How the league is shaping up ahead of puck drop on Friday.
Summer is over, and a new QMJHL season is on the horizon starting Friday.
As always, there's been a ton of movement in and out across the league. The effects of the CHL/NCAA agreement as well as the new CHL/NHL 19-year-old rules make the changes even more extreme, with more and more Americans signing, and new avenues for players to come and go that don't match up with a more traditional junior hockey timeline.
Here's how the power rankings are looking like heading into the opening weekend of the season.
Tier One - Contenders
1: Cape Breton Eagles
2: Quebec Remparts
3: Saint John Sea Dogs
4: Victoriaville Tigres
5: Halifax Mooseheads
6: Val-d'Or Foreurs
Each of the teams in this tier stick out as preseason favourites, with a real chance to go all the way by the time next spring rolls around.
The Eagles and Remparts really stick out ahead of the pack, with deep and competitive rosters without a lot of question marks. What sets Cape Breton ahead is their experience, particularly in raiding last year's champions in Chicoutimi of a number of key pieces who have already tasted a championship.
Elsewhere, the Maritimes division looks predictably strong while some teams led by strong offensive starpower in Val-d'Or and Victoriaville round out the top tier.
Tier Two - Hopefuls
7: Sherbrooke Phoenix
8: Shawinigan Cataractes
9: Moncton Wildcats
10: Drummondville Voltigeurs
This group acts as a bit of a strange middle ground, where it's full of likely playoff teams with solid rosters, but might lack that real punch to have a real chance of silverware this season.
Sherbrooke is the closest to the contenders tier, with a lot of returning players and a fairly deep roster. They'll need some of their top-end forwards to take steps into real stars in this league if they want to step up into the top group.
Tier Three - Pretenders
11: Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
12: Rimouski Océanic
13: Chicoutimi Saguenéens
14: Newfoundland Regiment
15: Gatineau Olympiques
16: Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
17: Charlottetown Islanders
18: Baie-Comeau Drakkar
The bottom group of teams represents a tier of rosters in some stages of a rebuild.
For some, like the Armada, Saguenéens, Regiment and Huskies, they're coming off fairly successful seasons, and are now pivoting towards the next generation.
For others, such as the Océanic, Olympiques and Drakkar, the goal will be to show some improvement from fairly poor seasons last year. All of these rosters still look a year away from really making noise, but success for them will be measured in terms of internal growth rather than an arbitrary number in the standings.
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