We’ve entered around the midpoint of the 2025 QMJHL Draft season with a large amount of the major tournaments having come and gone with the playoffs looming across both the Québec and Atlantic U18 leagues. For this updated we’ve added 15 names to what is shaping up to be a very talented forward group at the top of the class, along with a couple of defenders who I think can find their way into top-5 consideration at season’s end. As always, our rankings can be accessed via the 2025 QMJHL Draft Rankings page.

 

Some Notes on the Top-10

I tried to tinker with the upper echelon of my rankings for this particular update but ended up leaving the first nine players untouched. My reason for this is that I don’t believe any of them played themselves out of their particular spot, although I did come particularly close to making one major shift; which would’ve been moving down Alexis Joseph to #3 and bumping up Stanstead defenseman Malik L’Italien to the #2 spot. The reasons why I didn’t pull the trigger are two-fold:

1) I’m not entirely certain L’Italien is playing at the highest quality of competition he could be relative to his talent level, which is no knock on the CSSHLE U18 league, but it just makes him more difficult to project to the next level. I was disappointed he didn’t attend the CCM Challenge in December, which would’ve allowed myself and scouts alike to get an idea of where he stands development wise amongst his peers.
2) I think the gap is close enough where if I’m heading up to the draft table, I would be more comfortable drafting the potential #1 centerman than a #1 defender. That may just be a personal preference, but I believe the it’s further aided by Joseph’s recent play where he has amassed 14 points in his last 5 games.

Séminaire St-François forward Zack Arsenault (4th) has been out since December with a wrist injury and the timeline for his return is a bit fuzzy. It’s a shame because he was clicking at around a goal per game as making a serious case as the #1 prospect for this draft with how he was playing. At the end of the day, I still believe it to be a four-man race for the top spot between the three aforementioned prospects and our current #1 James Scantlebury. Having said that, it’s been hard to ignore what Saint-Eustache forward Nolann Héroux (5th) has been doing since the start of the year. Since coming back from break he’s piled up 17 points in 10 games and now sits in the top-15 of scoring for the Québec M18 circuit. The size may detract from his overall body of work come draft day, but the skill level is becoming too hard to ignore and, in my opinion, he’s slowly inching his way into that upper echelon of 2025 QMJHL Draft prospects.

The one new addition to our top-10 is Newfoundland native and Vaughan Kings defender Quinn Norman who comes in at 10th on our board. For me, the overall toolkit Quinn possesses is impossible ignore and I think leaves him with more developmental runway than most of the other prospects in this draft class. He was recently named to the GTHL Top Prospects game as well, a testament to how good he’s been for Vaughan this season.

 

High Risers

I wanted to highlight some of the prospects who made some serious jumps in this rendition of our draft rankings thanks to their strong play in January and overall progression throughout the year. Nova Scotia native Phenwick MacLean, who found his way into first round consideration at 20th on our board, continues to fill the net at U18 level in his home province. Every viewing leaves me more and more convinced that he’s one of the best finishers in the entire draft class, combining high-end shooting mechanics with accurate shot placement that makes him a threat to score from distance. He’s now up to 45 points in 34 games for the Steele Subaru, good enough for second in team scoring and top-5 among all rookie scorers.

Antoine Provencher is a player I haven’t been quite as high on as other outlets throughout the season, with some seeing his a top-10 pick while I had him pegged somewhere in the third round. However, I have turned a bit of a corner on him thanks to his play this past month which lead to him putting up 13 points in 9 games which lead to us bumping him up to #24 on our board. He’ll play more of a complimentary role at the next level, but the size and skill combination will be tough for teams to pass on come draft day and I could definitely see him continue to rise up our board as the season continues.

Another player who made a steep climb up our board is Northern Moose forward Félix Haché, who is slowly starting to convince me that he is the most skilled draft-eligible forward playing in the Maritimes this season. He finds himself at 28th this time around, jumping up from 44th in our previous edition thanks to some viewings I had of him playing for his club team rather than his play at the QMJHL Cup, which I thought was good, nonetheless. The production may not jump out at you with 29 points in 33 games, but he contains all the tools in his arsenal to be a deadly transitional attacker at the next level, combining quick hands and strong skating mechanics that work in unison. I don’t think there’s any question he has first-round ability, it’ll just depend on how far he develops the effectiveness of his game until the end of the season.

 

High Debuts

Weeks Majors forward Tanner Hayden is highest debut on our board this time around, coming in at 46th amidst a very strong rookie season. Hayden currently leads all rookies in scoring in the Nova Scotia U18 league with 55 points in 35 games and continuously driving offense for his team. He’s still a bit physically underdeveloped at this stage, which kept me from ranking as a top-2 round guy, but if he continues to progress as he has been, I could definitely see him being a part of that discussion at the end of the year.

Bishop Kearney forward Gianfranco D’Agata doesn’t find himself too far behind Hayden in our latest update, coming in at 48th after some impressive showings against some of the top Ontario competition. Both Jordan Malette and Kamron Robson, our respective Ontario and American scouts, gave me positive reviews of D’Agata’s play at recent events and after watching him myself I concurred with their assessments. As with most players playing south of the border I would like to see him play against some of the local competition to get a gauge and how he fares against the rest of the draft class, which we might see in April at the QMJHL Cup, but I am happy with where we’ve slotted him for the time being.

Saint-Eustache forward Loik Gariepy was a player who I wanted to include in our previous update, but with him recently coming back from injury I decided to give him another month to fully get up to speed so I could properly assess his play. His 9 points in 18 games is nothing to write home about, but every time I watch Saint-Eustache, I find myself coming away impressed with Gariepy’s play. His puck skills may be among some of the best in the entire class with his ability to keep the puck on a string and consistently slice through defenders and gain access to dangerous areas of the ice. The rate at which he attempts these skilled moves may need to be regulated, but there’s no denying the skill level he possesses and the potential to climb further up our board.

If you have any questions on the QMJHL Draft, Hockey in general or anything of the like you can always reach me on twitter @ARobScouting