Some numbers from the season that was

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

It was a tale of two teams for the Saint John Sea Dogs in 2023-24.

The rebuilding Sea Dogs entered the Christmas break — and the trade period — with a respectable 13-15-3-2 record. They went 7-24-2-2 the rest of the way, with three of those victories coming in the month of March to clinch the QMJHL's 16th and final playoff spot.

The situation is what it is. The Sea Dogs dealt many of their top, older players for assets that should help the team contend in a few years. It's short-term pain (in theory) for long-term gain (in theory) and it's the plan the franchise has executed — mostly with success — time and time again.

Saint John struggled at both ends of the ice this year. The team allowed a league worst 35.56 shots against per game which led to the second most goals against per game (4.26). They also recorded the fourth fewest shots per game (27.08) which led to the third fewest goals per game (2.69).

Here's a look at some other team stats from the season that was.

• Saint John finished the regular season with a 20-39-5-4 record for 49 points, which is four fewer wins and five fewer points than they had last season.
• The Sea Dogs went 11-17-3-3 at home and 9-22-2-1 on the road. Only the Val-d'Or Foreurs had fewer home wins.
• Saint John finished ninth in penalty minutes per game (9.85). The league leader? The first-place Baie-Comeau Drakkar (12.03).
• The Sea Dogs went 1-4 in shootouts.
• Saint John was 13-7-4-0 when scoring first.
• The Sea Dogs against each division:
• Maritimes:14-24-2-4
• East: 2-4-2-0
• Central: 2-6-0-0
• West: 2-5-1-0
• The Sea Dogs had winning records against Bathurst (5-3-0-1), Val-d'Or (2-0-0-0) and, weirdly, Victoriaville (2-0-0-0).
• Saint John had the third worst power play (17.1%) and the worst home power play (14.8%). They also had the fourth worst penalty kill (74%) and second worst road penalty kill (70.7%).
• The team scored five shorthanded goals and allowed eight.
• Saint John was outscored a combined 82-56 in first periods, 96-58 in second periods and 106-68 in third periods.
• The Sea Dogs when leading after one? 10-4-2-0. When trailing after one? 2-27-2-1.
• Saint John had the longest road losing streak at 13 games. Although it officially won't count, they carry that streak into the playoffs.
• Saint John recorded 11 shots on March 9, which is officially a league low for a single game this year. That record is misleading though as this was the game where head coach Travis Crickard collapsed, leading to the cancellation of most of the third period.
• The Sea Dogs had just four fights this season according to HockeyFights.com.

And some individual stats.

• Brody Fournier officially finished as Saint John's points leader with 52 and goals leader with 27. Defenseman Joseph Ianniello led the team in assists with 29.
• Fournier played in 70 games this season thanks to the unbalanced schedule at the time of his trade. Tristan Roy also played in 70 games.
• Ianniello was a team worst -38. Eriks Mateiko had an even rating.
• Pavel Simek led the team in shots on goal.
• Drew Elliott went 52.8% in faceoffs to lead the team.
• No player that finished the year with Saint John averaged a point per game. Mateiko had the closest at 0.88.
• Goaltender Patrick Leaver led the league in saves and, unfortunately, losses with 25.
• Reid Calder was tied for the QMJHL rookie lead in major penalties with two.
• Coen Miller had the fourth best shooting percentage (16.7%) amongst QMJHL rookies.
• Here's one you probably wouldn't have guessed: Matteo Mann led all QMJHL defensemen in shooting percentage (15.8%). Mann scored six times on just 38 shots.
• Fournier enters the playoffs with goals in five straight games.
• Another unfortunate number: Nicolas Bilodeau was a -6 in Saint John's 9-2 loss in Drummondville on Feb. 24, which was the worst single game +/- rating in the league this season.
• The nine goals Leaver allowed in that Drummondville game ties him for the league high in goals against in a single game with two other goaltenders.
• Justin Robinson made 52 saves on Feb. 2 and Leaver made 51on Sept. 23, the second and third most saves made in a single game this season, respectively.
• Leaver made 25 saves in the first period of Saint John's Feb. 15 game in Blainville-Boisbriand, the most saves by a goaltender in a single period this season.
• If Peter Reynolds had stayed with the Sea Dogs but didn't play another game, he still would have finished second in team scoring (thanks to Mateiko missing time with an injury).