Francis reassigned to Saint John

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - It's official: Ryan Francis is on his way back to the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The American Hockey League's Stockton Heat announced Saturday that Francis has been released from his tryout with the club and will make his way back to Saint John for his final season of junior hockey.

ROSTER UPDATE | Ryan Francis has been released from his PTO. The #Flames draft pick has been assigned to @SJSeaDogs. pic.twitter.com/3r3LiRswN4

— Stockton Heat (@AHLHeat) October 30, 2021

Francis appeared in four games with the Heat but was held pointless.

The Sea Dogs were confident throughout the past month that Francis, a Calgary Flames prospect who remains unsigned by the organization, would return at some point early this season. Chris Dobson of Rogers TV first reported the news on Friday.

Huge news coming out of Saint John. After weeks of speculation, Ryan Francis looks to be on his way back to Saint John to join the @SJSeaDogs in their hunt for the Memorial Cup! #MemorialCup

— Chris Dobson (@MrCDobson) October 29, 2021

It's a massive addition to a Sea Dogs team that has struggled to consistently produce offense beyond the top line of William Dufour, Brady Burns and Josh Lawrence. Reuniting Francis with Peter Reynolds will ideally create another strong line of scoring for the Sea Dogs.

Francis led Saint John in scoring last season, registering 50 points in 32 games split between the Sea Dogs and Cape Breton Eagles.

The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday afternoon a 3 p.m. before hitting the road for a challenging three-in-three in Quebec.