Looking at some pre-season stats

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The veterans came to play for the Saint John Sea Dogs this pre-season.

Overage forward Natan Éthier led the team in scoring, posting three goals and three assists in five games. Éthier is a bit of a wildcard heading into the season after playing in just five games with the Shawinigan Cataractes last year due to an injury – but he registered a goal and two assists in those games.

Angelo Fullerton, Saint John's other overage forward, finished second in scoring with five points, posting three goals and two assists.

Fullerton, Éthier and defenseman Everett Baldwin led the team in goal scoring with three each.

The Sea Dogs will be a young team this season and they'll need QMJHL veterans like Éthier and Fullerton to provide some consistency. These pre-season numbers are a good start.

Having said all that, pre-season numbers don't mean a whole lot. But that's never stopped us from talking about them before. Here are a few other notes from Saint John's exhibition schedule.

• Returning forwards Matthew Krayer (five assists) and Zachary Morin (two goals and three assists) also had five points each.
• Morin had 15 penalty minutes in four games and seemed to be playing with a bit more of an edge compared to what we saw last season. Only Jacob Beaulieu had more penalty minutes (17).
• Baldwin appeared in just two games, recording three goals – and he looked really good. He'll be a key piece on Saint John's power play.
• First overall pick Alexis Joseph had a slow start but registered two goals and an assist in his final two games. One of his highlights though was a penalty kill performance in last Saturday's game. Joseph had a tremendous shift of forechecking that had the Sea Dogs bench on their feet.
• Fullerton led the team in shots on goal (12 in six games).
• Rafaël Courchesne was Saint John's top performing goaltender, posting a 2.49 goals against average and a .900 save percentage. Eight different goaltenders saw game action.
• Overall, Saint John posted a record of 1-3-2-0 and had a tie. They were outscored 29-22 over seven games. 
• Three of Saint John's seven games went to overtime.

The Sea Dogs begin regular season play on Friday, Sept. 19 when they host the Cape Breton Eagles at TD Station.