Sunday, January 2, 2022

Notebook: More on the Desnoyers deal

Halifax Mooseheads
More details on the expected Elliot Desnoyers trade have surfaced.

Mikael Lalancette of Le Soleil reports that the Saint John Sea Dogs will acquire the Halifax Mooseheads captain in exchange for prospect Natan Grenier and a first-round pick. Grenier, 16, was a first-round pick of the Sea Dogs in the 2021 QMJHL Entry Draft and has five goals and 18 points in 24 games with the Seminaire St-Francois Blizzard this season.
This deal will likely have other pieces attached to it come the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft this summer.

The QMJHL's trade deadline is this Thursday, Jan. 6.

DUBE SWEEPSTAKES OVER
20-year-old forward Pierrick Dube will be joining the Shawinigan Cataractes.
Dube started the season with the nearby Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL where he recorded a goal and three assists in 10 games. He was released by the club a few weeks ago with, reportedly, intentions on returning to the QMJHL.

Dube played with both the Quebec Remparts and Chicoutimi Sagueneens last season, posting solid numbers. His QMJHL rights are currently owned by the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

TOP PROSPECTS GAME PROBS
The current COVID-19 situation may force the Canadian Hockey League to postpones its Top Prospects Game to later in the year, reported Sportsnet's Jeff Marek on Saturday.
Marek added that a final decision to postpone the game has not been made yet. 

This year's Top Prospects game would be the first CHL event to be held since the 2020 Top Prospects Game, which was played pre-pandemic.

CHL ON TSN
COVID postponements are certainly putting the debut of the CHL on TSN, currently scheduled for Jan. 14, in some doubt. TSN is supposed to air a doubleheader featuring Sudbury facing Kingston followed by Prince George visiting Vancouver.

TSN has begun promoting the CHL with commercials and was regularly mentioned during the world junior broadcasts. The tagline being used is "where every shift counts."

I couldn't find the commercial but did come across this excellent video.


SEA DOGS ON TSN.CA
A few Sea Dogs games have been added to the TSN.ca and TSN App broadcast schedule for the second half.

According to TSN's broadcast schedule, the following games will air online:

Thursday, Jan. 20: Quebec at Saint John
Sunday, Feb. 27: Saint John at Moncton
Sunday, March 27: Halifax at Saint John

BREEN AND THE BLACK BEARS
Grand Bay-Westfield native Lynden Breen is having another solid season with the University of Maine Black Bears.

The 20-year-old forward was a fifth-round pick of the Saint John Sea Dogs in the 2017 QMJHL Entry Draft - which was held at TD Station - but never reported to the team. Breen discussed the decision to play in the United States over his hometown team with the Bangor Daily News this week.

“If I had stayed in Saint John, maybe things could have been better in some situations. But, then again, I don’t regret it one bit. I love it here. This is where I want to play and this is where I want to win,” Breen said.

Breen has two goals and six assists in 17 games in his second season with the Black Bears. Maine is just 2-11-4 this season and had their weekend series at Penn State cancelled by COVID.

THAT 2017 DRAFT
Looking back, that 2017 QMJHL Entry Draft remains a rough one for the Sea Dogs.
Saint John didn't select until the third round that year. 2017 picks selected by other clubs that are currently with the Sea Dogs include Christopher Inniss (10th overall - Rimouski), Ryan Francis (21st overall - Cape Breton), Vincent Sevigny (29th overall - Victoriaville) and Jonathan Lemieux (42nd overall - Val-d'Or) - all of whom were chosen before the Sea Dogs stepped to the stage.

BLACHMAN WARMUP
You may have seen this video from the ECHL making the rounds. You may not have realized that No. 22 in white is former Sea Dogs forward Nico Blachman.
Blachman appeared in 31 games with the Sea Dogs in 2015-16, posting a goal and 68 penalty minutes. He spent parts of the following two seasons with the Rimouski Oceanic. He also appeared in 10 games with the MHL's St. Stephen Aces in 2017-18.

The 23-year-old Florida native has an assist and 33 penalty minutes in 12 games with the South Carolina Stingrays.

HISTORIC HUBERDEAU
It was quite a week for Jonathan Huberdeau, who now has 11 goals and 41 points in 32 games with the Florida Panthers this season.
OTHER THINGS
  • The Athletic has ranked William Villeneuve the 15th best prospect in the Toronto Maple Leafs system. "But in watching him with the Sea Dogs, his ceiling in junior hockey is fast approaching and he needs far greater a challenge in the AHL," writes Joshua Kloke.
  • Over at Daily Faceoff, Chris Peters included three former Sea Dogs - Chris DiDomenico, Alex Grant and Eric Gelinas - in his non-NHL Team Canada Olympic roster.
  • Mike Kelly has been added to the New York Rangers' COVID protocol list.
  • The Ontario government lowered arena capacities across the province to 1,000 people or 50% capacity - whichever is lower. Yet another major challenge for OHL clubs to overcome.
  • Connor Bedard is good.
  • The WHL's Lethbridge Hurricanes have paused team activities after 14 players were placed in COVID protocol. 
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