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."
A few other notable comments from Georgie:
- On the addition of Peter Reynolds, Georgie said the Fredericton native has dreamt of playing for the Sea Dogs since he was a child. "I also think there's a lot of uncertainty in the United States right now with everything going on - and not just the United States but globally," Georgie added. "I think it was a perfect storm of things and whatever the final reasons ended up being, we're really happy to have Peter and his family with the team."
- Georgie said Cameron MacDonald has added some weight and is now at 190 lbs. Elite Prospects has him listed at 6'1" and 176 lbs. That's good news for a player who's projected to be a power forward.
- Georgie confirmed that forward Nicholas Girouard, acquired from Drummondville at the QMJHL Entry Draft, almost became a Sea Dog much sooner as part of the Joe Veleno deal.
- Greg Gilbert has lots of connections to the Sea Dogs coaching staff - and here's another. Gilbert played with the Chicago Blackhawks at the same time as Mike Eagles, who is currently Saint John's faceoff coach.
- Georgie said he expects forward Leighton Carruthers, the team's top pick in June's draft, to be utilized similarly to Joshua Roy last season.
- On prospect Simon Hughes heading into this season: "... he'll even have the opportunity this year to crack our lineup. He's got good size; he's got good skill; he's a very driven and very confident young man... he'll have every opportunity to make the lineup this season and we think he'll be a real good player for us. We were actually a bit surprised that he was still there where we selected."
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