Sea Dogs acquire 20-year-old Gravel

Kassandra Blais/Baie-Comeau Drakkar

Charles-Edward Gravel is now a Saint John Sea Dog.

The Sea Dogs acquired the 20-year-old goaltender on Sunday, sending a fourth- and fifth-round pick to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar in return. The moves means that Gravel and Justin Robinson will presumably be Saint John's goaltending tandem to start the season.

Gravel spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada before being dealt to the Drakkar midway through last year. In 26 games with an excellent Baie-Comeau team, Gravel went 17-8-0 with a 2.34 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. He then went 12-4-1 in the playoffs with a 2.37 GAA and .910 SV%.

The Levis native has appeared in 148 career QMJHL games. No goaltender at Saint John's training camp had played more than Robinson's 26.

This seems like a wise move by the Sea Dogs for a number of reasons.

• Gravel and Robinson gives the Sea Dogs a solid tandem. The two will likely split starts as there is an obvious need of ensuring Robinson gets playing time.
• Robinson looked very good last season, good enough that there is certainly potential for him to be the team's No. 1 down the road. But it was a small sample size, and having Gravel on the roster gives Saint John a safety net if he gets off to a rough start.
• If things go well with Robinson, the Sea Dogs could always look at flipping Gravel – especially if a contender is in need of goaltending. The price Saint John paid was very good, so this could turn out to be a great asset management move by the Dogs. Doing this would also allow Robinson to take the reins in the second half and bring in a younger goaltender to gain some experience as a backup.

So Saint John has a number of options moving forward. We'll see how things play out over the next few months.

One question that will still need to be addressed: Saint John's overage situation. The team still has three 20-year-old defensemen in camp – Matteo Mann (who could turn pro), Nate Tivey and Joseph Ianniello. It looks like overage forward Charles-Antoine Lavellée will return to the Maritime Hockey League.

The QMJHL's August trade deadline was Sunday but overagers can still be traded afterwards.