QMJHL trade period heating up

Photo: Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Trades are picking up around the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League but the Saint John Sea Dogs have yet to make a deal.

The QMJHL announced earlier this week that the trade deadline has been pushed to Jan. 25, so there's plenty of time to make roster adjustments. Despite the date change, several teams have been busy over the past few days.

Notable deals this week include Charlottetown trading Anthony Hamel and picks to Moncton in exchange for Sean Stewart; Tampa Bay Lighting prospect Gabriel Fortier was dealt from Moncton to Shawinigan for a conditional third-round pick; Victoriaville dealt Felix Pare and picks to Cape Breton for Shawn Element; and then there was this huge deal announced Wednesday:

#QMJHLTrades 🔁
@LesOlympiques
➡ Rimouski : Evan MacKinnon (00-03-02), Gabriel Boissonneault (03-08-08), 1st round 2021, 1st round 2022 (SHE), 2nd round 2022@oceanicrimouski
➡ Gatineau : Isaac Belliveau (02-11-26), Andrew Coxhead (00-04-11), Matthew Dunsmoor (01-03-14) pic.twitter.com/64RKKyptdK

— QMJHL (@QMJHL) December 30, 2020

The Sea Dogs are in an interesting position because they have a number of directions they could go in this trade period. They could do very little or nothing - that's understandable. They could make a few tweaks or swaps here and there to improve this year's team without risking the future - that's understandable. They could make some drastic moves, further going all in on next season and the one after - that's understandable.

Obvious areas of note are Saint John's overage and import situations. Forward Vladislav Kotkov is taking a spot on both lists and there's still seemingly no clear pathway on getting him to Saint John. The same goes for Czech defenseman Jan Hampl. 

The Sea Dogs used just two overagers in the first half - forward Liam Leonard and goaltender Creed Jones. It'd be nice to have an impact 20-year-old join the team if Kotkov is indeed unable to travel - but it's hard to image the Dogs, who are typically shrewd with assets, giving up much for an overager in a season that may not even end with the President Cup being handed out. Some of the more high-end overagers have already been moved.

Limited viewings of this year's Sea Dogs squad no doubt makes this trade period difficult, but the team remains in a fortunate position. Being in "win now" mode last season or this season would be tough to swallow (sorry, Moncton) - especially after a rebuild that started at the very bottom.

Patenaude makes first WJC appearance

Embed from Getty Images

Noah Patenaude played about as well as you possibly can in a 10-0 loss to a powerhouse Canadian team on Tuesday at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Edmonton.

The Saint John Sea Dogs goaltender made 42 saves - which included a few big stops when the game was still somewhat close - in Switzerland's third loss of the tournament. It was Patenaude's first (and perhaps only) start of the tournament with the team using 19-year-old Thibault Fatton as their No. 1 netminder.

Talk about stretching your limits 😳 pic.twitter.com/n07L6eS2Zp

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 30, 2020

Patenaude's only other appearance came in a pre-tournament game that he split with Fatton.

Switzerland's 0-3 record sets up a big showdown with Germany on Wednesday. The Germans have just two points (an overtime win) and are the only team Switzerland could leapfrog to grab the No. 4 seed in Group A.

Switzerland has been outscored a combined 15-1 in their three games.

The only other former/current Sea Dog playing in the tournament is Filip Prikryl who has no points and is a -1 in three games with the Czech Republic. The 19-year-old spent the 2018-19 season with the Sea Dogs where he recorded 14 goals and 17 assists in 67 games. He's been playing the Czech Republic the past two seasons.

The preliminary round of this year's tournament ends on New Year's Eve. The quarterfinals take place on Saturday. 

Cajkovic sent home from Slovakian camp

Former Saint John Sea Dogs forward Maxim Cajkovic will reportedly not play for Slovakia at this year's World Junior Hockey Championship.

According to Slovakian media reports, Cajkovic was sent home from the team's camp following some unsportsmanlike conduct during a scrimmage.

Čajkovič’s response:

“I feel sorry for what happened. I realize my behavior was not appropriate and I bear the consequences. I respect the coaches’ decision.” @HockeySlovakia

— Matej Deraj (@MatoDeraj) December 4, 2020

The loss of Cajkovic is a big blow for the Slovaks, a team that was expected to struggle even with the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect in their lineup. Cajkovic had been playing on the team's top line at camp, according to reports.

The 19-year-old recorded two assists in five games with Slovakia at last year's tournament.

The Sea Dogs traded Cajkovic to the Val-d'Or Foreurs during the off-season after spending two seasons with the club. While he was one of the team's top producing forwards - he's recorded 40 goals and 88 points in 96 career QMJHL games - he often struggled to contain his emotions on the ice and was disciplined a few times by the Saint John coaching staff.

The Slovak's decision would seem to make it even for challenging/unlikely that Cajkovic plays in the QMJHL this season. He's currently playing with his hometown Bratislava Capitals where he has two goals and seven assists in 12 games.

Notebook: Sea Dogs entering extended break

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Saint John Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie released a statement Wednesday evening as the QMJHL enters its extended holiday break.

"This longer pause gives our young men a chance to return home to their loved ones for the holidays," Georgie said. "The majority of them have not seen their families since the beginning of August. It also allows enough time to respect all proper provincial quarantine guidelines when travelling to their families and for when they return to their second home here in Saint John.

"At this point in time, we are planning to kick off the second half of the season in late January."

In a news conference on Tuesday, commissioner Gilles Courteau said the best case scenario for the league's return is games resuming - with a normal schedule - somewhere around Jan. 17-20. If regular travel is still not permitted by then, the league will look into holding several bubbles in late January.

Georgie also noted that Sea Dogs season ticket members will be reimbursed if the club does not host its planned 30 total home games this season.

ANOTHER QUARANTINE

You really have to feel for Sea Dogs goaltender Creed Jones.

Jones quarantined when he arrived in Rimouski for training camp; then quarantined when he was traded to Saint John; and is now in the final days of his third quarantine after a Sea Dogs staff member tested positive for COVID-19. He has spent 42 days in a hotel room over the past three months, as noted by the Peterborough Examiner in a now locked article about the overage netminder.

The article noted that Jones is considering spending the holidays with his billet family in Saint John to avoid a fourth quarantine when play is expected to resume in January - and who can blame him.

Jones has had his struggles this season, posting a 4.36 goals against average and a .872 save percentage. Hopefully he can avoid more quarantines in the second half and get more comfortable in the crease.

What will the QMJHL's return look like?

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League commissioner Gilles Courteau provided more details Tuesday on what a return to play may look like come January.

Less than 24 hours after the league announced it was taking an extended holiday pause with the hope of returning next month, Courteau took questions from reporters, detailing potential scheduling scenarios.

"If the pandemic is not good (by January) and there's still the situation where we have in Quebec some red zones and in the Maritimes some specific areas where teams aren't able to travel, we'll go with a protected environment event," Courteau said, via the Chronicle Herald. "The first weekend would be two games in three days in six different areas - four in Quebec and two in the Maritimes - from January 22nd to January 24th. After that if we keep on going with the protected environments, we'll have three groups of four teams in Quebec for six games per team over nine days from January 30th to February 7th and we'll have a group of six Maritime teams for an an event of five games over eight days from January 30th to February 6th."

This is the first time the QMJHL has publicly brought up the idea of a bubble for the Maritimes Division teams. Ideally, come early/mid-January, the Atlantic Bubble is back in place, travel restrictions are gone and fans can be back in buildings, which we saw for most of October and November. We've also seen that things can take a turn for the worse rather quickly, so planning now for potential alternatives is a good idea.

There are plenty of hurdles to overcome if a Maritime bubble is the only option for a January return, the biggest likely being approval from public health authorities. There's also the question of finances. Teams likely won't be on the receiving end of much - if any - ticket or sponsorship revenue if games are played in a bubble, which would be especially challenging given the fact that the six Maritime teams have not received the government funds the 12 Quebec teams have. Surely though, the league is well aware of this and will make the appropriate moves.

QMJHL takes a holiday pause

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is officially on a pause.

In a not-so-surprising announcement on Monday, the league confirmed that it will be "pausing its activities" from Dec. 1 until Jan. 3. According to the statement, "the decision was communicated to QMJHL Members and General Managers during a meeting held earlier today."

With the Quebec City bubble over, only four teams - the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, Val-d'Or Foreurs, Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Rimouski Oceanic - would be able to play games because of travel restrictions.

“The current situation with the pandemic in the regions in which we operate makes it extremely difficult to play games,” QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau said in the statement. “With the Holidays just around the corner, the provinces in the Maritimes have restricted access and travel, while red zone restrictions in Quebec do not permit us to play.”

The Jan. 3 restart is a nice thought, but it seems very unlikely unless there is a dramatic reduction in COVID-19 spread over the next few weeks. Even if out-of-province players returned to their markets on Boxing Day, the 14-day quarantine would keep them out of action. Add to that the fact that players won't be able to go from quarantine to game action without some practice... mid-January seems like the absolute earliest we'll see QMJHL games.

Considérant qu'il faudra une quarantaine obligatoire pour les joueurs avant de recommencer à jouer, on peut alors penser que la pause des activités de la #LHJMQ va s'étirer jusqu'aux alentours du 20 janvier prochain.

La Ligue fera un bilan de son expérience à Québec demain AM.

— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) November 30, 2020

The Saint John Sea Dogs' first game after the holiday break is scheduled for Jan. 6 in Cape Breton. The team has not played since Nov. 18 due to a team staff member testing positive for COVID-19 and travel restrictions being placed on the Saint John region.

While intra-provincial restrictions are an issue, so too is travel within the Atlantic Bubble. And while placing the six Maritime teams in a bubble of their own could be a solution, that seems more unlikely than what is being proposed in Quebec (bubbles have proven to be quite expensive as well). The six Maritime teams have not received provincial government funding like the 12 Quebec teams have been given, meaning ticket revenue - the little they can get, at least - is a necessity.

The league will be holding a media conference tomorrow where some questions about the league's restart plan may be addressed.