Notebook: Some alumni news

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Former Saint John Sea Dogs forward Matthew Highmore signed a one-year, two-way contract extension with the Ottawa Senators earlier this week.

The 28-year-old spent most the season with the AHL's Belleville Senators where he recorded nine goals and 22 assists in 43 games. He also appeared in seven games with Ottawa where he posted a pair of assists.

“Matthew and our coaching staffs in both Belleville and Ottawa have mutual familiarity,” said Senators general manager Steve Staios in a news release. “He routinely brings energy, is a strong penalty killer and has demonstrated good offensive prowess in the AHL.”

According to the Sens, the contract carries a value of $775,000 in the NHL and $400,000 in the AHL.

This was Highmore's first season with the Ottawa organization. He previously spent time with the Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues.

MORE ALUMNI NEWS

• Joe Veleno news:

  UPDATE: The #RedWings have extended qualifying offers to Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno.
  
  The #RedWings did not extend a qualifying offer to Jared McIsaac.

  — Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 30, 2024

• Yan Kuznetsov news:

  The #Flames have provided qualifying offers to seven players:
  
  • Adam Klapka (RW)
  • Yan Kuznetsov (D)
  • Nikita Okhotiuk (D)
  • Jakob Pelletier (LW)
  • Cole Schwindt (C)
  • Ilya Solovyov (D)
  • Dustin Wolf (G) pic.twitter.com/ZdbCMP8hvp

  — Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) June 30, 2024

• Former Sea Dogs goaltender Jonathan Lemieux has signed a one-year AHL contract extension with the Abbotsford Canucks. Lemieux was on an AHL deal with the club last year but was loaned to the ECHL's Kalamazoo Wings.
• Former Sea Dogs who appear to be hitting free agency on Monday include Mike Hoffman (San Jose) and Bokondji Imama (Ottawa).
• Postmedia caught up with former Sea Dogs defenseman Jeremie Poirier to discuss his younger brother, Justin, who was picked in the fifth round of the NHL Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes.
• The Charlottetown Islanders website has a story on former Sea Dogs forward Oliver Cooper and what he's up to these days. Cooper will be playing with an ICEHL club in Austria next season.
• Former Sea Dogs on ECHL season ending rosters: Nicolas Blachman (Iowa), Kelly Bent (Orlando) and Nicolas Guay (Trois-Rivieres).

Mateiko drafted by Capitals

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Eriks Mateiko is now a member of the Washington Capitals organization.

The Saint John Sea Dogs forward was selected in the third round, 90th overall by the Capitals on Saturday at the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas. Mateiko becomes the first Sea Dog to be drafted into the NHL since Cam MacDonald in 2021.

Mateiko is just the second Sea Dog to ever be drafted by the Capitals. Stanislav Galiev was taken by the team in the third round of the 2010 NHL Draft.

With the 90th pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, the Washington Capitals are proud to select Eriks Mateiko! #CapsDraft | @Verizon pic.twitter.com/sEvK7ItofZ

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) June 29, 2024

The 18-year-old has spent the past two seasons in Saint John – but his future is a bit cloudy. The team hasn't made it a secret that they are shopping the big forward around and there is likely no shortage of teams interested in his services.

Mateiko will be back in the QMJHL this season – unless he surprises everyone and makes the Capitals out of training camp. He is not eligible to play in the AHL or ECHL yet.

Mateiko was the lone Sea Dog to be drafted and one of just 15 players from the QMJHL to be selected, which is up from 12 last year. It was the second straight year that no player from the league was picked in the first round.

Riverview's Spencer Gill was the first QMJHL player picked, going 59th overall to the Philadelphia Flyers. The only other Atlantic Canadian selected was Gabe Smith of St. Andrews, who went in the fourth round to the Utah No Names.

Baie-Comeau's Justin Poirier, the younger brother of former Sea Dogs defenseman Jeremie Poirier, landed with the Carolina Hurricanes in the fifth round.

No QMJHL players picked in first round

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For a second straight year, no players from the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League were selected in the opening round of the NHL Draft.

It's not a great draft year overall for the QMJHL, so the lack of selections on Friday night didn't come as a big surprise. Chicoutimi Sagueneens forward Maxim Masse was projected as a late first round pick by some, but that was not a consensus. 

Masse and a number of other QMJHL players will definitely be picked in the remaining six rounds, which will be held on Saturday.

Last year, 12 players from the QMJHL were picked in the NHL Draft. Ethan Gauthier was the top player selected, going 37th overall to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

A few news and notes from Friday night's action...

• As expected, Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini was selected first overall by the San Jose Sharks. Celebrini said shortly after the selection that he is still undecided if he'll join the Sharks next season or return to Boston University.
• NCAA players went first and second overall in this year's draft. After Celebrini, Michigan State defenseman Artyom Levshunov was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks.
• Beckett Sennecke of the Oshawa Generals went third overall to the Anaheim Ducks. Sennecke was one of six CHL players selected in the top 10.
• Sacha Boisvert, a Trois-Rivieres native who has spent the past two seasons with the USHL's Muskegon Lumberjacks and is committed to the University of North Dakota, was picked 18th overall by the Blackhawks. Boisvert was taken in both the 2022 (12th overall to Chicoutimi) and 2023 (88th overall to Shawinigan) QMJHL Entry Drafts.
• Two players from the Lumberjacks were picked in the first round – the team Tynan Lawrence is committed to for next season.
• Cole Eiserman, a forward from the USNTDP and a Boston University commit, went 20th overall to the New York Islanders. Eiserman's CHL rights are held by the Moncton Wildcats.
• There were two players from Norway selected in the first round.
• League breakdown:

  Most 1st-round selections in the 2024 NHL Draft by league
  
  OHL: 9
  USHL: 6
  WHL: 5

  — Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) June 29, 2024

Rounds two through seven take place on Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. Atlantic. Saint John Sea Dogs forward Eriks Mateiko will be taken at some point.

NHL Draft begins Friday

The big weekend is here for Eriks Mateiko.

The Saint John Sea Dogs forward will find out within the next 24 hours where he'll be taken in this year's NHL Draft, which begins Friday night in Las Vegas.

Elite Prospects has combined the majority of the rankings from draft experts and Mateiko's consolidated ranking is 93rd overall. That would place the Latvian forward as a late third-round pick.

Via Elite Prospects, here's where Mateiko is ranked by different publications:

• Ranked #94 by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM 
• Ranked #82 by THN/KENNEDY 
• Ranked #59 by MCKEEN'S HOCKEY 
• Ranked #74 by FLOHOCKEY/CHRIS PETERS 
• Ranked #110 by FCHOCKEY 
• Ranked #75 by DAILY FACEOFF 
• Ranked #33 by NHL CENTRAL SCOUTING (NA Skaters) 
• Ranked #102 by DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY 
• Ranked #67 by SPORTSNET/BUKALA 
• Ranked #133 by RECRUIT SCOUTING
• Scott Wheeler of The Athletic has Mateiko ranked 71st
• TSN's Bob McKenzie had Mateiko listed as an honourable mention his top-90

Sportsnet's Jason Bukala listed Mateiko in a recent article on his favourite players outside the first round.

"His draft ranking ranges from the early stages of the third round all the way to the fifth," writes Bukala. "It wouldn’t surprise me to see him come off the board in the third round, potentially to a team that owns multiple mid-round selections."

The 18-year-old posted 23 goals and 20 assists in 49 games with Saint John last year, his second season in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

Draft ready ✅#SJSeaDogs President Trevor Georgie, GM Anthony Stella, and Head Coach Travis Crickard met up with Moose and his family in Vegas!#GoDogsGo | #NHLDraft pic.twitter.com/HoPPrTWvmt

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) June 28, 2024

Mateiko will likely be the only Sea Dogs player selected in this year's draft. He'll become the first Saint John player taken in the NHL Draft since Cam MacDonald in 2021.

Again this year, it's not expected to be a great draft for the QMJHL, with potentially just one player (Chicoutimi's Maxim Masse) being taken in the first round – and even that isn't a lock.

The first round takes place Friday night and the remaining rounds will be held on Saturday.

CHL announces new national event

The Canadian Hockey League unveiled its new national event on Wednesday, which will feature a rare partnership between the CHL and USA Hockey.

From the CHL news release:

Building off of one of hockey’s greatest rivalries between Canada and the United States, the CHL USA Prospects Challenge will see the top first-year NHL Draft-eligible prospects from the CHL’s three-member leagues – Western Hockey League (WHL), Ontario Hockey League (OHL), and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) – face off against those from USA Hockey’s NTDP in a two-game series.

 

During the series, players from both the CHL and NTDP competing in this event will play before hundreds of NHL scouts and thousands of fans in an effort to improve their draft stock ahead of the upcoming NHL Draft. Players for the CHL team will be provided by NHL Central Scouting as selected by the NHL’s 32 clubs, and much like other national events in the CHL, the hosting duties of the CHL USA Prospects Challenge will rotate between the CHL’s three-member league markets each year. The first edition of this new event is set to take place in November 2024 with specific details on the date, location, and event format to come at a later date.

The event essentially replaces both the Canada Russia Series and the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game. The game should be much more intense than the previous Top Prospects Game format. It will also give Canadian fans a great chance to see the USNTDP team in person, a team that is often loaded with top talent for the NHL Draft.

The Canada Russia Series hasn't been played since the pandemic and is unlikely to resume in the near future. While Canada/Russia is a classic (and still good) rivalry, there is a new generation of fans that would likely consider the United States to be Canada's biggest hockey rival now.

One noteworthy item from the release is that the CHL specifically calls out that the event "will rotate between the CHL’s three-member league markets each year." That was never something officially official with the Top Prospects Game.

Two years since the DuFOUR game

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

The Edmonton Oilers' 3-0 series comeback in the Stanley Cup Final came up short against the Florida Panthers on Monday night.

One comeback that didn't come up short? The Saint John Sea Dogs erasing a three-goal first period deficit at the 2022 Memorial Cup and defeating the rival Shawinigan Cataractes 5-3, earning them a bye to the tournament final. 

Tuesday marks the two-year anniversary of the game, one of the greatest in team history. The comeback was highlighted by William Dufour netting four goals, one of the top single game performances in Memorial Cup history.

Dufour netted a natural hat trick in the second period to tie the game. The now 22-year-old forward, who was the Memorial Cup MVP and leading scorer, had a remarkable 15 shots in the game.