Plenty of questions facing Sea Dogs at training camp

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

An intriguing training camp begins Saturday for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs will have battles at every position as there are holes to be filled in net, up front and on the backend. There are some strong returning players, a large group of prospects and a couple handfuls of free agents all attending the club's camp this year. 

It should be a very competitive camp — which should make for a fun camp.

Here are five of the biggest questions facing the Sea Dogs heading into the week.

1. The goaltending

One of the most glaring questions facing the Sea Dogs is their goaltending. 18-year-old Olivier Brideau, who has just 16 games of QMJHL experience but looked better and better as last season went along, will presumably take one of the spots. Who joins Brideau is the big question.

The Sea Dogs have four other goaltenders coming to camp: Kyan Labbe (2023 draft pick), Charles-Antoine Girard (2022 draft pick), Justin Robinson (2022 draft pick) and Sebastian Monaco (free agent). It'll be an exciting competition to follow given that any of these netminders could win a job.

2. The overage situation

Postmedia reported Friday (paywall) that free agent invite Alexis Brisson will not be attending camp, which leaves four players competing for three overage spots: returning forward Peter Reynolds, returning defenseman Jared Cosman, newly acquired defensman Mathis Gauthier and free agent forward Mathis Cloutier.

Reynolds and Gauthier are likely the favourites to take two of the three spots, which would leave Cosman and Cloutier battling for the final slot.

3. Who will join the D core?

The Sea Dogs have a whopping 20 defensemen coming to training camp and there are spots to be won.

Returning from last year's team are Nicolas Bilodeau, Jared Cosman (who is an overager), Joseph Ianniello, Jeremie Richard (who is currently injured) and Nate Tivey. QMJHL veteran Mathis Gauthier, who captained Rimouski last season, has also been added to the mix.

The rest of the d-men attending camp are a mix of draft picks, acquisitions and free agents. There are spots to be filled and it will be interesting to see who stands out.

4. Will scorers step up?

If Saint John is going to have success this season they are going to need to see some offensive progression from their forwards and see some others step up.

There were certainly some promising signs last season with Pavel Simek, Eriks Mateiko and Noah Reinhart all meeting or surpassing expectations. A healthy Peter Reynolds and the addition of rookie Egan Beveridge will also be boosts. The team also appears to have some defensemen with strong offensive instincts. 

Brady Burns, who aged out, and Cole Burbidge, who was traded for two first-round picks, are big losses though. Even if the returning players have progressed nicely, the team is no doubt hoping for some pleasant surprises at camp.

5. The free agents

With Alexis Brisson not attending camp, the Sea Dogs will have 10 free agents attending — which is not a small number. It wouldn't be a surprise to see a few make the team.

Let's remember as well: the Sea Dogs' draft pick bank is still a bit dry from the Memorial Cup run. In the past we've seen Saint John add free agents that come in, have strong showings and then trade them to contending teams in exchange for draft picks. It wouldn't be a shock to see this strategy used again.