Sea Dogs picks, players drafted into QJHL

Jacob Hamel was taken first overall by the St-Jérôme Panthers in this year's QJHL Draft, which was held on Saturday.

Hamel, who spent last season with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, is the older of brother of Justin Hamel, who the Sea Dogs selected in the 11th-round of this year's QMJHL Entry Draft. The younger Hamel was taken in the third-round, 37th overall by the Panthers.

As mentioned, Justin Hamel could be a player to watch over the next couple years. While he was picked in the 11th-round by Saint John, QMJHL Central Scouting had him projected to be a fifth-round selection.

A few other players with Sea Dogs connections were picked during Saturday's 10-round draft:

• Overage forward Maxime Lafond, who will attended Sea Dogs training camp on a loan from the Drummondville Voltigeurs, was selected in the fourth-round, 43rd overall by the Longueuil Collège Français.
• Forward Madison Bouchard, who was a 10th-round pick of Saint John in the 2025 draft, was taken in the fifth-round, 53rd overall by the Gatineau Nomad.
• 19-year-old forward Alexis Gauthier, who spent all of last season with the Sea Dogs, was picked in the fifth-round, 60th overall by the Terrebonne Cobras.
• 19-year-old defenseman Vincent Croteau, who also spent all of last season with the Sea Dogs, was drafted in the 10th-round, 120th overall by the Cobras.
• Forward Thomas Bond, a 12th-round pick of Saint John in this year's draft, was taken in the 10th-round, 127th overall by the Granby Indigo.

This year's Maritime Junior Hockey League Draft will take place next weekend in Campbellton.

Lafond loaned to Sea Dogs camp

Ghyslain Bergeron/Drummondville Voltigeurs

The Saint John Sea Dogs have added another overager to their training camp roster.

The Sea Dogs announced Friday that forward Maxime Lafond will attend camp on a loan from the Drummondville Voltigeurs. l'Expess has confirmed that Saint John will send a draft pick to Drummondville if Lafond makes the team.

Lafond recorded 13 goals and 36 assists in 63 games with the Volts this past season. He has appeared in 215 career QMJHL games – all with Drummondville – and has posted 23 goals and 61 assists. 

Listed at 6'5" and 205 lbs, Lafond helped the Volts win the Gilles-Courteau Trophy in 2024, appearing in 19 playoff games.

Forward Maxime Lafond has been added to the #SJSeaDogs training camp roster on loan from the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

Lafond, 20, recorded 49 points (13 goals, 36 assists) in 63 games last season.#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/MvxFwngoX1

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 12, 2026

Lafond committed to Northeastern University last October.

The Sea Dogs recently acquired overage forward Olivier Lemieux from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada who, like Lafond, has quite a bit of playoff experience.

It looks like Lemieux and Lafond will be the only 20-year-olds reporting to Sea Dogs training camp at this time. Saint John does have American JJ Monteiro and Swede Carl-Otto Magnusson on their protected list, but it's unlikely either will come to camp in August.

Sea Dogs to name head coach Monday

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Saint John Sea Dogs will announce the team's new head coach on Monday morning.

The Sea Dogs have scheduled a press conference where it is expected Jim Hulton will be named head coach. Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie will also be in attendance.

Georgie said during last weekend's QMJHL Entry Draft that the team was in the "final details" of announcing their new head coach. The hope was that an announcement would be made within the next two-to-four weeks – and the Sea Dogs have beaten that timeline.

Hulton will take over for Brian Casey behind the Sea Dogs bench. Casey took over as Saint John's head coach late in the season following the departure of Travis Crickard.

Hulton recently left his position as head coach and general manager of the Charlottetown Islanders. He had been with the organization since the 2015-16 season.

Under Hulton, the Islanders reached the third round of the QMJHL playoffs four times and played in the 2022 league final, losing to the Shawinigan Cataractes. He was named QMJHL coach of the year in 2021 and 2022. He was also named CHL coach of the year in 2022.

The 57-year-old is considered one of the QMJHL's best coaches and is known for a gritty, tough and hard working play style. Even when they didn't have the most talented roster, his Islanders teams were always a tough out.

Notebook: Lyons' improvement leads to selection

QMJHL

HALIFAX - A year ago, Brock Lyons was projected to be a fourth-round pick by QMJHL Central Scouting. The Saint John Vito's forward didn't hear his name called.

A year later, he was drafted by his hometown QMJHL team in the ninth-round. The improvements he made on the ice over the past year didn't go unnoticed by the Saint John Sea Dogs' scouting staff.

"Brock was a guy that we were looking at last year but we thought that his compete level was a little inconsistent," said Sea Dogs director of scouting Nick Lepore on Saturday following the conclusion of the QMJHL Entry Draft. "We saw the talent, we saw the skill. He's got size. He really has a lot of good tools. And then this year he really surprised us with his compete levels. Very consistent. It might be due to the fact that he was overlooked last year and he had a chip on his shoulder. He was really, really good all year."

Lyons, 17, posted 25 goals and 28 assists in 36 games with the Vito's. He also appeared in three games with the Maritime Junior Hockey League's Amherst Ramblers.

"We were following him all year. Last year we were kind of saying with Brock, if he steps up his compete level, he can be a very good player and he did that this year," added Lepore.

"By no means did we just select him because he's in Saint John. We really, really like the player. I think he can mix it up at camp as well and he can really force our hand maybe into something. He's a really good player with a lot of good tools and he has a lot of offense in his game as well. He is a shooter. Having him where we got him, it was a no brainer."

2026 pre-season schedule announced

The Saint John Sea Dogs are set to play five pre-season games this year.

The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League announced its full pre-season schedule on Tuesday. Pre-season play begins Aug. 15 and will end on Sept. 12.

The Sea Dogs won't play their first exhibition contest until Aug. 26 when they host the Moncton Wildcats in St. Stephen. At five games, Saint John has one of the lighter pre-season schedules in the league.

Saint John will play three "home" games: Aug. 26 against the Wildcats in St. Stephen; Aug. 30 against the Rimouski Oceanic in Woodstock; and Sept. 4 against the Halifax Mooseheads at TD Station.

Here's a look at Saint John's full schedule:

Wed., Aug. 26: Moncton vs Saint John at St. Stephen's Garcelon Civic Center

Fri., Aug. 28: Saint John vs Moncton at location TBD

Sun., Aug. 30: Rimouski vs Saint John at Woodstock's AYR Motor Centre

Fri., Sept. 4: Halifax vs Saint John at TD Station

Fri., Sept. 11: Saint John vs Halifax at Dartmouth's RBC Centre

The Sea Dogs have played pre-season games at the Garcelon Civic Center and RBC Centre a number of times. This will be the second straight season the team plays in Woodstock.

The Sea Dogs playing a Quebec-based team in pre-season play is certainly an oddity. Woodstock is just 3.5 hours away from Rimouski, though. The Oceanic often faced the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in exhibition action.

Notably, the Sea Dogs don't face the Charlottetown Islanders – Jim Hulton's former team – nor the Newfoundland Regiment. The Sea Dogs and Islanders have been frequent pre-season partners for many years while Saint John faced the Regiment twice in Fredericton last year. The Regiment are currently not showing any pre-season games on their schedule.

The QMJHL's regular season will presumably begin the weekend of Sept. 18. According to a Mooseheads news release, the "2026-27 regular season schedule is expected to be announced in the coming days."

Meloche/Courchesne tandem expected

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

HALIFAX - For many years, the Saint John Sea Dogs have had question marks around their goaltending situation at this point in the off-season.

This year, that does not appear to be the case.

Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie confirmed following Saturday's QMJHL Entry Draft that Samuel Meloche and Rafaël Courchesne are expected to be the team's goaltending tandem to start the 2026-27 season.

The Sea Dogs acquired Meloche, a Buffalo Sabres prospect, from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies last week. Meloche, who will turn 19 next month, has played over 50 games in each of the past two seasons. He'll certainly be looked upon to carry the majority of the load with Courchesne as his backup.

Courchesne, who will turn 18 in August, went 12-19-2 with a 3.92 goals against average and a .880 save percentage in 38 games with Saint John last year, his first QMJHL season. Georgie said he expects the netminder to have better results this season with a stronger defensive team in front of him.

"Courchesne will be back. That's our plan," said Georgie.

"We believe in Raf big time. He had a really good season for us facing a lot of really high danger shots."

When asked about what this all means for 17-year-old Jase MacPherson – who was a second-round pick of the Sea Dogs in last year's QMJHL Entry Draft – Georgie said the team doesn't want to rush him into the QMJHL. There's always the chance a strong training camp makes things interesting, of course.