Sunday, March 8, 2026

Notebook: Joseph signs with Kings

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MONCTON - Mathieu Joseph is now a member of the Los Angeles Kings.

Joseph, who had his contract with the St. Louis Blues terminated earlier in the week, signed "a one-year contract through the remainder of the 2025-26 season" with the Kings, the team announced Friday.
Joseph was scratched for the Kings' Saturday night game against the Montreal Canadiens.

The 29-year-old posted two goals and nine assists in 39 games with St. Louis this season. He was recently put on waivers and assigned to the American Hockey League where he recorded a goal in two games with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

This was Joseph's second season with the Blues. He's an NHL veteran at this point, playing in 459 games with the Blues, Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning. He won two Stanley Cups with the Lightning.

Joseph appeared in 201 games with the Sea Dogs over four seasons, helping the team win the President Cup in 2017.

BURNS JOINS STAFF
The Sea Dogs announced Sunday that long-time Acadia Axemen head coach Darren Burns has joined the team as a "senior advisor, hockey operations and assistant coach."

“Darren brings decades of hockey experience to the team,” said Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie in a news release. “He has been a coach, an NHL scout, and he knows our organization well as the father of Memorial Cup champion and franchise leading scorer Brady Burns. He is passionate and will add a lot to our group.”

Burns is the father of former Sea Dogs forward Brady Burns, who currently plays at Acadia. Burns has recruited a number of Sea Dogs to Acadia over the years.

The Axemen confirmed on Facebook that Burns will return as Acadia's head coach in the fall.

COMING UP
The Sea Dogs have just six regular season games remaining – including one this Sunday against the Moncton Wildcats at Avenir Centre.

This will be the eighth and final meeting of the regular season between Saint John and Moncton – although they could meet in the opening round of the QMJHL playoffs.

The Sea Dogs are 1-6-0-0 against the Wildcats this season with their only win coming back on Oct. 4 at Avenir Centre.

Following Sunday's game, the Sea Dogs will play their final home games of the regular season March 13-14 against the Halifax Mooseheads. They'll then play three road games to close out the season: March 15 at Charlottetown and March 20-21 at Cape Breton.

CASEY VIDEO
The Sea Dogs shared this video of head coach Brian Casey speaking to his team following Wednesday's 5-3 upset win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.


ZBORIL MESSAGE
The Sea Dogs shared this video message from Jakub Zboril. Everett Baldwin recently passed Zboril's franchise record for goals in a season by a rookie defenseman.
Baldwin sits second in the league in goals by a defenseman with 14. Charlottetown's Marcus Kearsey has a QMJHL high 15.

STRUGGLES VS NFL
The Sea Dogs will finish the regular season with an 0-6-2-0 record against the Newfoundland Regiment.

The Sea Dogs, in particular, struggled at Mary Brown's Centre where they were outscored 23-8.

Saint John 1 @ Newfoundland 5 (Feb 12 2026) Final 
Saint John 3 @ Newfoundland 7 (Feb 11 2026) Final 
Saint John 1 @ Newfoundland 5 (Oct 25 2025) Final 
Saint John 3 @ Newfoundland 6 (Oct 24 2025) Final

At TD Station, all four games were decided by a single goal with two needing overtime.

Newfoundland 5 @ Saint John 4 (Feb 7 2026) Final OT1 
Newfoundland 4 @ Saint John 3 (Jan 11 2026) Final OT1 
Newfoundland 5 @ Saint John 4 (Jan 9 2026) Final 
Newfoundland 6 @ Saint John 5 (Dec 31 2025) Final 

One positive: Alexis Joseph had an impressive showing against the Regiment, posting six goals and eight assists in the eight meetings. Joseph has recorded more points against the Regiment than he has against any other team.

On the the other side, Justin Larose posted six goals and seven assists against Saint John. Marek Danicek, meanwhile, had six goals and five assists.

CLOSER TO THE GAME
This is from a bit ago, but here is the second episode of the Sea Dogs' "Closer to the Game" series.


GIROUARD SIGNS IN ECHL
Former Sea Dogs forward Nicholas Girouard has turned pro.

It was announced Tuesday that the 24-year-old has signed with the ECHL's Trois-Rivieres Lions. Girouard has spent the past four seasons playing with the Concordia University Stingers.

Girouard made his ECHL debut on Friday and was a -1 with one shot on goal in the Lions' 5-3 loss to Maine. He had an assist in Saturday's 6-4 Lions win over the Worcester Railers.

This past season with the Stingers, Girouard recorded nine goals and 20 assists in 27 games.

Girouard spent the 2020-21 COVID season with the Sea Dogs, recording 13 goals and 13 assists in 31 regular season games. He added three goals and four assists in six playoff games.

DUFOUR DOING WELL
Speaking of the ECHL, William Dufour has been clicking with the Fort Wayne Komets. The former Sea Dogs forward now has seven goals and 11 assists in 18 games with the Komets.
It's been an eventful season for Dufour, who has played games in the KHL, LNAH and AHL.

MORE INTERLEAGUE?
Sounds like we could be seeing some more interleague play between select teams in the OHL and QMJHL next season.
It was noted that these games would be regular season contests, not exhibition. While this does create some legitimate complaints around an unfair advantage or disadvantage for these teams when it comes to the standings, the schedule in the QMJHL is already unbalanced. Might as well just go all in on it.

In addition to Ottawa and Gatineau meeting this past season, Rouyn-Noranda and Sudbury played a pair of games.

2026 EVENTS
We now know the sites of a few league events for the 2026-27 season.

Gatineau will host the QMJHL Prospects Game on Wednesday, Oct. 28. According to a league release, "for its second edition, the QMJHL Prospects Game presented by BFL CANADA will once again showcase the league’s top 40 prospects eligible for the next NHL Draft, scheduled for June 2027. The players will be selected in advance by the NHL Central Scouting."

The CHL USA Prospects Challenge, meanwhile, will be hosted by Chicoutimi and Quebec City from Dec. 1-2. It's the first time the event has been hosted by QMJHL teams.

"Now entering its third year after launching in 2024, the CHL USA Prospects Challenge has established itself as a premier best-on-best showcase, featuring top NHL Draft-eligible talent from the WHL, OHL, and QMJHL against the U.S. National Under-18 Team in an annual two-game series," states a CHL news release. "The 2026 edition will spotlight many of the leading prospects eligible for the 2027 NHL Draft."

OTHER THINGS
  • Former Sea Dogs captain Vincent Sevigny is now with the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The defenseman has been held pointless in nine games.
  • Some Boko Imama fight content for you.
  • The Rimouski Oceanic lost their 21st straight game on Saturday, falling 5-1 to the Sherbrooke Phoenix.
  • The Chicoutimi Sagueneens are on an incredible stretch right now. They've outscored opponents 44-6 over their past four games, which includes a 14-2 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on Saturday.
  • Not great news for the Cape Breton Eagles.
  • Baie-Comeau Drakkar goaltender Sam Caulfield, who is out for the remainder of the season, has committed to Northeastern University.
  • A look inside the new rink on the Dalhousie University campus, which will be the home of the Tigers beginning next season.
  • The Maritime Junior Hockey League regular season ends on Sunday.
  • The AUS men's hockey final begins on Sunday at UNB and will feature the Reds taking on the UdeM Aigles Bleus. Both teams have already secured spots in the University Cup, which is being held in Halifax this year.
  • It was announced this week that Maryville University in the St. Louis area will be adding D1 hockey.
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