Sea Dogs begin camp with crowded blue line

The signing of Vincent Despont adds to an already crowded blue line for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Five of Saint John's six regular defensemen from last season - Jeremie Poirier, William Villeneuve, Charlie DesRoches, Christopher Inniss and Nathan Drapeau - are all returning. The only regular defender not coming back is Kale McCallum, who was traded to the Val-d'Or Foreurs during the off-season.

Despont is expected to play a physical, shutdown style of defense, something the team certainly needs more of. Getting the team as a whole - not just its defensemen - to play better defensively will be the biggest challenge for new head coach Gordie Dwyer.

"I'd like to see some of our defensive woes be cleaned up. It's not a matter with this group if they can, it's a matter of if they're willing," said president and general manager Trevor Georgie at Dwyer's introductory press conference.

"(Gordie's) greatest impact is getting them to a point where they're willing. That will make the biggest difference."

Poirier and Villeneuve have been paired together for much of their junior careers and Drapeau and Inniss spent most of last season together. Georgie and Dwyer have made a point of saying that past roles won't matter heading into this season's training camp, so it'll be interesting to see if any changes are made.

DesRoches and Despont round out the top six - although things will get interesting if the Calgary Flames assign 19-year-old Yan Kuznetsov, who the Sea Dogs selected in this year's CHL Import Draft, to Saint John. Kuznetsov, who is eligible to play in the AHL, is the type of player who would likely lead the Sea Dogs in ice time if assigned to junior.

The team also has 19-year-old Brendan Casey, who played sparingly last year, and 17-year-old Hunter Gartley, who was injured for a large portion of the 2020-21 season, returning as well. Also in the mix are 19-year-old Benjamin Roode, a QMJHL veteran who spent much of last season with MHL Yarmouth, and 16-year-old Natan Grenier, the team's top pick in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft.

Other 2021 defensive draft picks attending camp are Nicolas Bilodeau and Ian Dickie. Undrafted 16-year-old Brady Stone was also invited to camp.

The Sea Dogs begin training camp this week before playing pre-season games against the Moncton Wildcats on Thursday and Friday.