Sea Dogs in 'final details' of head coach announcement

HALIFAX - The Saint John Sea Dogs hope to have an official update on the team's head coach situation within the next few weeks.

"We're in the final details on it," said Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie following the conclusion of this weekend's QMJHL Entry Draft. "I would say we're working out the final details. I hope in the next two weeks, by the end of the month, certainly, that we'll work it out. We're in the final details and just trying to work through it."

A first reported by Mikaël Lalancette, Jim Hulton is expected to be Saint John's next head coach. Hulton recently left his position as head coach and general manager of the Charlottetown Islanders where he won two QMJHL coach of the year awards.

It's believed Hulton's contract situation with the Islanders has been holding up the process. He was not at this weekend's draft.

As first reported by Eastlink on Friday (and now being reported by Lalancette as well), Guy Girouard, Charlottetown's assistant general manager and associate coach, is expected to join Hulton behind the Saint John bench. He's been with Hulton and the Islanders since the 2016-17 season.

Both Hulton and Girouard remain listed on Charlottetown's website. Scott Harris, the Islanders' executive senior advisor, led the team through this weekend's draft. He was called the team's "acting general manager."

Hulton will take over for Brian Casey, who coached Saint John for the final few weeks of the season following the departure of Travis Crickard.

Saint John's head coaching position had plenty of interest, according to Georgie.

"I'll say we had, like, 75 people. We had some really impressive candidates as we brought it down. We probably could have made five really good choices but we're in the final part."

Sea Dogs feeling good about draft weekend performance

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

HALIFAX - An eventful weekend was a good weekend for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs made a lot of noise during the first-round of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Entry Draft, trading down to eventually pull off one of the biggest deals of the night, acquiring defenseman Thomas Charbonneau and forward Ryan Howard from the Quebec Remparts.

With the 14th overall pick, Saint John selected Pictou's Lawrence Williams, one of the top-ranked defensemen in this year's draft class.

The Sea Dogs leave Halifax with a bolstered lineup via trades, 10 players added via the draft and a number of additional picks for future drafts.

"I thought we accomplished mostly what we were looking to do," said Sea Dogs president and general manager Trevor Georgie. "We had a plan coming into the weekend. We wanted to grow our assets, make sure that we were really flexible moving forward in terms of picks and players. We obviously had a positional need on left shot defense and being able to add
Tom (Charbonneau) and Lawrence (Williams), that can make a difference for our group. Howard was a guy we always really liked. Plays hard, plays physical. I think his best years are ahead. So we were able to add him, which fits into our age group. I feel really good about it."

While much of the buzz on Friday centered around Charbonneau and Howard, the Sea Dogs were certainly happy with the selection of Williams. Ranked ninth overall by QMJHL Central Scouting and second amongst defensemen, Williams recorded over a point-per-game (10 goals and 28 assists in 32 regular season games) with the under-18 Weeks Major Midgets last season.

"A two-way defenseman, very reliable, can play offence, can play defensively, can be a shutdown, can play physical. He's kind of like a jack of all trades, he can do a lot of different things," said Sea Dogs director of scouting Nick Lepore. "I think he's the type of player that stabilizes a d-core and that a coach can put on the ice and really have no worries about whether it's offensively or defensively. And just also a great human being, a great kid. We interviewed him twice and we really, really like his character."

More notes from draft weekend

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

HALIFAX - Here are some assorted notes (not Saint John Sea Dogs related) from this weekend's Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Entry Draft.

First, here's a look inside Scotiabank Centre. The vibes were good and Halifax, unsurprisingly, was a great host. It's almost too bad the weather was so nice as it likely kept some fans outside rather than coming inside to the free event.

The draft continues to be a very fun and entertaining event. Hopefully the league continues to ignore the NHL's lead and keeps things going the way they are for years to come.

A look at Saint John's 2026 draft class

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

HALIFAX - With the 2026 Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Entry Draft now completed, let's take a closer look at the Saint John Sea Dogs' class.

Saint John selected 10 players this weekend at Scotiabank Centre: five forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.

Here's a closer look at each.

Round 1, 14th overall - D Lawrence Williams (6'1"m 165 lbs)

Lawrence spent last season with the Weeks Major Midgets where he recorded 10 goals and 28 assists in 32 games. He added another goal and six helpers in 14 playoff games.

The Pictou native was ranked ninth overall by QMJHL Central Scouting – the highest ranked Atlantic Canadian player. Elite Prospects had him ranked 20th and called him "a future QMJHL shutdown defenseman" – which is something Saint John could certainly use.

With the 14th overall selection (finally) @SJSeaDogs select defenseman Lawrence Williams from @WeeksU18

The reigning U18 Nova Scotia rookie defender of the year had 38 points in 32 games. pic.twitter.com/OerZpySnTW

— Puck Preps Eastern Canada (@PuckPrepsEastCa) June 6, 2026

"This kid is a natural transitional 'new era' D, with tons of offensive skill coupled with nasty gritty side to his game," writes Craig Eagles. "His skating is exceptional and only going to get better with maturity, he processes the game so well, always willing to jump into the play, but perhaps his strongest attribute is the ability to pick and chose when to jump in and he also has the innate ability to know when to start driving offensive transition, which a lot of young D don’t understand or ever really figure that out."

Sea Dogs select 10 players at 2026 QMJHL Entry Draft

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

HALIFAX - The Saint John Sea Dogs selected 10 players in this year's Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Entry Draft.

The Sea Dogs selected five forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders. Here's a quick look at the picks.

More info to come...

	Player	P	H	W	Team
RD 1, 14	Lawrence Williams	D	6'1	165	Weeks (NS)
RD 2, 31	Nathan Riendeau	RW	5'7	155	Collège Charles-Lemoyne (QC)
RD 6, 91	Carter Odell	C	5'9	140	Halifax Macs (NS)
RD 7, 113	Will Torres	G	5'10	148	Rivers School (MA)
RD 7, 116	Brodie Anderson	D	5'7	133	Cushing Academy (MA)
RD 9, 149	Philippe Harvey	G	6'0	137	Espoirs Saguenay (QC)
RD 9, 150	Brock Lyons	RW	6'1	180	Saint John (NB)
RD 11, 185	Justin Hamel	LD	5'10	165	St-Hyacinthe (QC)
RD 12, 203	Zack Labelle	C	6'0	132	l'Outaouais U17 (QC)
RD 12, 210	Thomas Bond	C	5'9	150	Jonquière (QC)

Notebook: Sea Dogs go D with top pick

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

HALIFAX - For the first time since 2022, the Saint John Sea Dogs picked a defenseman with their first selection in the QMJHL Entry Draft.

The Sea Dogs picked d-man Lawrence Williams from the Weeks Majors Midgets with the 14th overall pick on Friday night. It's the 11th time in team history that Saint John has picked a defenseman with their first selection.

2005 - Alex Grant (1st round)

2006 - Yann Sauve (1st round)

2007 - Simon Despres (1st round)

2008 - Kevin Gagne (2nd round)

2009 - Pierre Durepos (1st round)

2014 - Luke Green (1st round)

2017 - Brendan Sibley (3rd round)

2018 - William Villeneuve (1st round)

2021 - Natan Grenier (1st round)

2022 - Jeremie Richard (3rd round)

Friday marked the first time the Sea Dogs had ever picked at No. 14.

MORE 2028 TALK

More on the 2028 Memorial Cup: it looks like it will indeed be four teams bidding to host the tournament.

Je peux confirmer que quatre équipes déposeront ou ont déjà déposé leur candidature pour obtenir le tournoi de la Coupe Memorial 2028.

Québec
Gatineau
Moncton
Terre-Neuve

Le choix final aura lieu cet automne. #LHJMQ

— Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) June 4, 2026

The Wildcats, Remparts and Regiment have all publicly announced that they will be bidding.

Gatineau, Quebec City and Moncton have all hosted previously but not in their current buildings. Newfoundland has never hosted but certainly has an arena capable of doing so.

Teams must officially submit their applications by July.

The 2027 Memorial Cup will be held in Guelph.