Takeaways from the pre-season (so far)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - It's early in the season (like, really early), but the Saint John Sea Dogs have given fans some reasons for optimism.

The Sea Dogs wrapped up the first portion of the pre-season with a 6-4 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Friday, giving the squad a 2-1-0-0 record. They don't return to action until Sept. 8.

Here are a few takeaways.

• Scoring hasn't been an issue so far with the team piling up 14 goals in three games. It's tough to get a good rid on the offense given the opposition hasn't been dressing their best lineup. There is room for cautious optimism though — but the team still lacks scoring depth in their top six.
• Saint John's power play is running at 35.3% (6/17).
• Chad Bellemare has been impressive so far, scoring five goals — a few of which were scored by turning on the jets. Top prospect Egan Beveridge has three goals as does free agent invite Kency Pierre-Noel.
• Returnee Luka Benoit leads the team in shots on goals with 13 in three games. Bellemare has 12.
• There's no doubt Beveridge is going to annoy a lot of opposing players (and fans) with his style of play.
• Defenseman Tristan Dassylva has a team high five assists, which is the second most recorded in the league by any player so far this pre-season.
• Defenseman Mathis Gauthier is going to be fun to watch. He had a couple big open ice hits in Friday's pre-season. The additions of Gauthier and Matteo Mann add a lot of size and experience to the backend.
• Speaking of defensemen, the Sea Dogs have some decisions to make. As of Friday, the Sea Dogs still had 11 d-men in camp: Mann (acquisition), Gauthier (acquisition), Dassylva (acquisition), Benjamin Amyot (2023 draft pick), Nicolas Bilodeau (returnee), Jared Cosman (returnee), Olivier Duhamel (2023 draft pick), Joseph Ianniello (returnee), Matthew MacLean (2023 draft pick), Jeremie Richard (returnee) and Nate Tivey (returnee).
• The defense core seems to be in an unexpectedly good place for this stage of the rebuild — to the point where you have to think the Dogs may want to move some older players to transition in some younger ones. Amyot and MacLean, in particular, have been very good in the pre-season.
• Even after a week of training camp, there are still questions surrounding Saint John's goaltending situation. Olivier Brideau did look more comfortable in net on Friday, allowing just one goal on 22 shots in the first half of the game.

The Sea Dogs should have a close-to-final roster in place when they return to pre-season play on Sept. 8.