Opening Weekend Primer
2026-09-16
The real thing begins for the Halifax Mooseheads as the regular season is set to kick off in the QMJHL after a one-month training camp for the Herd. The Mooseheads start the year on the road on Friday night at 7pm against the Cape Breton Eagles at Centre 200 before returning to Halifax for the Scotiabank Centre Home Opener on Saturday night at 7pm versus the Moncton Wildcats.
This Mooseheads team has seen its fair share of turnover following a 29-29-3-3 record in 2025-26 which placed the team in seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Halifax had a quick elimination in the QMJHL Playoffs by losing in four straight games to the eventual Gilles Courteau Trophy Champion Chicoutimi Sagueneens.
Head Coach Brad MacKenzie is back for a second year as the bench boss following four years as an Assistant Coach. He is joined on the bench by Associate Coach Josh Hepditch who is ready for a second season with the Mooseheads while Mark Lee was added as an Assistant Coach during the offseason after a number of years with the Saint John Sea Dogs. MacKenzie feels speed up and down the lineup will be a large part of the team identity of the Mooseheads for 2026-27.
“Our identity is going to be related to that. It’s going to be about team speed both offensively and defensively. I think about the tenaciousness mindset defensively of being really hard to play against because we close fast and we take away time and space,” he said.
Elder Statesmen
The team will be anchored by three veteran overage players in defenceman and Team Captain Owen Phillips who is the longest tenured Mooseheads player in the lineup. The Hammonds Plains, NS native is entering his fifth season on the team and is the sole remaining piece from the team that made a run all the way to the Gilles Courteau Trophy Finals in 2023. He is joined by high scoring forward Quinn Kennedy who is back for a third season in a Mooseheads uniform while newcomer Nathan Langlois – acquired in an August trade with Rouyn-Noranda – will round out the three 20-year-old roster spots.
NHL Draft
It was an exciting summer for a pair of the highest scoring players with the Herd as forwards Oleg Kulebiakin and Shawn Carrier were both selected at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Kulebiakin led Halifax in scoring as a rookie last season when he scored 73 points with 29 goals and 44 assists. He became a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization when they took him in the second round of the draft. Shawn Carrier, the top goal-scorer for the Mooseheads last year with 37 tallies, was a seventh round pick of the Colorado Avalanche. Both players will be key drivers for the offensive output again this season.
New Look Lineup
Vegas Golden Knights 2025 third round pick Mateo Nobert was one of the major additions when he was added in June in a massive trade with Blainville-Boisbriand. Nobert is expected to provide plenty of offensive thump in the top six forward group as a 19-year-old and is coming off a career year in which he scored 30 goals and 78 points for the Armada.
Halifax pulled off another big trade with Baie-Comeau a few weeks later to land the second overall draft pick in June’s CHL Import Draft and GM Cam Russell promptly selected the player he had targeted through some extensive European scouting by nabbing Austrian forward Paul Sintschnig. The 17-year-old comes highly touted as he enters his NHL Draft eligible season and will be another player looked upon in the top six to provide offence for the Herd. Russell then selected Sintschnig’s Austrian teammate Nico Uschan – a 19-year-old defenceman with a big body and shut down abilities.
The club also used the American free agent market to their advantage by adding a pair of veterans 19-year-old players in forward Evan Nee and defenceman Brady Smith. Both make the lineup deeper and more difficult to play against and complement the other pieces assembled over the offseason.
Some familiar prospect names from previous drafts showed well during camp and were able to break through and crack the opening night roster. They included 2024 pick Cole MacLeod of Porters Lake, NS. He is a versatile speedy forward that will play an energy role in the bottom six and could be well used on the penalty kill. MacLeod enjoyed a great season in the MHL with the Yarmouth Mariners in 2025-26 by finishing second on the team in scoring. 2025 draft picks Jayden Napon and Duncan Anderson will also be new to the team this year. Napon – a forward – was a fifth round pick a year ago and will be asked to play a grinder style of role in the bottom six. He was the leading scorer with 46 points last season for the -Montréal Rousseau Royal. Meanwhile the blueliner Anderson has offensive upside from the backend paired with excellent skating ability. The Antigonish, NS native suited up in 46 games for the Valley Wildcats of the MHL as a 16-year-old and scored 24 points after beginning the year at South Kent school in Connecticut.
The 2026 QMJHL Entry Draft showed the team use a rather new strategy of drafting some older players, particularly from south of the border. Case in point were the selections of 18-year-old forward Jackson Smail who adds depth and will slot into the bottom six while a brand new goaltending tandem was created when the Moose called the names of 19-year-old Jack Fichthorn and 18-year-old Carson Mertz.
Coach MacKenzie is looking forward to having all of the new additions in combination with the returning players at his disposal.
“I think what it (the new additions) has done is it has given us a lot more depth obviously. At every position and at every age, we have been able to bolster up the lineup and I think that’s what a contending team is – they are four lines deep, six D and then two goaltenders.”
Head Coach Brad MacKenzie fills us in on team identity, who will be back from NHL camps and more ahead of opening weekend. #GoMooseGo #ForTheCity pic.twitter.com/yotSjO1snx
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) September 16, 2026
NHL Camps
The Mooseheads sent six players to NHL camps at the beginning of September with Nobert in Vegas, Carrier with Colorado and Kulebiakin in Tampa Bay. Quinn Kennedy (Utah), Danny Walters (Ottawa) and Eddy Doyle (Buffalo) all received free agent invitations to camps. The team will be without Nobert, Kulebiakin and Carrier on opening weekend while Kennedy, Walters and Doyle have been returned.
Injuries
Halifax is fortunate to be nearly injury free heading into the season with only forward Will Bent still sidelined as he recovers from shoulder surgery. Bent is expected to be back in the lineup sometime in late October.
Follow your Team
Mooseheads fans will be able to listen to each of the Mooseheads 64 games this season as Garreth MacDonald returns to the play by play booth on CFLT-FM Jack 92.9. Fans can also watch the webcast on mobile, desktop or on their smart tv’s as FloHockey will once again show every game on the webcast with subscriptions now available.
Home Opener
Saturday’s Home Opener will make for an exciting night in Halifax as the Mooseheads take on the rival Moncton Wildcats. Doors open at 6pm with the puck drop set for 7pm. The first 3,000 fans in the building will receive free team schedule fridge magnets. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.
