Edinburgh Capitals are delighted to announce the signing of Canadian defenceman Sean Stewart for the 2025-2026 SNL campaign.
The 23-year-old import blueliner arrives here in Edinburgh having played the last two years in the Canadian University League (USports) with St. Francis Xavier X-Men. Sean is a 6ft 1inch stay at home D man who takes pride in keeping forwards at bay. He plays with grit, tenacity and is a feisty competitor.
Being born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada, Sean grew up playing junior hockey in his home province, most notably with the Nova Junior X-Men of the Nova Scotia Major Bantam Hockey League back in 2014. He would play two years with the X-Men before signing with the Cape Breton West Islanders of the Nova Scotia Major Midget Hockey League. Whilst with the Islanders, Sean won the League Championship (2016-17) before going on to win the end-of-season National Midget AAA Telus Cup. The following year, he would also be selected on the First All Star Team in the end-of-season NSMMHL awards. In all games for the Islanders, he iced 99 times, scoring 12 goals and 43 assists for 55 points with 118 penalty minutes. Interestingly, the NSMMHL is the same league Sidney Crosby had previously played in back in 2001-02, scoring a staggering 217 points in 81 games.
After Sean’s two-year stay in Cape Breton, he progressed into one of the top junior leagues in the country. In 2017-18, he briefly played 2 games with Moncton Wildcats, having been drafted into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) as the 194th pick in the 11th round. This led to him signing with the Wildcats for the next two and a half seasons. In a total of 132 games, he scored 4 goals and 17 assists with 107 penalty minutes. He was traded to the Charlottetown Islanders in mid-2020-21, where he had 1 assist in 22 regular season games and 1 assist in 8 playoff games.
Sean then featured in a few more games in the QJMHL with Drummondville and Rouyn-Noranda. The Q was full of top talent and many future NHLers, none more so than Alexis Lafreniere (Rimouski Oceanic), currently of the New York Rangers, who led the league scoring while Sean played in Moncton. Next stop was signing with the Pictou Crushers of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League during 2021-22. He served as team captain, showing his leadership skills, and picked up 5 goals and 7 assists in 27 games. Sean would also be voted onto the Eastlink South All-Star team.
In 2022, he was on the move again and decided to attend St. Francis Xavier University in his hometown of Antigonish to study a degree in Bachelor of Science in Human Kinetics. He failed to hit the ice in his first season due to an operation, but he would then go on to play 59 games over the next 2 seasons, picking up 4 assists. He bowed out in April when he won the Unsung Hero Award for the X-Men.
Sean arrives in Scotland, where he will attend Queen Margaret University to study Physiotherapy. Due to this, he will be icing with the Capitals this coming season. This is a huge signing for the club, and his experience of playing in one of the top junior leagues in Canada, icing with and against top talent, will make him a fantastic addition to our roster.
We spoke with Sean recently and he had this to say on signing with the club, “I’m coming to Edinburgh to study physiotherapy, and once I started exploring the idea, everyone I spoke to had nothing but great things to say about the city and its people.
“I knew I didn’t want to stop playing hockey, so when I found out there was a team in the city, I was excited to get involved. I got in touch with Steven and Scott, who have both been incredibly supportive in helping me get everything sorted and settled.
“I’ve heard a lot about how passionate the Caps fans are in Edinburgh, and I can’t wait to get on the ice and play in front of them!”
Assistant Coach Chad Smith knows, along with Head Coach Steven Lynch, that Sean is a very impressive import signing. Chad said, “From the reports Lynchy and me have had on Sean, we are adding a very strong stay at home defenceman. He plays a solid all round game and has that little bit of grit and determination that we are looking for.
“Adding more D options will be important for us this season, and having played at a high level of junior hockey over in Canada, he will bring that experience to our lineup.
“In conversations with him, we know he is very keen to come in and make an impact on the team and in the league this coming season.”
The club would like to welcome Sean to Scotland from Canada, and we cannot wait to see him hit the ice here in the Lion’s Den.
Stay tuned for more signing news!
LET’S GO CAPITALS!
