End of an era: Rousseau traded to Moncton
2025-01-06
In a move to continue to build for the future, General Manager Cam Russell traded overage goalie Mathis Rousseau and 19-year-old forward Logan Crosby to the Moncton Wildcats ahead of Monday’s trade deadline. Halifax has acquired fellow overage goalie Jacob Steinman as well as second round draft picks in 2025 and 2026 and a fourth round pick in 2026.
“Mathis has done everything and more that we could have ever expected him to in a Mooseheads jersey. These decisions are never easy, but we wanted to give him a chance at winning a championship while helping our team get better for the future. We wish him and Logan the best of luck in Moncton,” Russell said.
Rousseau is second only to Zach Fucale in Mooseheads franchise history with 93 career wins, he’s second to Dany Dallaire in career save percentage at .912 and he finishes his Halifax career third in team history with a 2.74 goals against average.
Crosby was a first round pick of the Mooseheads in 2021 and scored 22 career goals and 36 assists for 58 points in 163 games.
Halifax is getting an extremely solid goaltender in return in Steinman, who will finish out his junior career in Moose Country. The 20-year-old from Toronto, ON leads the QMJHL this season with 22 wins and is near the top in all key goaltending statistical categories. Steinman is tops amongst regulars with a 2.13 goals against average and is second in save percentage at .928. He originally signed as a free agent with the Cats in 2022 and has posted 20-plus win seasons in each of his three years in the league.
Rousseau was drafted by the Mooseheads in the fourth round (61st overall) in the 2020 QMJHL Entry Draft and joined the team as a 17-year-old rookie during the 2021-22 season. He infamously helped guide the team to the President Cup Finals in 2022-23 in his first season as the full-time starter. He won 14 playoff games that year which included three shutouts. He also scored the only goal by a goaltender in team history on October, 20th, 2023 against Rouyn-Noranda when he sent the puck the length of the ice for an empty net tally in a memorable night in Halifax.
In a separate trade, the Moose sent a 2025, ninth round pick to the Cape Breton Eagles for 18-year-old forward Callum Aucoin. He is a native of Hammonds Plains, NS and was a fourth round pick of the Eagles in 2022. He has scored 16 points in 79 career games.
Moncton will visit Halifax once more this season, when the teams battle at Scotiabank Centre on the Heritage Day holiday Monday on February 17th at 2pm. The next home game for the Mooseheads is this Thursday night at 7pm against Canadian World Junior player Ethan Gauthier and the Drummondville Voltigeurs at 7pm. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca
