Isles sign Herron

[Score]

The Charlottetown Islanders are thrilled to announce the signing of Jude Herron, a promising 16-year-old prospect from Fort Kent, Maine, and a significant addition to the roster.

Herron, a University of Maine commit, is set to join the Black Bears for the 2026-27 season but has chosen to develop his game with the Islanders in the meantime.

This decision comes in the wake of the recent NCAA rule change allowing QMJHL players to maintain their NCAA eligibility, a landmark adjustment that opens up new paths for players balancing academic and athletic goals.

“We’re very happy to have Jude. He had a really good training camp, and we had long discussions about him staying, but he wanted to safeguard his eligibility. In light of the new NCAA regulations that came down last week, we decided to revisit. We’re really happy to get him into our fold.”- Hulton

[bois]

so we have him for this season and next correct? what do we know about this guy? seems unlike he would be that much of a contributor as a 16 and 17 year old but we are so short of offensive forward depth anything helps

[sjsdfan]

I'm surprised a bit by this one. Walsh had a good camp and is close would have been the obvious choice if you are going to sign a 16. A few of the other later picks are having really good starts to their year as well.

[lirette]

Nov 12, 2024 13:44:31 GMT -4 sjsdfan said:

I'm surprised a bit by this one. Walsh had a good camp and is close would have been the obvious choice if you are going to sign a 16. A few of the other later picks are having really good starts to their year as well.

CA Pouliot is also 2nd in scoring in U18 in Quebec. Would be surprised if he wasn't up after Christmas.

[islander19]

I remember this kid having a great training camp…obviously not going to come in and light up the scoresheet but certainly can contribute more than half the roster has been I’m sure.

[countryboy]

It's good news to just be in the mix of being able to add those potential NCAA guys. Herron is only 16 and was playing prep school hockey, so it's hard to translate just to what this projects to in major junior hockey.

I didn't see him in camp, but I know that some on the boards here were impressed with his play.

[rob16]

Herron I thought was the best 16 year old in training camp. With his Island ties, he was a no brainer signing. Corbin Carkner next? Masi?

[islander19]

Another point to add on…all these kids with future commitments - but now with the new rules, there will be more CHL kids going to play NCAA - surely that’ll take a few spots from fringe guys.

I have no clue how Herron or anybody else is ranked, but who knows if he actually leaves after next season

[WHEELsnipePARTY]

Nov 12, 2024 13:38:50 GMT -4 bois said:

so we have him for this season and next correct? what do we know about this guy? seems unlike he would be that much of a contributor as a 16 and 17 year old but we are so short of offensive forward depth anything helps

I think the goal for teams is to hope they enjoy there time enough that they delay going ncaa till after the 19 season or whatever season a teams trying to win.

[sidthekid]

Nov 12, 2024 15:47:51 GMT -4 rob16 said:

Herron I thought was the best 16 year old in training camp. With his Island ties, he was a no brainer signing. Corbin Carkner next? Masi?

Masi was really good at camp as well and having a great season. I

[Jacques Strap]

Here is one going the other way.

[countryboy]

I thought I saw in one of the interviews this summer that Herron has some sort of family connection to PEI. That's totally an Island thing.... draft a kid who has relatives on PEI who maybe spends some time here in the summer. But the NCAA changes make it an actual thing that we are able to land him here.

Every team really should be digging into their protected list to uncover guys who might be looking to take advantage of the new rule change. Our team has been pretty conservative over the years in drafting guys with NCAA leanings. We haven't gone out on a limb to look for talent like Tynan Lawrence, Zachary Morin, Bradly Nadeau, Sasha Boisvert, or anyone like that.

I mean, probably our best prospect available playing in the US is Euro Luka Radivojevic, playing in the USHL with Muskegeon. I'm not sure where things sit with NCAA eligibility for this player. He has played pro in Sweden, so I'm guessing that violates his NCAA eligibility. Radivojevic has chosen the USHL over the Q likely due to the higher number of players from that league who have been first round selections in the NHL draft in recent years. I also will guess he likely has a US passport since he was born in the states when his dad was an NHL player. I'm sure the team will continue to work on him, but the NCAA rules probably have little sway in landing him.

Corbin Carkner was a forward we selected in the American draft in 2023. He came up for a look at training camp and then went back to home, but looked pretty good while here. He is the son of former NHL player Matt Carkner. He played prep school hockey last year and I'm not sure where he is at this year. He would be worth taking a look at. I suspect he's still on our protected list.

Other players from the now non-existent American draft would inlcude Jake Doherty in 2023, Aryx Seifker in 2022, and Ronnie Hill in 2022. I'm not sure if we still hold the rights to any of these players.

From the regular draft, in 2022 we picked Halifax area defenceman Jack McMinn in the 11th round. I think he did come up to training camp in 2023. He's playing in the NAHL and is pointless so far this season.

I think the only NCAA eligible player form our 2023 draft is goaltender Jack Carter, out of Newfoundland. He's at Stanstead prep this year.

Then from the 2024 draft group, earlier in the thread Masi was mentioned. I think the right place for 16 y/o Masi is in U18 hockey. He played on a poor team in his draft year and didn't put up great stats. He's off to a good start this season. Maybe with the rule changes he might join us next season.

We also took another American in the draft this year, defenceman Sullivan Martin in the 11th round. He didn't come up to camp like Herron, but maybe the changes might make him show some interest in coming North?

[L'il Boy]

Nov 13, 2024 15:02:51 GMT -4 countryboy said:

I thought I saw in one of the interviews this summer that Herron has some sort of family connection to PEI. That's totally an Island thing.... draft a kid who has relatives on PEI who maybe spends some time here in the summer. But the NCAA changes make it an actual thing that we are able to land him here.

Every team really should be digging into their protected list to uncover guys who might be looking to take advantage of the new rule change. Our team has been pretty conservative over the years in drafting guys with NCAA leanings. We haven't gone out on a limb to look for talent like Tynan Lawrence, Zachary Morin, Bradly Nadeau, Sasha Boisvert, or anyone like that.

I mean, probably our best prospect available playing in the US is Euro Luka Radivojevic, playing in the USHL with Muskegeon. I'm not sure where things sit with NCAA eligibility for this player. He has played pro in Sweden, so I'm guessing that violates his NCAA eligibility. Radivojevic has chosen the USHL over the Q likely due to the higher number of players from that league who have been first round selections in the NHL draft in recent years. I also will guess he likely has a US passport since he was born in the states when his dad was an NHL player. I'm sure the team will continue to work on him, but the NCAA rules probably have little sway in landing him.

Corbin Carkner was a forward we selected in the American draft in 2023. He came up for a look at training camp and then went back to home, but looked pretty good while here. He is the son of former NHL player Matt Carkner. He played prep school hockey last year and I'm not sure where he is at this year. He would be worth taking a look at. I suspect he's still on our protected list.

Other players from the now non-existent American draft would inlcude Jake Doherty in 2023, Aryx Seifker in 2022, and Ronnie Hill in 2022. I'm not sure if we still hold the rights to any of these players.

From the regular draft, in 2022 we picked Halifax area defenceman Jack McMinn in the 11th round. I think he did come up to training camp in 2023. He's playing in the NAHL and is pointless so far this season.

I think the only NCAA eligible player form our 2023 draft is goaltender Jack Carter, out of Newfoundland. He's at Stanstead prep this year.

Then from the 2024 draft group, earlier in the thread Masi was mentioned. I think the right place for 16 y/o Masi is in U18 hockey. He played on a poor team in his draft year and didn't put up great stats. He's off to a good start this season. Maybe with the rule changes he might join us next season.

We also took another American in the draft this year, defenceman Sullivan Martin in the 11th round. He didn't come up to camp like Herron, but maybe the changes might make him show some interest in coming North?

Do you think that's the reason?  I've said it before and I think it's worth noting that since 2015, the USHL has had 49 of its players drafted in the first round.  However, 33 of those picked were from the USNTDP program, an elite team of the best 17 yr olds in the USA.  That skews the numbers IMO.

	USHL	WHL	OHL	QMJHL	USNTDP
2024	4	5	9	0	2
2023	0	6	5	0	4
2022	0	6	2	2	6
2021	3	4	5	4	3
2020	1	7	7	5	1
2019	1	7	4	2	7
2018	0	2	7	4	3
2017	2	7	5	2	1
2016	2	4	9	2	3
2015	3	4	7	5	3

Not to take anything away from the USHL, but there could be other reasons why Luka Radivojevic is playing in the USHL ie work visa issues etc

[countryboy]

There are probably a number of factors going into the decision. When you look at first round NHL draft picks coming from the QMJHL:

2024 - there were none; Sasha Boisvert is from Q territory, but he played in the USHL.... Matvei Gridin is in the Q now as a Euro but is a rookie this year

2023 - again there were none; Bradly Nadeau is from Q territory but was playing BCHL

2022 - Nathan Gaucher (22nd overall), Maveric Lamoureaux (29th overall)

2021 - Zachary Bolduc (17th overall), Xavier Bourgault (22nd overall), Zachary L'Heureux (27th overall), Zachary Dean (30th overall)

2020 - Alexis Lafreniere (1st overall), Dawson Mercer (18th overall), Hendrix Lapierre (22nd overall), Justin Barron (25th overall), Mavrik Bourque (30th overall).

So a good track record for the league from 2020-2022.... but no 1st round picks for two straight years in 2023 and 2024 is not a good thing. We will definitely be looking for the league to rebound this year.

I was surprised to see that Radivojevic moved from Sweden to NA.... and it's disappointing that he picked Muskegeon over the CHL, given that it's unlikely that he would be college eligible due to playing pro in Sweden the last couple of years.... but I'm not exactly sure of the rules, plus they have also just changed!