Gilbert officially named Dogs head coach

Embed from Getty Images
Greg Gilbert is officially the eighth head coach in Saint John Sea Dogs history.

The Sea Dogs made the announcement this afternoon after news of the hiring was broken yesterday by Rogers TV's Craig Eagles.

As we outlined yesterday, Gilbert brings 20 years of coaching experience - from the OHL, AHL and NHL - along with a lengthy NHL playing career that included three Stanley Cup championships. He has also won coach of the year honours in both the AHL (1997) and OHL (2012).

“I’m so happy and grateful for the opportunity that Trevor and Mr. McCain have given me,” Gilbert said in a press release. “My job is to get this team where everybody wants it to be, champions, not only in the QMJHL but the Memorial Cup. It’s a great opportunity and a big challenge, no question about it – I’m really looking forward to it.”



Gilbert has not coached since being fired by the Saginaw Spirit near the end of the 2015-16 season. If there is any knock on Gilbert it's that he hasn't had much playoff success as a head coach. But he's being given the opportunity to turn that around now, being handed the keys to - on paper - one of the most talented teams currently in junior hockey. No pressure.

"It’s going to be a lot of work, there’s good pieces in place but as we all know it takes a little bit more to win championships," Gilbert said. "That’s our plan as the coaching staff is to push our players and hopefully win, not just the QMJHL but the Memorial Cup.”

Some of the challenges awaiting Gilbert: getting this team to play significantly better defensively; handling the ice time of a nearly overloaded stockpile of talent; and getting a team with almost no post-season experience prepared for playoff hockey.

Gilbert coached Jeff Cowan (NHL - Calgary) and Stefan Legein (OHL - Mississauga), both of whom will be sticking around as associate/assistant coaches.

Gilbert takes over for Cowan who has been the team's interim head coach since December when Josh Dixon was fired.

“This was a lengthy process and an important one,” said Sea Dogs president and general manager, Trevor Georgie. “We cast a wide net and had many compelling candidates. Our ideal candidate needed to have NHL Head Coaching and Playing Experience, CHL Head Coaching experience, won as either a player or coach, and fit well with the team that we have in place. Greg fit all of our criteria. We expect our talented team to play hard, accountable, structured, and disciplined hockey. Winning is hard and Greg’s won three Stanley Cups. He will show our young men what they need to do and the sacrifices they need to make in order to win at the highest level.”