Notebook: Lottery odds announced

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs will have a 4.8% chance of winning the first overall pick in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft lottery.

The lottery will take place April 21 at 7:30 p.m. Atlantic and be broadcast live on RDS, the league announced this week.

The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who own the Baie-Comeau Drakkar's top pick, will have the best odds of winning followed by the Halifax Mooseheads – who are hosting this year's draft. The full odds are below.

18th position: Rouyn-Noranda (from Baie-Comeau) – 9 balls – 42.9% 

17th position: Halifax (from Rimouski) – 6 balls – 28.6% 

16th position: Shawinigan (from Gatineau) – 3 balls – 14.3% 

15th position: Victoriaville – 2 balls – 9.5% 

14th position: Saint John – 1 ball – 4.8%

The Sea Dogs have had good fortune in the draft lottery over the years. They won last year's and went on to select Alexis Joseph with the first overall pick.

The 2026 QMJHL Entry Draft will take place June 5-6 in Halifax.

JOSEPH MAKES ROOKIE TEAM

Sea Dogs forward Alexis Joseph has been named to the QMJHL's rookie all-star team, the league announced this week.

Joseph finished sixth in rookie scoring, posting 24 goals and 36 assists in 54 games.

The full team is below.

Goaltender : Jan Larys, Drummondville 

Defenseman : Tommy Bleyl, Moncton 

Defenseman : Malik L’Italien, Halifax 

Forward : Egor Shilov, Victoriaville 

Forward : Alexey Vlasov, Victoriaville 

Forward : Alexis Joseph, Saint John

The QMJHL also announced its first and second all-star teams.

NCAA CHANGE

This potential (likely) rule change coming to all NCAA sports could certainly have an impact on the CHL and how long college committed players choose to stick around.

Redshirts and waivers would cease to exist. Only exceptions will be made for military service, maternity leave, and religious missions.

In hockey, it would mean players entering at 19 have 5 years and players entering at 20 have 4 years.

— Mike McMahon (@MikeMcMahonCHN) April 8, 2026

We'll see how this all plays out. Nothing is simple when it comes to the NCAA and rules.

ATLANTICS RECAP

The Halifax Macs won the under-18 Atlantic championship last weekend in Quispamsis, defeating the Fredericton Caps 2-0 in the final.

The host Saint John Vito's finished the tournament with a 2-2 record. Sea Dogs prospect Eliot Tozer posted three goals and an assist.

The PEI champion Kensington Wild finished 0-4 and were outscored 22-14. Sea Dogs prospect Jase MacPherson went 0-3 with a 5.06 goals against average and a .861 save percentage.

OTHER STUFF

• The Hockey News gives their thoughts on Saint John's 2025-26 season.
• Looks like the Sea Dogs will once again be playing a pre-season game in St Stephen. The August date has not been announced.
• The Telegraph-Journal (paywall) spoke to Brian Casey about his brief stint as head coach of the Sea Dogs. It definitely sounds like he enjoyed his time with the team and would be open to returning. The Sea Dogs will be conducting a head coaching search this off-season.
• Sea Dogs defenseman Everett Baldwin has yet to appear in a game with the Syracuse Crunch since joining the AHL team on a PTO. The Crunch, who have qualified for the playoffs, have two regular season games remaining.
• A Josh Lawrence update.

  Finals bound!!
  
  Fredericton, New Brunswick's Josh Lawrence is heading to the Liiga 🇫🇮 finals after HK Nitra defeated Poprad in 5 games.
  
  Lawrence has collected three points (2G,1A) in 9 games this postseason.#HockeyX #NewBrunswick #Liiga #Lawrence pic.twitter.com/yU1vfqh0fY

  — Maritime Hockey (@HockeyMaritime) April 12, 2026

• The camp roster has not been announced by Hockey Canada yet, but it sounds like there will be a couple Sea Dogs in attendance.

  🇨🇦 kids are travelling for U18s today. Hockey Canada has invited more than a full roster to start.
  
  Among them, I’m told: top 2026s Verhoeff, Lawrence and Lin, 2027s Joseph, Valentini and Zhilkin, Hlinka players like Chartrand, and newcomers like Lansard.
  
  Expecting cuts.

  — Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) April 12, 2026

• Ottawa Senators owner Michael Andlauer is looking into purchasing the Gatineau Olympiques, according to media reports.
• The Victoriaville Tigres announced that star import forwards Egor Shilov and Alexey Vlasov are expected to return next season.
• The Sherbrooke Phoenix have announced that goaltender Kyan Labbé, who was a Sea Dogs draft pick, will return to the QMJHL next season. Labbé was committed to join the NCAA's Union College next season.
• The QMJHL playoffs will have two games on Monday: Blainville-Boisbriand visits Newfoundland and Chicoutimi is in Quebec City. The other two series resume Tuesday.
• The USHL continues to do things in the recruitment war with the CHL.

  From @FriedgeHNIC ⤵️ https://t.co/gt65KsJJqL pic.twitter.com/WGsddv783j

  — Jérôme Bérubé (@Jerome_Berube) April 10, 2026

• Another Frozen Four note: the NCHC conference has won eight of the past 10 national championships. No Big Ten school has won since Michigan State in 2007 – and that was before Big Ten hockey was even a thing.