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| Marco Cousineau. Sun Journal photo. |
Please note, seasons 2006-07 and beyond are archived by the QMJHL with full trades.
We will look at movement made during the 2009-10 deadline.
At the start of the season the Rocket looked like they were finally ready to contend with an off-season acquisition of Presidents Cup champion and overager Samson Mahbod from the Drummondville Voltigeurs. Their intentions were also clear when they traded a first-round pick in 2011 to the Volts again for overage goalie Marco Cousineau, who was named the Memorial Cup's goaltender of the tournament just months prior.
The 2009-10 season trading period opened up Dec. 19, 2009 and came to a close on Jan. 7, 2010. The Rocket was icing a 20-13-1-3 team at the time of the trading period.
On Dec. 19, the Rocket made its first deal sending 18-year-old forward Brandon Street to the Victoriaville Tigres for 17-year-old Bradley MacDonald. Street had played 87 games in one and a half seasons with the Rocket, tallying 17 goals and 34 points.
The next deal was arguably the team's biggest trade of the deadline, and probably one of the biggest in the league.
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| Chris Doyle story on CBC.ca. |
Bonneau, unrelated to Jimmy, would score six goals and 17 points in 30 games with the Rocket only to be released the following season after nine games as an overage player.
Champagne and Doyle helped the Tigres make it to the third round of the playoffs before being eliminated by the Saint John Sea Dogs. Champagne was traded to Quebec the following off-season and Doyle went to the OHL where he was released after 20 games and ended the season with Miramichi of the MHL.
The Rocket's next trade was the same day, acquiring 20-year-old Michael Stinziani from Chicoutimi for a fourth-round pick in 2010. Stinziani landed on his third team that season and scored eight goals and 29 points in as many games with the Rocket.
On the same day again, the Rocket traded 18-year-old Brandon MacLean and sixth-round pick in 2010 to Rouyn-Noranda for defenceman Brad Yetman, 18.
MacLean, who was drafted 11th overall in 2007 by the Rocket turned out to be a bust and never looked like a first round player, or even a sixth round player. He scored 11 goals and 39 points in 137 games through two and a half seasons.
Yetman was injured and never played a game for the Rocket that season but did suit up in 2010-11.
It really looked like the Rocket were starting to sell on Dec. 30 when they shipped out Cousineau and a fifth-round pick in 2010 (Baie-Comeau) to divisional rival Saint John for a second-round pick in 2010 (Baie-Comeau), Lewiston's fourth-round pick in 2010, a seventh-round pick in 2010 and a third-round pick in 2011.
Cousineau helped Saint John reach the Presidents Cup final, only to lose in six games to Moncton.
On Jan. 2, 2010, the Rocket acquired goalie Wendell Vye from Moncton for a seventh-round pick in 2010. Vye, 19, was brought in to back up fellow 19-year-old goalie Evan Mosher who stole the starting job by out playing Cousineau.
Shortly after, the Rocket traded 18-year-old 'tender Dwayne Rodrigue to Lewiston for a seventh-round pick in 2010.
On Jan. 6, 2010, the Rocket acquired Pierre-Marc Lessard, 20, from Moncton for Saint John's fourth-round pick in 2010. Lessard never reported to P.E.I..
The next day, the Rocket traded the seventh-round pick they acquired from Lewiston to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for 20-year-old Derek Famulare.
Famulare finished the season scoring one goal and four points in 22 games.
The Rocket then traded a fourth-round pick in 2011 to Val-d'Or for versatile defenceman Dylan Capstick, 17. Capstick played in 21 games with the Rocket to finish the season, picking up four assists.
P.E.I. then traded MacDonald (acquired from Victoriaville earlier in the trading period) to Halifax for 18-year-old Guillaume Pelletier. MacDonald didn't play a game for the Rocket but did eventually play 20 games for Halifax. Pelletier was pointless in 23 games with the Rocket.
The final trade was the Rocket trading prospect Derek Larade, 17, to Cape Breton for a sixth-round pick in 2011.
When the trading period came to a close, the Rocket was 21-17-1-3.
Analysis:
The Rocket was mostly sellers even during a winning season, but the trades didn't really work out at all in the long run for trying to "build for the future."
Looking at the Champagne/Doyle trade, there had to be some dressing room issues to ship those two out. Plus, Doyle was in the midst of a court case and was better to be away from home than dealing with hometown critics. Two 19-year-olds were traded for another 19-year-old and a 16-year-old and a few picks. Ortika was a third round pick of the Tigres in 2009 and played 54 games with the Rocket in 2010-11 but didn't return next season. All-in-all, the Rocket came out on the short end of this trade. The first-round pick in the deal turned into Louick Marcotte, which was the best return in the deal.
After all said and done, the Cousineau trade turned out bad. He was acquired for a first-round pick in 2011 and played very mediocre with the Rocket posting a 10-14 record with a 3.20 goals against average and a 0.908 save percentage. Even though Cousineau ended the year with Saint John and graduated from the league, the Rocket acquired its first-round pick back from Drummondville by sending them captain Jean-Philippe Mathieu at the 2010 Draft. This three-part trade has to be one of the worst trades in Rocket history.
As for the other trades, Capstick was an excellent pick-up. He played both forward and defence and was comfortable at both positions. He would leave the Rocket during the 2011-12 season to play Jr. A in Quebec.
Stinziani was happy to finish the year with childhood friend Mahbod and was a great addition to end the year.
Famulare was a below average overage player.
Stayed tuned for the 2010-11 edition of Trade Period Flashback.
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