After a non-playoff year, the Océanic hope to start the building phase of their rebuild.
The 2025-26 season ended in a historic tailspin for the Rimouski Océanic, losing nearly every game they played since the calendar changed, and nearly dropping all the way to the bottom of the league.
It was the start of a full-fledged rebuild, one that continued into this summer. While it's unlikely this group really does much of anything in the new season, it'll be time to platform some younger players and start building the next generation to get back to the peak of some of the earlier years in the 2020s.
On the trade front, it was actually a fairly quiet summer. Rimouski had a ton of draft pick swaps, including a play to flip Louis-Felix Gagnon to Chicoutimi for some high picks, but the only real personnel movements were deals sending Vincent Gladu to Victoriaville and Tanner Hayden to Cape Breton.
Rimouski's rebuild continues into 2026-27. (Photo: Dominic Charette)While a lot of key departures for this team happened during last season, there are still some more names leaving during the off-season. Luke Patterson, Emile Duquet and Rafael Cloutier were some of this team's leaders last year, and are now departed for school.
It'll be up to guys like captain Mathys Dube, as well as some less experienced players such as Luca Nappiot, Zack Arsenault, Alex Masse and more to really step up into bigger roles in the new campaign.
There could also be some big upside in import Maximilian Mares, a big 6-foot-6 Czech who starred at the recent Hlinka-Gretzky Cup. American scorer Caiden Pellegrino could also provide a big boost to this team's top-six forward core.
But, in all, it will likely be another season of rebuilding for the 'Nics, who will hope to see some development across the board in their next generation.
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