QMJHL camps could open next month

If all goes well, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams could be opening training camps one month from now.

Details on the QMJHL's return to play plan have begun to surface over the past week. There are a few significant adjustments that teams and players will have to get used to, but all things considered, the plan seems pretty okay.

Here are the highlights, via La Presse, who first reported the news.

• The league will reduce its schedule from 68 to 60 games.
• There will be three divisions of six teams each. Teams will only play within their division. The divisions will break down as follows:
• Acadie-Bathurst, Cape Breton, Charlottetown, Halifax, Moncton and Saint John
• Blainville-Boisbriand, Drummondville, Gatineau, Rouyn-Noranda, Sherbrooke and Val-d'Or
• Baie-Comeau, Chicoutimi, Québec, Rimouski, Shawinigan and Victoriaville
• Training camps will begin Aug. 26 and teams would be permitted to invite a maximum of 34 players.
• The regular season would begin Oct. 1.
• The playoff format will be determined no later than December.

There's not too much to complain about with this plan; this certainly seems like a best case scenario. A couple of big questions remain: 1) will all provincial governments approve this plan? and 2) will any fans be allowed in buildings?

Quebec announced this week that beginning Aug. 3, indoor and outdoor gatherings will increase to a limit of 250 persons, which is presumably good news for the QMJHL's plan. But Quebec has moved faster than most provinces with this kind of stuff, so it's difficult to say how close the Atlantic Bubble is to implementing similar rules.

According to CBC Nova Scotia, "Quebec-based teams have been approved by their government to allow season ticket holders to attend games, but no decision has been made by the Maritime provinces."

Several ex-Dogs returning to play

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Several Saint John Sea Dogs alumni are taking part in NHL summer training camps this week.

Teams kicked off phase three of the NHL's return to play process on Monday, practicing and scrimmaging in their regular arenas or practice facilities. Teams were allowed to invite up to 30 skaters and an unlimited amount of goaltenders to training camp.

Among those to receive camp invites were nine Sea Dogs alumni.

BOS - Charlie Coyle

BOS - Jakub Zboril

CHI - Matthew Highmore

FLA - Jonathan Huberdeau

FLA - Mike Hoffman

NYR - Julien Gauthier

PIT - Alex D'Orio

TBL - Mathieu Joseph

WPG - Nathan Beaulieu

Teams will trim their rosters over the next couple weeks. Each club is allowed to bring 31 players to their respective hub city.

Coyle, Huberdeau, Hoffman, Beaulieu and even Highmore were locks to receive invites and, unless an unfortunate event occurs, will head inside the bubble. Highmore appeared in 36 games with the Blackhawks during the regular season and recently drove back to Illinois from Dartmouth.

Zboril, who didn't appear in any NHL games this season, is a probably a long shot to travel with the Bruins. Joseph and Gauthier, who split their seasons between the AHL and NHL, have stronger odds. Gauthier appeared in 12 games with the Rangers after being acquired in a trade.

The NHL's round-robin and qualifying round are scheduled to begin Aug. 1 in Toronto and Edmonton.

Georgie provides a few roster updates

Saint John Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie gave a few updates on his team's roster this past week.

In a lengthy interview shared on the QMJHL's YouTube channel, Georgie said there has been a bit of communication between the team and Guillaume Richard - but that's about it. Georgie said the team remains an alternate choice for the 17-year-old defenseman if he chooses to play junior rather than NCAA.



Richard, a fourth-round pick of the Sea Dogs in June's QMJHL Entry Draft, has publicly said that he remains committed to the University of Maine for the 2021-22 season.

"I'm an optimistic person so I'll always say yes," Georgie said when asked if there's a chance Richard could join the Sea Dogs for this upcoming season. "There's always hope. I think, not just specifically Guillaume's situation, but there's a lot of uncertainty in the world right now due to the global pandemic and there's uncertainty around our borders.

"We're a very stable team with great ownership with Scott McCain as the 100% owner of this team and backing this team. It's a very stable, steady choice here in Saint John.

"There's always a chance and it's going to be up to him."

Georgie also gave a brief update on Fyodor Svechkov, the Russian forward whom the Sea Dogs selected with the 23rd overall pick in the CHL Import Draft.

"We don't know that he's coming," said Georgie. "He's planning on staying in Russia but we have a good relationship with his agent, JP Barry at CAA, and we're going to work with him to see if there's a possibility for him to come over."

Georgie said the reason the Sea Dogs swung for the fences with the pick was because they could afford to with their forward depth.

"We could have brought in a 100% good forward to come and play on our team. But to bring in a good forward and have him take minutes away from our very talented group didn't make sense to us. So we said we're either going to bring in a forward who is an elite, first line forward and best player of his age group in his country or we're going to give the ice time to the guys that we have because we really like the group that we have. We're very luck that because of our depth we were able to do that. We'll hope the Fyodor wants to come play here. We've already contacted him and he seems excited that he was drafted by us and we'll see where that goes."

Notebook: Leland joins Titan staff

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan will have a familiar face behind the bench this season.

This past week, the Titan named Greg Leland an assistant coach. Leland, from Quispamsis, was an assistant coach with the Saint John Sea Dogs for eight seasons, which included helping the club win two President Cup championships and the 2011 Memorial Cup title.

Leland has been the head coach and general manager of the MHL's Campbellton Tigers since 2016-17, where he notably coached Dawson Stairs during the 2018-19 season.

“It was not an easy decision to leave the Tigers," Leland said in a Titan news release. "I enjoyed my years there, but I’m now ready to return to the QMJHL to work with some talented young players.”

The Titan won just 12 games last season after only winning eight the year before. The club has had to rebuild completely from its 2018 Memorial Cup championship run, but seems poised to take a bigger step forward this upcoming season.

NHL DRAFT DATE SET
As we continue to move further into the unknown, it's nice to see some future dates be set - even if they are tentative.

The NHL announced Friday the tentative dates for 2020 NHL Draft - originally planned for late June in Montreal - are Oct. 9-10. If the CHL season is able to start Oct. 1-2 (which seems unlikely at this point), that would have the NHL Draft taking place the second weekend of the regular season.

All the key dates from Training Camp to the 2020 NHL Draft. https://t.co/IErZJ2hifT pic.twitter.com/gRlxklXNml

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) July 10, 2020

It would certainly be weird to see Jeremie Poirier or William Villeneuve get drafting while playing in a game for the Sea Dogs. But... this is a scenario that we (sadly?) probably won't have to worry about.

COVID catch up: The waiting game

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It's been just over a month since the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League said its planning on an Oct. 1 start to the 2020-21 season.

Since then, the OHL and WHL have joined the QMJHL in planning on early October starts. Last week, the Maritime Hockey League said the same, targeting an Oct. 2 start (which, when you get technical, is probably more likely than Oct. 1 since it's a Friday).

A lot happened hockey wise in June, which was a nice change in talking points. The CHL hasn't made many mentions of its restart plan lately with the three leagues presumably, like the rest of us, playing the waiting game to see which direction things turn over the next couple months.

Overall, things are looking fairly positive around the country, with new COVID-19 infections and deaths continuing to decrease for the most part. That's great... but I can't be the only one who is feeling less and less optimistic about seeing junior hockey return in early October.

I hope I'm wrong, but the chaos happening south of the border is going to no doubt have an impact on all sports in North America. We're starting to see the NCAA gradually cancel its fall seasons, which will have an impact on hockey. The Ivey Leagues announced Wednesday that it won't play sports until Jan. 1 at the earliest, which cuts the ECAC in half. It's hard to imagine the NCAA and its billion$ sitting the fall out while the CHL plays as normal with limited arena capacities (let's not forget that fans need to be permitted in buildings for junior hockey to function).

It's possible. The pandemic has showed us just how quickly things can change. There could be junior hockey in October - but it's harder and harder to picture it happening.

But hey, the NHL bubble! Six games a day! Here's hoping that happens with little hiccups, because some hockey - and some optimism - would be great.

Some other COVID-19 related news...

• Unsurprisingly, the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, scheduled for this fall in Charlottetown and Summerside, has been cancelled. Sea Dogs prospects Leighton Carruthers and Simon Hughes were invited to Hockey Canada's virtual development camp.
• The MHL, like the CHL, needs fans in buildings in order to operate. "A key part of a return to play is spectator capacity in each community," reads a MHL release. "The MHL is a fan-driven league, and it’s critical that the league be able to welcome fans back to their local rink when the 2020-21 season begins."
• I imagine we're going to see some creative ideas when (or if) teams are permitted to allow a certain percentage of fans into buildings. The NFL's Kansas City Chiefs have essentially postponed season ticket memberships to 2021 "because the club cannot fairly re-seat the entire season ticket base across a limited number of seats." Season seat holders "will be automatically included in a single-game presale for any available seats in 2020, once a final capacity is determined."
• Here's some good news to end this post: crossed the border into Nova Scotia after a lovely 2.5 hour wait last weekend only to discover that the Cobequid Pass toll now has debit/credit tap! Life changing.