A look at some (very early) numbers

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Nearly a quarter of the way into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season, there are a couple obvious areas of improvement for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs have been struggling to keep the puck out of their own net. The team has allowed 55 goals for an average of 3.87 goals against per game — the third most of the QMJHL.

Defensive play was expected to be a strength of this year's Sea Dogs team with its d-core mostly filled with returning players and league veterans. There's certainly plenty of time for the team to improve defensively and they've been getting fairly strong goaltending from overager Patrick Leaver and rookie netminder Justin Robinson.

The Sea Dogs are averaging 35.86 shots against per game, the most in the league.

Another problem area has been the team's power play. Saint John currently has a 14% rating, the second worst in the league. The loaded Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, oddly, have the worst power play (12.8%).

The Sea Dogs are not a team loaded with offensive fire power and they have scored just 40 goals in 14 games, which ties them with the Cape Breton Eagles for the fewest in the QMJHL. If the Sea Dogs could get their power play going a bit more, it might get them into some more games.

A few other numbers...

• A terrific start to the season for Peter Reynolds, who has 17 points (seven goals and 10 assists) in 14 games. He's also been the team's busiest faceoff man and has a 48.3% rating in the circle.
• Joseph Ianniello has really stood out offensively on the backend, posting two goals and seven assists in 13 games.
• Justin Robinson has the best goals against average (2.88) and save percentage (.916) of any qualifying rookie goaltender in the QMJHL.
• Kency Pierre-Noel, who was one of the best faceoff men in the QJHL last season, has a strong 56.4% rating in the circle so far. Nico Laforge has a team best 57.3% rating, but hasn't taken as many draws as Pierre-Noel or Reynolds.
• The Sea Dogs have really struggled at TD Station this season, going just 1-4-1-1. That includes losses to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and Quebec Remparts.
• Saint John has scored just one goal on seven attempts in the shootout. In overtime, the team has been outshot 16-1.
• The Sea Dogs are averaging 2,919 fans per game this season, the fifth most in the QMJHL.