Report says Eagles’ star being dealt to Armada
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles star forward Drake Batherson is headed to the Blainville- Boisbriand Armada, according to reports.
Batherson will be sent to the Armada at the conclusion of the world junior championship, where the New Minas native is playing for Canada, according to Mikael Lalancette of TVA Sports and RDS.
According to Lalancette, the Screaming Eagles will receive 18-year-old winger Shaun Miller, 16-year-old forward Félix Lafrance, 17-year-old defenceman Kyle Havlena, and a first-round pick in 2020.
“Any trades involving players competing at the world junior championship tournament are only made official once the tournament is over. Drake is going after a gold medal with Team Canada. We hope that Team Canada brings it back and we hope Drake is part of it,” said Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager Marc-andré Dumont when asked about the reports.
“Right now, that’s the focus that he’s got to have and we’re supporting him in that.”
Batherson, a fourth- round pick of the Ottawa Senators in the 2017 NHL draft, has 17 goals and 22 assists for 39 points in 24 games.
In a world junior semifinal game Thursday he scored a hattrick in the Canadians’ 7-2 victory over the Czech Republic.
The 19-year-old didn’t crack the team’s roster full time until last year, when he had a breakout campaign with 58 points (22 goals, 36 assists) in 61 games. The sixfoot-two, 188-pound forward had 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in 11 playoff games last season.
The Armada (25-8-2-0) have the second-best record in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League while the Screaming Eagles (1718-2-1) are in 13th place.
If the deal with the Armada goes through, it will be a bit of déjà vu for the Screaming Eagles. Last year, they traded another Canadian world junior player, Pierre-luc Dubois, to the Armada following the tournament.