Notebook: Season Starts Soon

The 2015-16 QMJHL regular season begins in just over a week for the Sea Dogs.

Next Saturday, Sept 12 at 7 p.m., the Sea Dogs will host the Halifax Mooseheads at Harbour Station to kick off a new campaign. They’ll also be in action at the Station on Sunday, Sept. 13 when they host the Moncton Wildcats at 3 p.m.

The Mooseheads went winless in the pre-season, finishing 0-4-0-1 and had one game fogged out. They were outscored 26-12.

THE SEASON AHEAD

Stephane Leroux of RDS has an article where he takes a look at some of the major storylines heading into the 2015-16 season.

The major storylines that involve the Sea Dogs are: the arrival of the league’s first exceptional player in Joe Veleno, Danny Flynn returning to the Q and Luke Green being a highly regarded prospect for the 2016 NHL Draft.

MARSH IN THE NEWS

MLive.com has a solid article on Sea Dogs forward and Detroit Red Wings prospect Adam Marsh.

It sounds like the Red Wings think highly of their 2015 seventh-round pick.

"This was a guy we thought would be gone," said Tyler Wright, Detroit's director of amateur scouting. "We actually talked about him in the sixth round but we went with the big defenseman (Patrick Holway) with the right shot.

"(Marsh) was there in the seventh, so it was a no-brainer for us."

Marsh had 24 goals and 20 assists in 60 games as a QMJHL rookie last season.

SENS PROSPECTS RANKINGS

Hockey’s Future has named Sea Dogs defenseman Thomas Chabot the top prospect in the Ottawa Senators organization.

“If Erik Karlsson signs elsewhere when his contract expires in 2019, the Senators now have a backup plan,” writes Kristopher Bras. “More likely though, Karlsson and Chabot will together give the team one of the most dangerous bluelines in the NHL.”

Chabot is ranked ahead of some notable names – Colin White, Nick Paul and Matt Puempel.

ZBORIL FEAUTURE

The Boston Bruins blog Stanley Cup of Chowder has named Jakub Zboril the 15^th best under-25 player in the B’s organization. They have a nice quick feature on him here.

HUBERDEAU, PANTHERS CLOSE

It sounds like things are going well for Jonathan Huberdeau and the Florida Panthers. Via theScore, the two sides are reportedly close to finalizing a new contract.

“The Panthers have two weeks to finalize a contract before training camp begins, and the club ‘seems confident they have plenty of time to get (a) deal done,’” writes Josh Gold-Smith.

The former Sea Dogs captain had 15 goals and 39 points in 79 games with the Panthers last season.

McGRAW AN ACE

Defenseman Isaac McGraw, who attended Sea Dogs training camp as a free agent but was among the first wave of cuts, has had his MHL rights traded to the St. Stephen County Aces.

In return, the Aces sent a 2016 sixth-round pick to the South Shore Lumberjacks.

McGraw, a Saint John native, recorded one goal and five assists in 26 games with the Vito’s last season.

BOUCTOUCHE

Some video from Saint John’s 4-0 loss to the Moncton Wildcats in Bouctouche a week ago.

ALUMNI WEEKEND VIDEO

Here’s another video from alumni weekend, this time featuring Simon Despres.



Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation