Notebook: Flynn joins Blue Jackets scouting staff

SAINT JOHN - Danny Flynn has found a new home.

The former Saint John Sea Dogs head coach has joined the Columbus Blue Jackets as an eastern amateur scout. Flynn will be based in Ontario.

Flynn, a Dartmouth native, spent last season working with fellow Dartmouth native Mike Johnston behind the WHL's Portland Winterhawks bench.

“I have taken a job with the Columbus Blue Jackets and will be based in Ontario. Leaving Portland was a hard choice, I really enjoyed working with the organization, staff and players,” Flynn said in a Winterhawks news release.

Flynn was head coach of the Sea Dogs in 2015-16 and 2016-17, guiding the team to a QMJHL championship in 2017. He was named QMJHL coach of the year that season. He left the Sea Dogs later that off-season and joined the Winterhawks.

Flynn will turn 61 next month, and you have to think his time behind junior hockey benches may have come to an end.

BEHIND THE BENCH
Speaking of coaches, the Sea Dogs will have a new face behind the bench this season in Stefan Legein. The Sea Dogs announced the hiring of Legein a couple weeks ago.

Legein, a former star with Canada's world junior team, spent last season as an assistant and video coach with the OHL's Mississauga Steelheads. His hockey career has had plenty of ups and downs, as the Canadian Press wrote about last year.

Legein has been running the Team Blue bench at Sea Dogs training camp. Brian Fleming has been working with Team Black and Jeff Cowan with Team White.

IMPORT SITUATION
The Sea Dogs could find themselves in a pickle - or should I say Prikryl (I just wanted to be the first to use this line) - if Ostap Safin is returned to junior by the Edmonton Oilers.

Safin is eligible for the AHL. The 19-year-old appeared in nine games with Bakersfield Condors last season, recording a goal. David Staples of the Edmonton Journal wrote about Safin a while back, and expects the winger to be returned to junior this year.

If Safin is sent back, that would give the Sea Dogs three imports on their roster, which would be a problem. Maxim Cajkovic is a lock, meaning the Dogs would either have to trade Safin or let go 17-year-old Filip Prikryl - who has looked good in the early goings of training camp.

OTHER NOTES

• Mike Thomas was named the President of the Sea Dogs Alumni Association last week. Thomas will be the second inductee into the Sea Dogs Hall of Fame, which a news release confirmed will take place next summer.
• The Sea Dogs play their first game of the pre-season on Sunday night at 7 p.m., hosting the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The game is free to attend.
• At training camp on Saturday morning, the line of William Poirier, Maxim Cajkovic and Josh Lawrence continued to dominate. Charlie DesRoches, meanwhile, left late in the scrimmage after suffering some sort of lower body injury. He skated off slowly and went to the room with Jeff Kelly. We'll see if he plays tonight.