Big Year For Ex-Dogs In NHL

The Saint John Sea Dogs have done a lot in their eight years of existence. So it was only a matter of time before the franchise began to invade the NHL.

In this lockout shortened 48-game season, six former Sea Dogs played at least one game in the National Hockey League. Jonathan Huberdeau spent the entire season with the Florida Panthers while Simon Despres and Charlie Coyle spent the majority of their seasons in the NHL.

The others who got the call to The Show this year - Nathan Beaulieu, Mike Hoffman, and Eric Gelinas - all spent most of their seasons in the American Hockey League. Hoffman has also battled injuries this season.

The stats:

Player	Team	GP	Goals	Assists	Points	PIM
Jonathan Huberdeau	FLA	48	14	17	31	18
Charlie Coyle	MIN	37	8	6	14	28
Simon Despres	PIT	33	2	5	7	20
Nathan Beaulieu	MTL	6	0	2	2	0
Mike Hoffman	OTT	3	0	0	0	2
Eric Gelinas	NJ	1	0	0	0	0

Former Dogs goaltender Robert Mayer also got called up to the Habs this season to fill in as backup but never saw any action. And we can’t forget about Canadiens assistant coach Gerard Gallant who, in his first season with Montreal, helped win a division title.

Gallant and the Habs will face Ottawa in the first-round while Coyle and the Wild take on Chicago and Despres and the Penguins face the Islanders.