The shortest off-season in Saint John Sea Dogs history comes to an end Monday as the team begins its training camp. The Sea Dogs begin pre-season play on Thursday at Fredericton's Aitken Centre, hosting the Moncton Wildcats.
Saint John's off-season lasted only a month-and-a-half with the club having played its last game on June 29. During that time the team took part in the summer trade period, QMJHL Entry Draft, CHL Import Draft and named a new head coach.
This year's Sea Dogs team will look significantly different than the team that lifted the Memorial Cup on TD Station ice on June 29. While the team will be taking a step a back in terms of wins, the roster turnover and fight for spots does make for a much more intriguing training camp and pre-season.
There will be plenty of time to discuss Saint John's roster for the 2022-23 campaign. So here are some headlines and random thoughts as hockey makes its return for another year.
- William Dufour, who will likely play in the American Hockey League this season, has a goal and three assists in three games with Team Canada at the World Junior Hockey Championship. Canada returns to action on Monday, taking on Finland at 7 p.m.
- Vincent Despont, Noah Patenaude and Team Switzerland are 0-3 so far at the world juniors. The team's final preliminary round game is on Monday against 0-3 Austria. Despont has been held pointless so far while Patenaude has posted a 3.78 GAA and .868 SV%.
- I can't be the only one who is finding the world juniors a rough watch this year. The Hockey Canada scandals, the summer weather, the crowd sizes, not having one of the top teams (Russia) taking part... it all adds up. Will be interesting to see what the vibes are like come December in Halifax and Moncton.
- Speaking of Patenaude, the Sea Dogs' goaltending situation will be a storyline to follow during training camp. The team currently has two overage goaltenders set to return in Patenaude and Nikolas Hurtubise.
- I'm nervous (more so than usual) about the future of the Titan in Bathurst. If the deal with Steve Leal is finalized, which reportedly includes plans to relocate the team to the Montreal area, I have a hard time picturing this team playing in Bathurst beyond this season. They won't have a new arena built in the Montreal area by then, but the WHL's Winnipeg Ice have made a similar situation work for a few years now, and there's surely a temporary spot in Montreal they can play. Keeping the team in Bathurst as a "lame duck franchise" probably wouldn't go too well (it never works well in any sport).
- One of the biggest questions/concerns about the Titan possibly leaving Bathurst is what this does to the divisional alignment. There is no simple solution there - and you have to wonder what the team owners in the Maritimes think about this possible move.
- Congrats to former Sea Dogs captain Jonathan Huberdeau on getting paid. And congrats to Mathieu Joseph as well. Will be neat having Huberdeau playing in Canada where he'll be talked about significantly more in the media. Huberdeau will also be wearing No. 10 in Calgary instead of his usual No. 11.
- The Charlottetown Islanders have some of the best video production in the QMJHL. They'll finally have a proper scoreboard to show it off at some point this season, reports Saltwire.
- Charlottetown's Eastlink Centre, widely considered to be one of the worst arenas in the QMJHL, will be home to plenty of hockey this season. Along with Islanders home games, the building will host the University Cup and Canada Winter Games in the new year.
- Even if you don't follow college hockey, the University of Michigan's firing of Mel Pearson is quite a story.
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