Sea Dogs invite 28 players to training camp

There was at least one notable omission from the Saint John Sea Dogs training camp roster.

Overage forward and Saint John native Anderson MacDonald was left off the squad's roster, which was released on Wednesday by the team. MacDonald was acquired mid-season last year and recorded seven goals and nine assists in 23 games. Saint John was his fourth QMJHL team in as many seasons.

No reasoning was given for MacDonald's omission. The move means there will be just three 20-year-olds at the team's camp: goaltender Carmine-Anthony Pagliarulo and forwards Liam Leonard and Matt Gould. Gould, an American, will attend camp at a later date, according to the team.

Saint John's 28-man roster - which is well below the 34 player limit that the league put in place for this COVID-19 impacted season - includes 15 forwards, 10 defensemen and three goaltenders.

Assuming Saint John goes with the typical 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders, there could be some intense battles for the final few spots on a team that is expected to make a major step forward.

Pagliarulo and returnee Noah Pateneaude will likely make up the team's net presence, leaving Mathias Savoie on the outside.

On the backend, there's not much room. Assuming Charlie DesRoches, Jan Hampl, Christopher Inniss, Kale McCallum, Jeremie Poirier and William Villeneuve are basically locks to make the team, that leaves room for just one more d-man (again, assuming the team goes with the usual seven D). That battle could come down to 19-year-old returnee Brendan Sibley and 16-year-old first-round pick Nathan Drapeau.

18-year-old Isaac Dixon, who spent last season with MHL Grand Falls, and 16-year-old Hunter Gartley, a sixth-round pick of Saint John, are the two other d-men in camp. Both are New Brunswickers.

The team also noted that Hampl, who the Sea Dogs acquired in this year's CHL Import Draft, will join camp at a later date. Like Gould, getting Hampl to Saint John will not be as simple as usual.

"For now, there will be no non-Canadians since Americans and Europeans are only allowed to travel here for legitimate work reasons," wrote Willy Palov in his latest Chronicle Herald column. "Junior hockey players aren’t technically employees so they can’t gain entry to Canada just yet."

Up front, there are a lot of (essentially) locks as well. Gould, Leonard, Brady Burns, Alex Drover, Nicholas Girouard, Josh Lawrence, Cam MacDonald, Peter Reynolds, Joshua Roy, Charles Savoie and Dawson Stairs will all presumably make the team. That leaves just a couple spots for returnee Julian Vander Voet; 18-year Riley Bezeau who recorded 27 points in 37 games with MHL Campbellton last season; first-round pick and 16-year-old Leighton Carruthers; and 17-year-old Carter McCluskey who spent most of last season with the Saint John Vitos.

As expected, Russian forward Fydor Svechkov, who the Sea Dogs selected in the first-round of this year's CHL Import Draft, will not attend camp. Other notables left off the roster include overage forward Ben Badalamenti (who is an American); overage defenseman Jordan Spadafore; second-round pick and forward Simon Hughes (who reportedly will play US prep school hockey); and highly-touted 17-year-old defenseman Guillaume Richard (who has made his NCAA intentions quite clear).

Saint John's first pre-season game will be held on Sept. 1.