Etienne Morin has his sights set on pro hockey this fall, and why not?
He’s done just about everything he can do in junior hockey.
Morin - a second-round pick of the Flames in 2023 - is the Moncton Wildcats franchise leader in points by a defenceman and a QMJHL champion, and at this year’s Flames Development Camp, he’s carrying himself with all the poise, all the maturity required to make it to the next level.
But Morin hasn’t done it alone.
A championship team features championship people, and Morin says for him, this season’s success started with the Wildcats’ leader behind the bench.
“I was fortunate enough to have a really good coach - Gardiner MacDougall - I can’t even thank him enough for all the opportunities, and the things he showed me this year on pro habits,” he said, during a conversation Tuesday afternoon. “I really switched up my mentality, I’ve been working out a lot, really focusing on my diet, same thing for sleep.
“I’m just really in a happy place, I’m really enjoying hockey.”
The 2024-25 campaign was a special one in the New Brunswick city, Morin’s fourth with the Wildcats.
Ranked No. 1 in the CHL for the bulk of the season, Moncton captured its first QMJHL title in 15 years this past May before finishing in third place at the Memorial Cup in Morin’s home province of Quebec.
“We had a really special group, it’s probably the group that I’ve had the most fun with, ever since I started playing hockey,” he explained. “We worked hard - I could say harder than any team in the CHL the whole year - we were really focused, and we had one goal.
“The first goal was to win the Gilles-Courteau (QMJHL Championship), and the second goal was to win the Memorial Cup. We came short so, obviously, we were a bit sad, but it was a really good year. It was just so much fun.”
In that environment, Morin grew as a player, too, both on and off the ice but particularly in the offensive zone.
He put up 58 points during the regular season, before chipping in with two goals and 20 points during the Wildcats’ post-season run.
"That’s one thing I developed this year, the blue line agility; I’ve got new little tricks in my pocket,” he said. “I’ve watched a lot of Lane Hutson playing, so I was trying to get a little bit of what he was doing, too.
“My coach always told me ‘you have a way of slowing down the play,’ which is usually not good, but for me, it’s good, because I’m slowing down the play and finding a good option.
“I’m going to thank my parents for that, for giving me this brain for hockey!”
His teammates noticed that change, too.
“He’s really, really good,” forward Caleb Desnoyers - the fourth-overall pick in this year’s NHL Draft - told me earlier this month at the NHL Scouting Combine. “Even at the Memorial Cup, he just showed what all his talent was all about. He’s just so good.
“I didn’t really see other guys walk the blue line as good as he does, and finding some shooting lanes. He’s unique at the style of play that he plays.”
Off the ice, Morin picked up tips from the aforementioned MacDougall, but he also reaped the benefit of a mid-season addition to the Moncton blue line in Dyllan Gill; the Lightning prospect joined the Wildcats for the stretch run after starting the season with Syracuse of the AHL.
“He took me a little bit under his wing,” said Morin. “I took some tips, we were working out together and he was showing me a lot of stuff that pros were doing.”
Here in Calgary, Morin’s excitement is palpable.
A young prospect, full of confidence, ready to take that next step and launch his professional career.
But a year older, a year wiser, Morin has a better understanding of just what it will take to accomplish that goal.
He’s ready to dive in with both skates.
“I’ve always gotten told that pro is a different level,” he said. “I’m excited to have these coaches, here, to really prepare me for pro.
“I’m just so excited for this, the plan for me is I’m not going to take a single day off.
“I’m going to work the whole summer to be prepared.”
