More alumni on the move

More former Saint John Sea Dogs are on the move – including a few key members from the team's 2017 President Cup championship team. Here's a quick look at the latest moves.

• Former Sea Dogs captain Spencer Smallman has signed a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 NHL/$350,000 AHL with the Washington Capitals. The 27-year-old has yet to appear in an NHL game. Smallman has spent the past two seasons with the AHL's Colorado Eagles but will now move east to join the back-to-back Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears.
• The Ottawa Senators have traded Mathieu Joseph to the St. Louis Blues. The two-time Stanley Cup winner has spent parts of the past three seasons in Ottawa where he was reunited with Thomas Chabot. He'll get to play with his brother, former Charlottetown Islanders defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who has signed with the Blues.

  This is pretty awesome. 💙
  
  Mathieu and Pierre-Olivier Joseph are now both members of the @StLouisBlues! pic.twitter.com/gGCsNRPcIj

  — NHL (@NHL) July 3, 2024

• Cedric Pare has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs "worth $775,000." The 25-year-old played with Smallman and the Eagles last season where he posted 35 goals in 61 games. Pare has consistently put up respectable numbers while bouncing around with different teams at the pro level.
• Maxim Cajkovic has signed a one-year contract with HC Verva Litvínov in Czechia for next season. The 23-year-old Slovak split time last season in the AHL and ECHL with both the Minnesota Wild and Pittsburgh Penguins organizations.

Sea Dogs select Schenk in Import Draft

The Saint John Sea Dogs selected Swiss forward Florian Schenk with the seventh overall pick in Wednesday's CHL Import Draft.

The Sea Dogs did not use their second round selection with Schenk and Latvian forward Eriks Mateiko poised to be Saint John's import duo to start the 2024-25 season. The team announced Tuesday that Czech forward Pavel Simek has been released.

The 17-year-old played with the SC Bern program last year, posting six goals and six assists in nine games at the under-17 level and eight goals and 17 assists in 42 games at the under-20 level. He's also played internationally with Switzerland at the under-16 and -17 levels.

“We’re excited to add Florian to our group. He fits the age of our core and he’s a player we can build with,” said Sea Dogs general manager Anthony Stella in a news release. “His combination of size, skill and compete fits the Sea Dogs mold and we’re looking forward to seeing him on the ice in Saint John in August.”

Surprisingly, this is just the second time the Sea Dogs have drafted a Swiss player in the Import Draft with goaltender Robert Mayer being the other way back in 2007. Saint John has had other Swiss players on their team before – like Noah Patenaude and Vincent Despont – but they were not taken in the Import Draft (nor were they officially classified as import players).

Simek, meanwhile, was picked in the second round on Wednesday by the Memorial Cup host Rimouski Oceanic.

CHL Import Draft happening Wednesday

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs are expected to pick just once in Wednesday's 2024 CHL Import Draft.

The team announced Tuesday that Latvian forward Eriks Mateiko will return for a third season with the club this fall while Czech forward Pavel Simek has been released. Both players were selected in the 2022 CHL Import Draft.

The roster announcements are noteworthy for a couple reasons. It would appear that Mateiko, who will be one of the QMJHL's top imports next season, will start the season with the club but will no doubt continue to draw trade interest. A draft pick of the Washington Capitals last weekend, he could be the team's captain come September.

Simek, meanwhile, posted a respectable 18 goals and 20 assists in 68 games with the Sea Dogs last season, his second year with the team.

“We wanted to respect Pavel’s request as he’d like to pursue other opportunities,” said Sea Dogs general manager Anthony Stella in a news release. “We want to thank him for the last two seasons and wish him the best of luck.”

Saint John is scheduled to pick seventh overall in Wednesday's draft, which begins at noon Atlantic and can be followed on the CHL website. The Val-d'Or Foreurs will select first overall followed by the WHL's Kamloops Blazers and OHL's Windsor Spitfires.

The CHL Import Draft is more about who you know in the hockey world than where you are selecting – but picking high does help ensure you aren't thrown any curveballs.  The Sea Dogs will likely have a high pick again next year.

“We’re excited about this draft and how high we’ll be picking," added Stella. "We’ll be poised to improve our team this week.”

New homes for former Sea Dogs

Embed from Getty Images 

A few former Saint John Sea Dogs are on the move as the NHL's free agency period opened on Monday.

Forward Boko Imama has signed a one-year, two way contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. According to the Pens, the deal "holds an average annual value of $775,000 at the NHL level."

Imama spent last season with the Ottawa Senators organization where he appeared in six NHL games and 53 games with AHL Belleville. He'll likely see a similar split of games with the Pens next season.

This will be Imama's fourth NHL organization since turning pro, which has included stops in Los Angeles/Ontario/Manchester, Arizona/Tucson and Ottawa/Belleville.

The 27-year-old spent two-and-a-half seasons with the Sea Dogs, helping the team win the President Cup in 2017.

Defenseman Vincent Sevigny, meanwhile, has signed a one-year, one-way contract with the Laval Rocket, the AHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens.

The former Sea Dogs captain – who wasn't drafted into the NHL – has spent the past two seasons playing alongside William Dufour with the AHL's Bridgeport Islanders. The 23-year-old had a goal and four assists in 33 games with Bridgeport last season.

Sevigny captained the Sea Dogs to the Memorial Cup in 2022.