Thursday, January 6, 2022

Trade deadline aftermath

Sea Dogs website
A few days ago, not many people would have guessed that Philippe Daoust would be a member of the Saint John Sea Dogs and Elliot Desnoyers would not.

But here we are.

Daoust has spent the first half of this season with the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League. A sixth-round pick of Ottawa in the 2020 NHL Draft, Daoust recorded five assists with the baby Sens. In his 19-year-old season with the Moncton Wildcats, the Barrie, ON native registered six goals and 28 points in 21 games.

“This was fairly large and complicated trade,” said Wildcats director of hockey operations Ritchie Thibeau in a news release. “We just found out yesterday that Phil Daoust would be returning to the QMJHL and we were quickly able to find a trading partner and put together a package to help with the future and our championship aspirations.”

Daoust joins Yan Kuznetsov and William Villeneuve as Sea Dogs with AHL game experience.

As for Desnoyers, he remains a Halifax Moosehead. It's rare that a rumoured deal so widely reported does not come to fruition in the QMJHL. The Mooseheads, who are targeting the next two seasons to make championship runs, did not make any trades Thursday.

Mooseheads general manager Cam Russell told the Chronicle Herald that keeping Desnoyers gives the team "two great lines and some important leadership to help our young players."

The Philadelphia Flyers prospect, who was part of Canada's world junior team, will likely be playing pro hockey next season.

You have to feel a little bad for Desnoyers. He was part of Moncton's 2019-20 team that was a serious Memorial Cup contender before COVID cancelled the playoffs. He recently said one of his 2022 goals was to win the Memorial Cup - but unless the Mooseheads go on a shocking run this year, it's unlikely to happen now.

"I'd say my main goal, first of all, would be to win the Memorial Cup with my team," Desnoyers told Philadelphia Flyers podcaster/YouTuber Christopher Maher in an interview earlier this week. "I've been dreaming about this Cup for a long time and I think that it's fair to say that this year would be my last to try and go for it. That's mainly going to be my focus for the beginning of 2022."

ON WAIVERS
A couple Sea Dogs have been out on waivers, according to J-F Plante of the Gatineau newspaper Le Droit.

As expected, defenseman Christopher Inniss is the odd man out in Saint John's overage situation. Inniss has been part of the Sea Dogs the past two seasons and spent three years with the Rimouski Oceanic prior to that.
19-year-old forward Yanic Crete, a former OHLer who joined the Sea Dogs this season, has also been placed on waivers. He recorded a goal and five assists in 21 games.
2021 FINAL
The Sea Dogs had a neat thing going for like five minutes when goaltenders Nikolas Hurtubise and Jonathan Lemieux - who faced off in the President Cup final last year - were both on their roster.
The Sea Dogs now have Hurtubise and Vincent Sevigny from last year's championship Victoriaville Tigres team. They also have Olivier Picard and Marshall Lessard from the Val-d'Or Foreurs, who the Tigres defeated in the final.

STAIRS TRADED
Former Sea Dogs forward Dawson Stairs was traded by the Cape Breton Eagles to the Charlottetown Islanders. It's a big addition for the Islanders who needed some more firepower up front.
The Islanders also acquired 19-year-old forward Zachary Roy from the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Roy currently sits 20th in league scoring.

The Titan did not make any moves Thursday.

COVID is taking one of the all-time great stretch runs in Maritimes Division history away from us. Get your booster.

TRENHOLM
An interesting tidbit about Connor Trenholm from Craig Eagles.
DRAFT PICKS
Here's what the Sea Dogs entered the day with in terms of draft picks, according to the French fan boards:

2022: 1-1CHA-2-7-7VIC-8-9-10MON-10GAT-11-12-13-14

2023: 1SHE-2-4-5-6-10-11-13-14

2024: 1-3-5-6-7-7VDO-8-9-10-11-12-13-14

And here's what they leave with:

2022: 3STJ-4-4BAC-5-7-10-11 -12-13-14

2023: 10-11-13-14

2024: 5-6VDO-9-11-12- 13-14 

The Sea Dogs will obviously make moves in the future to recollect some picks, but still, this shows just how all-in the team went on Thursday.

GOALTENDING
There past two years have simply not gone as hoped/planned for the Sea Dogs.
Definitely something to think about when the Sea Dogs enter their next rebuild.

BLAGDEN COMING HOME
While the Sea Dogs traded away local Carter McCluskey, who was becoming a fan favourite, on Thursday, they acquired local Nicholas Blagden, who will surely be well liked in Saint John.

Blagden spent two seasons with the Saint John Vitos before joining the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada - a hot spot for southern New Brunswick talent. He shared a photo of his younger self with Nathan Beaulieu on social media.
OTHER THINGS
  • Making the Daoust blockbuster between the Sea Dogs and Wildcats more surprising is the fact that the two clubs have rarely traded with one another since Saint John joined the league. 2022 is clearly not 2012.
  • We all agree that Jonathan Lemieux is stealing at least one game for the Wildcats when they play Saint John in the second half, right?
  • I want to apologize in advance for referring to Philippe Daoust as Alexis D'Aoust, which I will 100% do at some point.
  • Interesting note on the Mooseheads website: "the Dogs have 33 points in 30 games under Coach Gordie Dwyer for a less than ideal fourth place in the Maritimes. They will most certainly improve once the season resumes, thanks to several moves made at the trade deadline. In comparison, the Mooseheads had 45 points through 30 games in the 2019 Memorial Cup host season."
  • The Armada's Simon Pinard, who some speculated may be of interest to the Sea Dogs, landed in Gatineau. The full list of trades can be found on the QMJHL website.
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