton against the Eagles Sept. 26 and 27. Wildcats aren't home to the Avenir Centre until October 4, when they welcome the rival Saint John Sea Dogs to town.
Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from September 11, 2025
- Cats Send 9 Players to NHL Rookie Camps - Moncton Wildcats
- Sea Dogs Hire Dave Campbell as Head Equipment Manager - Saint John Sea Dogs
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