As draft day inches closer and closer we’ve finally hit triple digits on our 2025 QMJHL Draft ranking, updating to a list of 100 players after an eventful month of March. I’ve been covering USA Nationals for the site throughout the last week, which is why this had been delayed a bit, but I still feel comfortable with this list heading into the QMJHL Cup at the end of the month. The Telus Cup is another event that’ll have some draft-eligible in attendance, so stay tuned for plenty of more content to come out in the coming weeks as we continue to grind away.
As always, our rankings can be accessed via the 2025 QMJHL Draft Rankings page.
Shakeup in the Top-10
I feel like I’ve spoken ad nauseam about who I perceive as the upper echelon players in this draft, namely James Scantlebury, Alexis Joseph, Malik L’Italien and Zack Arsenault who make up our top-4 respectively. There isn’t much separating these players, as they all bring something a little different to the table in terms of how they impact a game, but I have reached a point where my difference of my opinion between them is minimal and that I could hear a case for any of them being the 1st overall selection. Of course, I would never decide my top prospect based on one event, but their performances at the QMJHL Cup could be very telling if they all decide to attend.
Shattuck St. Mary’s defenseman Thomas Charbonneau made the biggest jump within this range, going from 9th to 5th after a few strong viewings I had of him leading up to USA Nationals. He’s a tall and rangy defender with an overflowing toolkit and a bunch of projectable traits who I believe can make an impact within a QMJHL lineup as early as next season. The one question I have about him is the offensive ceiling, although he does lead all blueliners on his team in scoring with 47 points in 57 games, he’s not an overly creative rearguard which does but him behind a defenseman like L’Italien for me at the moment.
A newer face in our top-10 is a player who’s getting harder and harder to ignore in Laval-Montréal forward Zakary Horvat-Édouard, who comes in at 8th on our list. He’s a supremely intelligent and tactical centerman who was the top rookie scorer in the Québec M18 circuit with 57 points in 41 games. His elite processing and scoring prowess carried over to playoff hockey as well, where he led his team to Jimmy-Ferrari Cup finals with 23 points in 16 games. The size and overall pace of his game are still cause for concern, but after everything he’s accomplished this year, I’m not going to be the one to doubt him at the next level.
Magog Cantonniers forward Deryk Lemaire (10th) is the other player who cracked our top-10 this time around. At 6'1 and 192 lbs he's already built for the next level and is consistently imposing his will on opposing defenders throughout every viewing. He finished with 36 points in 40 games on a Cantonniers squad that likes to crowd its rosters with veterans for the most part; a testament to the skill and maturity of Lemaire's game at this stage.
High Risers
Antoine Provencher is a player who has slowly grown on me as the year has gone along, steadily climbing to 11th in this edition of our rankings. My initial worry about him was that he wasn’t necessarily a playdriver and wasn’t able to generate a ton of space for himself on-puck, although the latter worry has subsided a tad in recent viewings. He was one of the more productive rookie scorers in the M18 circuit this year with 48 points in 40 games, flashing a skilled power forward game that I think could make him a top-6 complimentary winger at the next level.
Phenwick MacLean was the top Nova Scotia prospect coming into this year’s class, but I think he needed some time to fully acclimate himself to the U18 league and did he ever do so in the latter half of the season. Jumping from 20th to 16th on our list, MacLean has officially become a first-round player in our eyes, thanks in large part to his high-end puck skills and finishing ability. He was a different animal in the playoffs, averaging over a goal per game and nearly clicking at 2 points a game with 15 in 8 games. With the type of progression, he’s had this year, I fully expect him to make a splash at the QMJHL Cup and he’s a player who I wouldn’t be surprised if he garners top-10 consideration towards the end of the year.
The highest riser in this edition of our rankings was by far Saint-Eustache forward Loik Gariépy, who climbed from 54th all the way to 21st. He suffered an injury close to the beginning of the season which hindered his development a bit and didn’t allow him to hit his full stride until the end of the season. In the playoffs he was put on a line with top prospects Nolann Héroux (7th) and Louis-Étienne Halley (12th) and at times I thought he was the one really driving the bus for them. He finished with 9 points in 10 playoff games, which isn’t necessarily eye-popping, but with Gariépy I’m way more intrigued about the upside than the current output.
High Debuts
I’ll be the first to admit I was sleeping pretty hard on Collège Notre Dame defenseman William Dubé, who makes his first appearance on our list at 28th. I did a couple of playoff games of his and I can honestly say I was blown away by what I saw at both ends of the ice. He was extremely active in the offensive zone, an efficient puck-mover and great rush defender in my viewings and the only reason I didn’t put him higher was because I wanted to see more of him before I made such a lofty placement. With 8 points in 34 games, the point totals will definitely not jump out at you, but this is a player who’s impact on the game outweighs the damage he’ll do one the scoresheet, and I’m quite interested to see how he fares among the best of this draft class at the end of the month.
Another Collège Notre Dame player who is making his first appearance on our rankings is 6’3 and 170 lbs forward Alexy Lafleur, who comes in at 47th. I’ll admit, when I saw him early on in the year, he was a bit raw and hadn’t figured out how to make an impact at the M18 level. Towards the end of the year, you could see the size and skill package start to shine through more and more often in viewings, making me much more optimistic about his potential as a junior hockey player. The point totals are nothing to write home about, but I think he’s a player you let marinate at the M18 level next year, let him grow into his body a bit more while still honing his intriguing skillset, I think he could end up being a breakout candidate for next season and ultimately become a useful junior hockey player.
Clément Landry was a player who I soured on over the summer and early this season when I didn’t like what I saw during his team with Hockey Québec and Laval-Montréal. His processing and puck-moving ability lagged behind almost all of the 2009-born defenders out of Québec at the time, and although the size and skating were big pluses, I just didn’t see it. Once I find out that his move to defense had been quite recent it all started to make sense, and I began to watch Landry with a bit more grace as the season progressed; and I’ll say I’ve been very impressed with how far he’s come. Landry comes in at 56th on our list, but I suspect he’ll go higher than that come draft day due to his size and skating combination and the way he has learned to use it effectively throughout the year. I thought he had a really strong playoff for Laval-Montréal, and he’s definitely a player I’ll be going back to watch more tape on as we get closer to draft day.
If you have any questions about the 2025 QMJHL Draft or just hockey in general, you can shoot me a DM on twitter @ARobScouting