Draft 2025: four QMJHL players in Scott Wheeler’s top-25

Let’s talk about the draft.

In recent years, not many Québécois have been drafted among the top prospects in the various editions of the NHL Entry Draft. It’s often the talk of the town.

And it gets people talking even more when the Canadiens miss out on one of them.

For a while now, we’ve been hearing that even if the 2024 edition was a bit thin on the ground for the QMJHL and Quebec’s prospects, it may just have been circumstantial, and things could be different in 2025.

That’s why I was eager to check out Scott Wheeler’s rankings on the subject.

The Athletic’s prospect expert has ranked his first-round prospects 10.5 months ahead of schedule. And we note that among the top 32, there are four QMJHL players.

In fact, all four guys are in the top-25.

Caleb Desnoyers: 13th
Émile Guité: 16th
Alex Huang: 18th
Justin Carbonneau: 25th

My preseason #2025NHLDraft ranking at @TheAthleticNHL:
– Top 32
– 38 honorable mentions
– Third-party player
– Customizable user interface

More: https://t.co/l2yM0KyECF pic.twitter.com/Oimb8JwFyT

– Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) August 12, 2024

Desnoyers is a center who plays in Moncton. Guité is a left winger who plays in Chicoutimi, the same place as right-handed defenseman Huang. And Carbonneau is a right-winger who plays in Blainville.

Also noteworthy among Wheeler’s 38 first-round honorable mentions are Owen Conrad (Islanders left-handed defenseman), Liam Kilfoil (Mooseheads center) and Bill Zonnon (Huskies left-winger).

What this means is that, if the guys play their cards right, they’re among the prospects who could hear their names called in the top 32 of the 2025 auction.

But don’t expect to see all seven guys in the first round: some of them will at least slip to the second round. But even so, it will be better than 2024, when the only Québécois drafted (Sacha Boisvert) played in the United States.

Overtime

– Coming out Thursday.

Here’s the front page of our 2024-2025 Poolers’ Guide, which will officially hit newsstands across Quebec on Thursday, August 15! Thank you for your loyalty over the past 19 years.

-” For unprecedented access to your favorite players, read “Hockey Le Magazine”! #GoHabsGo pic.twitter.com/8qB7i7dlSt

– Hockey Le Magazine (@HockeyMagazine) August 11, 2024

– Attention Blackhawks fans.

It’s time for our annual Blackhawks fan survey. Make your voice heard on Kyle Davidson, Connor Bedard, Artyom Levshunov, the captaincy, the broadcast and much, much more here:https://t.co/QJevQfmivj

– Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) August 12, 2024

– Really?