Saguenéens grab top spot after multiple blockbuster trades, while Eagles drop after trading their captain.
After nine days off, the QMJHL's holiday break is over, as nine games kick off the final week of QMJHL action in 2025. Here's what's on tap on a Sunday afternoon of action across the league:
Moncton at Cape Breton - 2 PM EST
Charlottetown at Saint John - 2 PM EST
Newfoundland at Halifax - 2 PM EST
Victoriaville at Rimouski - 3 PM EST
Chicoutimi at Blainville-Boisbriand - 3 PM EST
Gatineau at Quebec - 3 PM EST
Rouyn-Noranda at Val-d'Or - 3 PM EST
Baie-Comeau at Sherbrooke - 3 PM EST
Drummondville at Shawinigan - 4 PM EST
With some big trades going on across the league, a new power rankings is in order to see how everyone shakes up heading into the New Year.
Tier One - Contenders
1. Chicoutimi Saguenéens (22-5-5) (Prev. 2)
2. Moncton Wildcats (22-7-3) (Prev. 1)
3. Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (19-8-4) (Prev. 3)
The beginning of the trade period has shown there's really no guessing on who the heavy hitters will be down the stretch, and to nobody's surprise it's the three main culprits from before the break.
Chicoutimi has grabbed the most headlines during the trade period, making big swings for Mavrick Lachance from Sherbrooke, Seattle Kraken prospect Alexis Bernier and Ottawa Senators prospect from Baie-Comeau in separate deals and Utah Mammoth prospect Tomas Lavoie from Cape Breton.
They now clearly look like the team to beat, but the Wildcats and Armada are no slouches of their own. Moncton brought in Evan Depatie from Rimouski during the break, while Blainville-Boisbriand added some key depth in Jacob Bealieu and Mathieu Taillefer.
All three rosters are the most complete in the league, and while they'll be missing players this week due to either World Junior action (CHI - Maxim Schafer, Anton Linde; MON - Caleb Desnoyers) or injury (BLB - Jakub Milota, Spencer Gill, Bill Zonnon), once they get to full strength, it'll be tough sledding to beat any of these three teams.
Tier Two - Pretenders
4. Drummondville Voltigeurs (19-10-3) (Prev. 5)
5. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (18-9-4) (Prev. 4)
6. Charlottetown Islanders (16-11-6) (Prev. 6)
7. Shawinigan Cataractes (16-10-4) (Prev. 7)
8. Halifax Mooseheads (17-12-2) (Prev. 10)
9. Newfoundland Regiment (16-14-2) (Prev. 11)
The pretenders tier has certainly thinned out a bit, with some teams who were sitting in the tier deciding to sell off assets to the big guns, figuring this wasn't the right year to make a swing at things.
For the most part, these six teams have held firm so far during the trade period, maybe making a small addition or light subtraction.
The biggest loss was likely Halifax sending Taillefer to the Armada, but that was the only subtraction they made. Meanwhile, the Regiment adding Louis-Antoine Denault in goal is likely the biggest addition by anyone in the pretenders tier.
These teams will be hard-pressed to beat one of the top three in a seven-game series, but do have the necessary skill to go on a bit of a playoff run given the right conditions as currently constructed.
Tier Three - Hopefuls
10. Cape Breton Eagles (16-10-5) (Prev. 8)
11. Quebec Remparts (16-13-2) (Prev. 9)
12. Sherbrooke Phoenix (14-13-2 (Prev. 13)
13. Rimouski Océanic (15-15-1) (Prev. 12)
14. Val-d'Or Foreurs (13-15-4) (Prev. 14)
15. Victoriaville Tigres (13-15-4) (Prev. 16)
16. Gatineau Olympiques (13-16-2) (Prev. 15)
The new longest tier in the power rankings, the hopefuls gained a bunch of teams who sold hard to open the trade period, including Cape Breton and Sherbrooke, who both let key pieces of their team go to Chicoutimi in exchange for a bunch of future assets.
Otherwise, some of the usual culprits show up in the hopefuls tier, like Val-d'Or, who really haven't done anything of note yet during the holidays, which kind of means they just hold firm here.
At this point, the teams on this list aren't banking on any sort of playoff success, but moreso player development heading into future seasons.
Tier Four - Rebuilders
17. Saint John Sea Dogs (12-18-2) (Prev. 17)
18. Baie-Comeau Drakkar (7-21-5) (Prev. 18)
For the first time all season, a second team has been added to the rebuilders tier, as Saint John's season is starting to look lost for good. It's not all bad for the Sea Dogs, though, as their most important asset in Alexis Joseph has been fantastic in recent weeks.
The goal for them this season is to continue developing him, as well as other key youngsters like Dylan Rozzi and Olivers Murnieks, into impact players so the team can take a real run at things next year.
Otherwise, the Drakkar are no strangers to the basement, where they've sat most of the season. They made two key trades, both to Chicoutimi, as Bernier and Beckman were both moved out.
Coming in is Xavier Daigle, Mathys Fernandez, prospect Leo-Gabriel Gosselin, as well as seven draft picks, including two firsts and two seconds. Not a bad haul, especially considering Bernier hasn't even played yet this season after recovering from off-season surgery.
It may not be a banner year for either of these squads, but they're both taking key steps to improve for the next generations of their teams.
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