The Manitoba Moose will be in need of a new captain for the 2018-19 season as Patrice Cormier will be heading overseas to the KHL for next year to play for Barys Astana in Kazakhstan.
The native of Moncton, NB has been with this organization since the Atlanta days when he arrived as a fresh faced prospect (2008 2nd rounder) from the New Jersey Devils as part of the Ilya Kovalchuk trade back in 2010. He split his time between Atlanta and their farm club in Chicago that season but did play his first 21 NHL games and scored his first NHL goal. This would be the only goal of his career in the 52 NHL games he played.
After the team moved to Winnipeg he split his time between the Jets and IceCaps which included being part of the St. John’s team that went to the Calder Cup Final back in 2013-14. The last two seasons he has been on AHL deals with the Jets farm club and was named captain in 2016 after John Albert departed went overseas.
He played 203 games with the Moose in his three seasons here as well as 199 with the IceCaps and 11 for the Wolves giving him 413 AHL games. Interestingly the 2017-18 season was the most productive of his career as he posted career highs in goals (22), assists (21), points (43) and even penalty minutes (126).
He was always a good pro to deal with and we wish him the best over in the KHL.
Of course now we are left wondering who might be the next captain of the Manitoba Moose? My early clubhouse leader would be Julian Melchiori who was an alternate captain last season but he is also a UFA so his status remains up in the air. RFA winger JC Lipon, who was also an alternate captain last season, could step into that role as well.
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