Monday, October 30, 2017

18 Thoughts: Bill Stewart?

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 SAINT JOHN - It's been just over four years (Oct. 29) since the Saint John Sea Dogs fired head coach and general manager Mike Kelly.

Kelly and the Sea Dogs got off to a 5-10-0-2 start that year, which was good for 12 points. Fast forward four years and the Sea Dogs are off to a 4-9-3-1 start, good for 12 points.

Josh Dixon's job is very likely safe. Whether people like it or not, it's still early, and firing a guy that was hired two months ago would be an overreaction. But you have to wonder if the team is interested in getting him some additional support.

The Sea Dogs have just one assistant coach currently - Jeff Cowan, who's an associate coach. While having one assistant behind the bench has seemingly become a popular trend in junior of late, Saint John has always gone with two assistants.

On Saturday, Rogers TV's Aaron Kennedy got the rumours started on air, saying that Bill Stewart is interested in joining the team's coaching staff. It's unclear if the team is interested in having him join, though.
Stewart has an impressive coaching resume, as his Elite Prospects page will tell you. He had been coaching in Germany until a few weeks ago.

The 60-year-old has coached in junior before, working with the Guelph Storm, Barrie Colts and Oshawa Generals. His last CHL coaching gig was in 2015-16 when he was head coach of the Storm. He stepped down from that position in December, 2015.

According to sources, Stewart applied to be the Sea Dogs' head coach in 2015 when the club hired Danny Flynn.

If the Sea Dogs want more info on Stewart, they can look behind their own bench. Cowan was a member of the 1997-98 Flames team that Stewart led.

Will anything come out of all this? I don't know.

To the notes...

1. You could tell Sunday's win was a relief for the Sea Dogs after weeks of close calls. After losing so many heartbreaking games to sub-par teams, it seemed fitting for Saint John to end the streak against the league's top club.

2. It was also nice to see the Sea Dogs finally win a game in extra time. They are 1-4 in games that go to extras, losing three in overtime and one in a shootout.

3. It's an odd trend, but Saint John has scored first in just three of their 17 games this season (they are 2-1 when scoring first). Most teams have scored first in close to half (or more) of their games.

4. What else can you say about Radim Salda's production this year? Without him, offensive production would be awfully thin on the backend. Salda's 12 points place him 10th all-time in Sea Dogs rookie defencemen scoring. Luke Green holds the franchise record with 36 points.

5. Ostap Safin is now second in QMJHL rookie scoring and is just four points back of Halifax's Filip Zadina. It's been a while since the Dogs have had someone in the rookie scoring race. This could be fun to follow.

6. For what it's worth, the Sea Dogs franchise record for points by a rookie is 75, set by Chris DiDomenico in 2006-07. Safin will likely miss some games in December and January due to the world juniors, which could hurt his shot at the record.

7. There's been a lot of talk about Joe Veleno's point total so far this year. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic had an interesting take: "Veleno is averaging 2.94 shots per game and has scored just twice on 47 shots (4.3 per cent). For a player as talented as he is, that won’t last. Were he clicking at last season’s 12.1% you’re looking at 16 points in as many games and four more goals. He has also become so good away from the puck that I have faith the offence will come."

8. Lost in Sunday's excitement is the fact that Saint John scored five goals without Daniel Hardie, their leading scorer. Josh Dixon seems to like going with the same lineup when the team has success, so will Hardie play on Thursday? You'd think so, but Dixon has shown he isn't afraid to try things.

9. Strange amount of high goals scored in Sunday's game. It felt like Matt Williams took more than a handful of shots near the head and high shoulder area.

10. One of the great CHL fan websites, the QMJHL/OHL Arena Guide, visited Harbour Station a little while ago. Check out his thoughts on the building.

11. If there's anybody in the Maritimes that's itching for the weather to turn bad quickly, it has to be the six QMJHL teams. There have been some light crowds around the division over the past few weeks - but can you really blame people? This weather has been unbelievable.
12. The Charlottetown Islanders have skipped past the Sea Dogs in the standings thanks to a six-game winning streak. The streak ended on Sunday with a loss in Halifax, but that was pretty impressive. They now have a .500 record.

13. Shawinigan's Cameron Askew seems like the logical choice to fill Saint John's vacant overage spot. But the fact that a deal hasn't happened yet would seem to indicate it's unlikely.

14. While Saint John could use scoring help, their defence could use a boost as well. The D hasn't been horrible this year, but with four rookies currently on the backend and really only one experienced guy (Bailey Webster), you know the struggles will come.

15. For those on board Tank Nation, the Sea Dogs do still have their own 2018 first round pick, along with Rimouski's second round pick and their own third. In 2019, however, the Dogs currently don't have a pick until the third round.

16. How crazy is it to see Chris DiDomenico scoring goals and Maxime Lagace starting games in the NHL? There are many roads to get to the show.
17. Edmundston opened it's beautiful new arena this past weekend, which features a centre ice video board that would be a welcome addition to roughly half of the QMJHL arenas. Kyle Ward continues to lead the Blizzard and the MHL in goals with 14.
18. Sportsnet is introducing the "CHL Saturday Showcase" this year following the conclusion of the Canada Russia Series. More details are supposed to be announced soon.
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