Sunday, January 9, 2022

Notebook: Sea Dogs and Foreurs have become regular trade partners

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The Saint John Sea Dogs made a rare blockbuster trade with the Moncton Wildcats on Thursday. While it may not have included quite as many pieces, the Sea Dogs also made a major deal with the Val-d'Or Foreurs, acquiring 19-year-old forward Marshall Lessard.

Swinging big trades is nothing new for the Sea Dogs and Foreurs. The two clubs have been frequent trade partners in recent years. Here's a look at the deals made between the two since the Julien Gauthier trade at the 2017 deadline.

2016-17 trade period: Sea Dogs acquire Julien Gauthier from the Foreurs for Nathan Cyr-Trottier and draft picks.

2017-18 trade period: Sea Dogs acquire Yohan Plamondon from the Foreurs for a draft pick.

2020 QMJHL Entry Draft: Foreurs acquire Maxim Cajkovic from the Sea Dogs for draft picks.

2021 QMJHL Entry Draft: Sea Dogs acquire Jonathan Lemieux from the Foreurs in exchange for Kale McCallum and draft picks.

2021-22 pre-season: Sea Dogs acquire Olivier Picard and the rights to Lucas Mercuri from the Foreurs for draft picks.

2021-22 trade period: Sea Dogs acquire Marshall Lessard and draft picks from the Foreurs in exchange for Francis Woods and draft picks.

The Lessard deal was the only transaction the Foreurs made on Thursday and just the second they made during the holiday trade period.

The Telegraph-Journal (paywall) has a nice feature on Lessard, who missed the Foreurs' championship playoff run last year with a knee injury.

FIRST HALF THOUGHTS
CHSJ News caught up with Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie to discuss the team's first half.

“We will have to clean up the second half to be more consistent because we left a lot of points on the table in games we should have won, but I’m pleased with a lot of what we saw, and it should be a really good second half,” Georgie said.

While the Sea Dogs sit seventh in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, they are just three points back of third-place. It will be a challenge to catch first-place Charlottetown (46 points) and second-place Quebec (42 points) especially if the schedule is reduced. The Remparts may have the advantage in the second half by playing outside the tough Maritimes Division.

WELCOME TWEETS
The Sea Dogs shared a couple messages from new players on social media.
DRAFTED
According to The Athletic's Scott Wheeler, the Sea Dogs now lead the CHL in drafted or signed NHL prospects.
This could change following the conclusion of the OHL and WHL trading periods.

Drafted or signed players on the Sea Dogs' roster include (in no particular order) Ryan Francis (Calgary), William Dufour (New York Islanders), Cam MacDonald (Tampa Bay), Raivis Ansons (Pittsburgh), Philippe Daoust (Ottawa), Yan Kuznetsov (Calgary), William Villeneuve (Toronto) and Jeremie Poirier (Calgary).

GUAY HEADS TO AHL
Former Sea Dogs captain Nicolas Guay has left the UNB Reds and signed a professional tryout agreement with the American Hockey League's Abbotsford Canucks.

Guay, who joined the Reds last season ahead of the cancelled 2020-21 campaign, sits in a tie for third in Atlantic University Sport men's hockey scoring with 14 goals and 25 points in 18 games. The QMJHL website had a feature on Guay's university season just last week.

The 22-year-old made his pro debut on Friday in Abbotsford's 4-3 overtime loss to the Bakersfield Condors.

Guay appeared in 35 games with the Sea Dogs in 2019-20, recording 16 goals and 42 points.

Nearly 40 men's hockey players have left U Sports programs for pro opportunities since COVID delayed the start of second half play for most conferences. The AUS remains hopeful it will be able to resume its season in February, reports the Chronicle Herald.

MARITIME TOUNREYS
Speaking of U Sports, both the men's and women's national hockey championships are scheduled to be played in the Maritimes in March. Those are a couple of the major tournaments planned to be played in these parts this season - but we'll have to see what happens with COVID between now and then.

  • March 17-20 U Sports men's championship in Halifax
  • March 24-27 U Sports women's championship in Charlottetown
  • April 18-24 - Telus Cup in Cape Breton
  • May 10-15 - Fred Page Cup in Summerside
  • June 4-13 - Memorial Cup in Saint John

MHL RETURN DELAYED
The Maritime Junior Hockey League has further delayed its return. The league announced this past week that it is now targeting Feb. 2 for a return to play.


The Board of Governors has voted to move from a 52-game schedule to 42 games. This decision is due to the amount of time remaining to play the season and playoffs, as well as the dates for both the Fred Page Cup in Summerside and the National Championship. This will remove one home game and one away game for every team against each of their divisional opponents.

The MHL ran into a few COVID problems in December. Like the QMJHL, the league has not played a game since beginning its Christmas break on Dec. 18.

HIGGINS CRASHES INTO HOLE
Former Sea Dogs forward Tyler Higgins was involved in an icy incident that went viral recently. Higgins, now playing with Switzerland's SC Langenthal, and an opponent crashed through the boards and fell through a hole in the floor where the Zamboni dumps snow.
Here's video of the incident:


Higgins appeared in 18 games with the Sea Dogs in 2018-19, recording two assists and 36 penalty minutes.

OTHER THINGS
  • In Le Nouvelliste, Steve Turcotte writes about Saint John's deadline day dealings and the tough task ahead for head coach Gordie Dwyer to make it all come together.
  • Also in Le Nouvelliste, five journalists were asked to rank the 18 QMJHL teams now that the trading period has ended. Charlottetown was ranked first while the Saint John was seventh. 
  • Craig Eagles has a feature on Connor Trenholm, who the Sea Dogs acquired from the Cape Breton Eagles on deadline day. “I’m more than excited and can’t wait to do whatever I need to do to help the team win,” Trenholm told Eagles.
  • The Eagles have named Chadd Cassidy the team's new head coach. Cassidy was most recently the head coach of the USHL's Omaha Lancers. His firing in Omaha earlier this season was part of the Lancers' bizarre few weeks that saw players walk out in protest of ownership's actions. The USHL released on statement on the third-party investigation in December, a statement that seemed to focus more on getting digs in at the media than anything else.
  • The Eagles sit last overall in the QMJHL with a record of 7-20-3-2 for 19 points. The team is no doubt hoping their big deadline day deal with the Sea Dogs will help give their rebuild a kickstart.
  • In the MHL, 18-year-old forward Kobe Burt, who appeared in one game with the Sea Dogs last season, has been traded from the Fredericton Red Wings to the South Shore Lumberjacks.
  • A big time college hockey series is being played this weekend with defending national champion UMass taking on Michigan's stacked lineup. UMass features freshman Lucas Mercuri who, as you can see above, had his QMJHL rights traded to Saint John in the Olivier Picard deal.
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