The 2026 QMJHL Draft season kicked off earlier this month (if you don’t count the couple of camps we covered over the summer), with U18 teams from across Eastern Canada all getting their seasons away along with plenty of teams south of the border. In order to get our readers acclimated, I’ve decided to mark the start of the year with this introductory article that will touch on what events to look forward to throughout the year, going over the rationale behind our preliminary top-20 rankings and also touching on a few players to keep tabs on from each Eastern Canadian province.
My Philosophy and Process
This is my third year covering the QMJHL Draft for Puck Preps and I like to think each year I get a bit more knowledgeable and comfortable in my role as an evaluator. For the beginning of this season I felt comfortable compiling a list of an initial 20 players to make up my preliminary draft board, a number I had never really felt confident putting forth this early on, but with all the viewings of these players I had gotten throughout the summer and even this past month I felt it was justified.
As with any ranking, this list is meant to represent my view on the potential of these players and how effective I believe they’ll bet at the Junior Hockey level 2-3 years down the road. The amount of “Pro” potential a player has really has no effect whatsoever on how I view them, as ultimately we’re scouting for the QMJHL not the NHL; this may seem obvious to some, but from certain patterns in other rankings and draft selections alike, this isn’t always the case. Now sometimes I believe both junior and pro potential go hand in hand, using last year’s 1st overall selection Alexis Joseph as an example as someone who due to the expectation that he will dominate the QMJHL for years to come, that this will also make him a highly enticing NHL draft prospect in 2027.
As I try and get myself out of the weeds of my own explanation, what I’m essentially trying to say is that what I’m looking is consistent habits and skills that will allow players to succeed at the Junior Hockey level, while leaning less on their size and physical attributes in my analysis. This is not to say that I do away with size altogether; hockey is a physical sport that demands engagement and that shouldn’t be overlooked or understated. However, there’s a wide array of examples of smaller skilled players thriving at the junior level and playing big roles on championship teams, and my understanding is that the rarity of high-IQ, deceptive and energetic players, big or small, should be prioritized at the top of the draft over say a larger defenseman who is still rounding out his game. Even if we look at examples of successful QMJHL teams dating back to last season, the Rimouski Océanic found themselves within 2 games of a championship with their top-5 playoff scorers all being 6’0 or under. Now were they necessarily good because of their size or lack thereof? Of course not. My ultimate point is that building a successful Junior Hockey team seems to be much different than building one at the pro level. My rankings are a reflection of that.
I’m always free to answer any questions concerning anything related to hockey or even just a general conversation! You can find me on Twitter or Instagram @arobscouting
Overview of Events
I just wanted to highlight some of the events we’ll be covering throughout the year so that our new readers can get an idea of what to expect. The first major event for us is the first phase of the QMJHL Cup in October, where all four of the Atlantic provinces send their best 2010-born prospects to compete against one another in a round-robin/playoff format. This was a great litmus test for us last year and really helped us gauge the overall strength of the Atlantic draft class while also helping us identify some of the top players from each region. Sticking with the Atlantic regions for a second, two very important events that we cover extensively are the Monctonian and the East Coast IceJam, which are playing November and January, respectively. We also hope to get some game reports out from the Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and New Brunswick/PEI league this year.
For Québec, the CCM Challenge goes on mid-December and incorporates every Québec M18 club along with a handful of Maritimes and Ontario U18 teams in what is probably the largest tournament of the year. The second phase of the QMJHL Cup goes on at the same time where a couple of M17 and High School all-star teams will compete alongside the M18 club in the CCM Challenge. The home stretch of our 2026 Q Draft coverage will be the third and final leg of the QMJHL Cup in April, where four all-star teams of the best draft-eligible players will be placed in a tournament style format as a showcase for QMJHL brass and scouts. Like I said previously as well, I would also like to cover at least one of the major M17 tournaments that occur throughout the year, but this will rely on whether I have the time and if there is a stream available. We will also be producing game reports for the M18 and M17 levels throughout the year.
Preliminary 2026 QMJHL Draft Rankings
As previously mentioned, were kicking things off with an early top-20 ranking for this year’s draft, which is largely based on the players I believe have the most developmental runway to turn into high-end QMJHL players. This draft already seems much different than last year’s, as there’s no generational talent at the top of this class or any consensus #1 in my estimation. A handful of players have emerged early on and have separated themselves into a tier of their own, but this draft is as open ended as any that I’ve seen in my (short) tenure as a scout and I’m really excited to see how everything unfolds.
There’s one player who I’ve continuously circled back on and who has impressed me I. nearly every viewing I’ve had of him since the summer; and that player is Séminaire St-François forward Jacob McKinnon, who finds himself at #1 on our draft board. His size doesn’t necessarily jump off the page at 5’9 and 157 lbs, but his combination of high-end skill, tenaciousness, willingness to assert himself physically and work his way into scoring areas off-puck are all things that I think will translate to the next level. Our top-ranked defender comes right after at 2nd overall in Stanstead rearguard Eliot Faucher. He has been the most impressive defender I’ve seen from this class since I started watching them back in May, combining high-end intelligence and transitional ability which make him a standout in all three zones. At 3rd overall, we have hulking winger Zaac Charbonneau who is playing out his draft-eligible season for Mount St Charles where he has 20 points through his first 8 games. The general consensus seems to peg Charbonneau as the favorite to go first overall in June, but I’d like to see further development in his skating and on-puck route taking before I’m able to firmly place him as the best prospect in this class.
It’s looking like another impressive year out of Atlantic Canada, particularly in Nova Scotia where they have two representatives in our top-10. Max Brien finds himself at 5th on our draft boards thanks to his impressive size and skill combination, standing at 6’2 and 176 lbs while sitting at 9 points through 7 games for the Steele Subaru in the U18 Nova Scotia league. Jack Cameron (7th) is a defenseman who has had a remarkable start to his U18 career, playing with supreme poise and confidence from the backend all while putting up 11 points through his first 6 games. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sneak into our top-5 at some point this year and challenge for that top defender spot. Samuel Nowlan (15th) is our lone representative from New Brunswick, coming off an extremely impressive U15 season where he put up 107 points in 34 games for the Dieppe Flyers. He recently made the jump south of the border to play for the powerhouse 15U Little Caesars squad, where he currently has 7 points through 5 games.
The rest of our top-10 is rounded out by a slew of talented Québec-born players in Julien Bergeron (4th), Thomas Boisvert (6th), Jakob Royer (8th), Damien Leduc (9th) and Vincent Boutet (10th). Boisvert is a player who I’m very keen on in particular due to his game breaking skill and creativity, which has allowed him to dominate the 15U AAA circuit thus far with 24 points in 9 games. He has to round out other aspects of his game, especially on the defensive side of things, but he has all the makings of a high-end junior player early on. Bergeron is another player who I have been a fan of since I first saw him play over the summer, possessing the necessary size at 6’0 and 181 lbs while also flashing high-end offensive instincts and playmaking ability which allows him to impact the game in a multitude of ways. It took him a couple games to get acclimated to M18 hockey, but he’s quickly found his scoring touch and currently sits with 7 points in 8 games. Royer, Leduc and Boutet are all extremely projectable players in their own right as well, demonstrating the necessary habits and tools that makes it hard to believe they won’t find their way into a QMJHL lineup sooner than later. Royer in particular I believe has tons of room to grow from a physical and developmental standpoint and may find his way sneaking into our top-5 in short order.
To see who cracked the rest of our top-20 you can visit our 2026 QMJHL Draft Rankings page.
Other Names to Watch
To conclude, I’ve decided to list a few names from each province who didn’t crack our top-20 to keep an eye out for as the season progresses. Given the early nature of the season I’m much more comfortable with certain provinces than others, but I’d like to use this as a sort of watchlist so that I have something tangible to look back on.
Québec: Émrik Menard, Jayden Shea, Zachary Lavoie, Bryce Lazare, Nathan Frost, Aslan Tremblay, Malik Tremblay, Alexandre Deschamps, Jackson Conroy
Nova Scotia: Ewan Sim, Liam Duffy, Morgan Flemming, Quinton Land, Jayden Tillman
New Brunswick: Nathan Leblanc, Matteo Roy, Jaxon Fraser, Miguel Duplessis, Liam Bowles
Newfoundland: Damian Norris, Luke McGuire, Jaden Smith
PEI: Owen Weatherbie, Riley Cormier, Sean Dwyer