Alumdate: NHL playoffs set to begin

Embed from Getty Images

Mathieu Joseph became the first Saint John Sea Dogs alumnus to lift the Stanley Cup last year. Could another ex-Dog hoist the Cup this year?

Several former Sea Dogs will be in action this weekend as the NHL playoffs begin. That includes the highly anticipated Florida/Tampa Bay matchup that will see Jonathan Huberdeau and the Panthers go up against Joseph and defending champs.

Huberdeau (Florida), Joseph (Tampa Bay), Charlie Coyle (Boston), Jakub Zboril (Boston) and Mike Hoffman (St. Louis) should all see action this post-season. Tomas Jurco (Vegas) and Alex D'Orio (Pittsburgh) will likely be on taxi squads.

Nathan Beaulieu remains out of the Winnipeg Jets lineup following shoulder surgery. Matthew Highmore and the Vancouver Canucks have a few regular season games remaining but will not qualify for the playoffs.

Here's a look at how Sea Dogs alumni performed during the NHL's abbreviated regular season (Highmore's numbers obviously aren't final).

Player	Team	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Jonathan Huberdeau	FLA	55	20	41	61
Mike Hoffman	STL	52	17	19	36
Thomas Chabot	OTT	49	6	25	31
Mathieu Joseph	TBL	56	12	7	19
Charlie Coyle	BOS	51	6	10	16
Jakob Zboril	BOS	42	0	9	9
Julien Gauthier	NYR	30	2	6	8
Matthew Highmore	CHI/VAN	38	1	4	5
Joe Veleno	DET	5	1	0	1
Tomas Jurco	VGK	8	0	1	1
Nathan Beaulieu	WPG	25	0	1	1

Jurco (Vegas), D'Orio (Pittsburgh), Boko Imama (Los Angeles), Spencer Smallman (Carolina), and Callum Booth (Boston) have all spent the majority of their seasons in the minors but have been placed on NHL taxi squads at times.

The NHL's first-round playoff matchups are as follows:

North

Toronto (1) vs Montreal (4)

Edmonton (2) vs Winnipeg (3)

East

Pittsburgh (1) vs New York Islanders (4)

Washington (2) vs Boston (3)

Central

Carolina (1) vs Nashville (4)

Florida (2) vs Tampa Bay (3)

West

Colorado (1) vs St . Louis (4)

Vegas (2) vs Minnesota (3)