2026 QMJHL Draft: Live Coverage From Round One

Hello and welcome to The Hockey News QMJHL's coverage of the 2026 QMJHL draft, taking place at Halifax's Scotiabank Centre.

This page will be updated live as every pick, trade or any other piece of news comes in during night one of the draft.

This concludes the first round of the 2026 QMJHL draft, one that will not be forgotten for a long time.

There were a total of 10 trades made during the evening, including the four in a row with pick 14 that will never be forgotten. 

Round two begins Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. ET, which will cover the remainder of the 12 rounds in the draft.

Thank you for tuning in to THN's live coverage of the event!

Alright, the pick is being made here. It's the second goaltender to go off the board, with Nathan Boulanger heading out to the Drakkar with their third first-rounder of the draft.

He's a positionally sound goaltender who had a pretty good playoff run with the CEB Phénix, and someone Baie-Comeau clearly valued to jump up and select.

Finally, the first round of the 2026 QMJHL draft will be coming to a close. It's been a night full of action and crazy moves, and in a lot of ways is shaping the off-season.

Oh, wait, there's another trade, which is just the theme of the night.

The bottom two teams from the 2025-26 season are making a trade involving the final pick of the first round, with pick 18 heading to Baie-Comeau for a trio of day two picks.

There are now just two picks left in the first round, with the first being the Drakkar's pick they just picked up in that mess of deals around the 14th overall pick just a bit ago.

The pick is in, and it's Enzo Roy. The 5-foot-9 blueliner is a high-flying, smart offensive defenseman that just flies around the ice to create offence.

He played his draft year with the Lévis Chevaliers, where he really came alive in the playoffs with three goals and 11 assists in 18 post-season games.

Born in Switzerland where his father Jonathan was playing at the time, Enzo comes from a hockey family.

It's the Huskies right back up on the clock for their third first-rounder of this draft.

Malik Tremblay is the pick (no relation to earlier-selected Aslan), who is a solid two-way forward who may be a little undersized, but makes up for it with his smarts and motor.

In 42 games with the Magog Cantonniers during his draft year, Tremblay put up 37 points.

Okay, we should be back to normal now. It's the Huskies who are back up on the clock for the first time since selecting Thomas Boisvert first overall much earlier in the night.

It's a goalie! Zachary Lainesse is the first goaltender off the board, who was definitely the top netminder in the class after a stellar year with the Lévis Chevaliers.

The 5-foot-11 goalie is very good technically, very athletic and just a top prospect all around. He projects to be Rouyn-Noranda's goalie of the future after moving on from Samuel Meloche earlier this week.

This pick has truly been on a world tour. But now, finally, the Sea Dogs are its holder once again, and can make the selection. All that chaos, and it comes right back to them. What a world.

Now, we can finally actually focus on the prospect getting picked. Lawrence Williams is another Nova Scotian kid, which the crowd loves (if they've wrapped their heads around what just happened), and is just the second defenseman selected so far this draft.

Williams is a smooth-skating, two-way defender that should add a nice boost to the Sea Dogs d-corps. He'll also be the answer of the "who was the player picked after the league went insane on the draft floor?" question.

Alright, let's try and sort this out. Firstly, the Sea Dogs are trading pick 14 to the Remparts for Thomas Charbonneau (last year's fourth overall pick), Ryan Howard and pick 31.

Then, as part of the James Scantlebury deal from last draft, the Remparts are sending pick 14 out to Chicoutimi. A third- and fourth-round pick in 2027 will head back to Quebec.

Then, Chicoutimi moves this same 14th overall pick to Baie-Comeau, to complete another earlier transaction. It's pick 14, 2026 3rd, 2026 4th to the Drakkar for no compensation.

Unbelievably, the pick is getting moved one more time. The Drakkar have moved pick 14 BACK to Saint John alongside a sixth and seventh-round pick in 2026 for pick 17, a second, sixth and eighth in 2026.

It was a super successful debut season for the Regiment, who went the distance in a fantastic second-round series against the Armada. Now, they've got a chance to add some more talent to this ambitious roster.

This one will be popular with the fans, with Newfoundlander Damian Norris being the pick here at 13th overall. He's a very skilled forward who will certainly be a fan favourite out in NL.

Norris played with Upper Canada College, scoring 67 points in 56 games at the U16AAA level. 

After a last-placed finish in 2025-26, the Drakkar are looking to add pieces to help them start the building part of their rebuild. This pick should give them a chance to do that.

It's Tommy Leoux that's the pick, an energetic and skilled forward that rose in the rankings as the season went on. He'll be a key piece for this Drakkar team looking to take the jump back into the playoffs.

He played his draft year with the CCL Riverains, posting 36 points in 42 games.

The first pick for new Islanders GM Scott Harris is Aslan Tremblay, a speedy and tenacious forward who fits the Charlottetown identity perfectly.

The 6-foot-1 forward played his draft year with the Amos Forestiers, putting up 20 goals and 34 points in 38 games at the U18AAA level.

Tremblay was another riser during the QMJHL Cup, and now goes in the first round of the draft as he heads out to Prince Edward Island.

It's a Nova Scotian off the board, prompting a big cheer from the Halifax crowd. Max Brien heads to Rimouski, with the big and skilled forward adding a second top-10 pick to the Océanic rebuild.

The Fall River native had 43 points in 33 games with the Steele Subaru U18 program in his draft year, and will look to add some energy and physiciality alongside his skill to Rimouski's lineup over the next few years.

Up next is Val-d'Or, who are coming off a first-round upset over Drummondville. It seems like some of their top players could be returning for next season, so we'll see what they do with this pick.

Trade! The Rimouski Océanic have been working the phones for a bit here, and have found a biter in the Foreurs to move up to 10th overall. It'll be the Armada's first in 2027 and pick 28 going back the other way, while Rimouski also picks up a 12th-rounder this year.

Now that all the chaos is over, we can get back to the draft. Sherbrooke was a younger team last year, and will hope to take another step into being a good team in 2026-27.

Timeout! But there will be no trade that materializes from this one. The Phoenix are coming up to make the pick, with Seattle Kraken forward Jacob Melanson making the selection.

Damien Leduc is the pick, a two-way centre that played his draft year with the Châteauguay Grenadiers. He raised his stock at the Q Cup, and will now look to add some value down the middle for Sherbrooke.

It's a hometown pick for the Océanic, selecting Rimouski native Justin Gagnon eighth overall (no relation to Louis-Felix, who was just traded away).

The big 6-foot-3 winger had 26 points in 42 games with Collège Notre-Dame at the U18 AAA level in his draft year.

After a very tough end to 2025-26, losing almost every game in the back half of the season, Rimouski will hope Gagnon can help them turn the corner in the new season.

Wow, another trade! Chicoutimi immediately flips pick eight, alongside a couple other picks in exchange for Louis-Felix Gagnon, who Rimouski just acquired yesterday.

Finally, after all this, the Océanic are on the clock with pick eight.

The Eagles are up on the board now, who have been aggressive this week in terms of acquiring players. It was rumoured quite a bit this week this pick could be on the move, and that is indeed the case. 

It's the champion Chicoutimi Saguenéens who will be acquiring this pick. The exodus from the Sags' Gilles-Courteau winning team has really begun, with the rebuild starting with this pick.

Oh boy, this is a big trade. Lucas Beckman, Liam Lefebvre and Alonso Gosselin are all heading to Cape Breton, with pick eight, another first, pick 28, multiple thirds, an import first and a sixth heading back the other way. What a massive one.

The hosts are back on the clock yet again, after trading their third overall pick to Blainville-Boisbriand in exchange for Mateo Nobert. 

Before the pick, we get a speech from the 2026 QMJHL Student Athlete of the year, Val-d'Or forward Nathan Brisson.

Now, the pick is in. Emrik Menard is who Halifax takes, as announced by former Moosehead and current Nashville Predator Justin Barron. Menard is a forward who played his draft year in the U.S., with the Woodbridge Wolfpack program.

He missed a lot of the year due to injury, but clearly showed enough while healthy to impress teams enough to be a top-10 pick.

Shawinigan is right back on the clock now, after just selecting Lemieux at fourth overall. 

It's another forward heading to the Cataractes, grabbing the extremely skilled Julien Bergeron. He was the second-ranked prospect on the central scouting list, but fell all the way to six here.

Bergeron is a skilled, power forward type forward, similar in some ways to Lemieux. With these two players, Shawinigan fans will be in good hands in the coming years.

The Tigres have really solidified their future now with two top-five picks, adding power forward Jakob Royer alongside the earlier selection of Boutet.

Royer played his draft year with the Trois-Rivières Estacades in U18 AAA, scoring 32 points in 41 games.

His father, Remi Royer, was also a draft pick of the Tigres, playing two seasons in Victoriaville.

After selecting Alexis Joseph first overall in 2025, the Sea Dogs are pushing to be a top team in 2026-27. They've added Samuel Meloche already as their starting goalie, and could use this pick to add to their roster next year.

Timeout! The Sea Dogs have used their timeout, could this be because of trade talks? Indeed so, as the Victoriaville Tigres have acquired this pick, moving up with both of their later first-rounders (nos. 14 and 17) to get a second pick in the top five.

Shawinigan has gotten younger in recent days, moving on from Cole Chandler and Elias Schneider in a trade, and will look to use this pick to add a key player to their next generation of talent.

The pick is PA Lemieux, a 6-foot-3 forward with a lot of skill who really raised his stock at the QMJHL cup.

He played his draft year with Collège Esther-Blondin Phénix in the U18 AAA circuit, posting 38 points in 42 games.

The Armada use their newly-acquired pick to select Jacob McKinnon, a small but extremely gifted offensive talent that has the potential to be a top scorer in the QMJHL.

After an all-in year ended with a run to the semifinal, McKinnon signifies the era change for the Armada as they prepare for the next era.

Like Boutet, McKinnon played last year with the SSF Blizzard, scoring 51 points in 42 games.

The hosts are now on the clock, and will look to make a splash in front of their home fans at the Scotiabank Centre. This pick originally belonged to the Rimouski Océanic.

We have a trade! The Halifax Mooseheads and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada have a trade in place, a rumoured transaction around Mateo Nobert heading out to Halifax likely coming to fruition here.

Going the other way is the third pick, a second-rounder next year, 18-year-old Amelio Santini and 18-year-old goalie Nick Cirka, who could become the starter next year in Blainville.

The Tigres have a high pick again, and expect to look to add to a fairly young team that was very fun to watch in 2025-26, partly because of how porous they were defensively.

As the team continues to grow, they'll need to keep the offensive firepower that some of their top forwards provided, while cleaning up the defensive side of the game

The pick is Vincent Boutet, a defence-first blueliner who played his draft year with the Séminaire St-François Blizzard at the U18 AAA level.

The Tigres will hope the 6-foot-1 defender will develop into the anchor of this defence corps in the coming years, and be a big step into solidifying that defensive side of the game.

The first overall pick is a big honour every year. This season, it's in the hands of the Huskies, who acquired the pick in a previous trade with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, who acquired it in the Charles-Edward Gravel trade in 2024.

As expected, Thomas Boisvert is the pick, with the 5-foot-10 Trois-Rivières native absolutely ripping up the 15U level at the Mount St. Charles academy.

Cousin of Chicago Blackhawks forward Sacha Boisvert, Thomas possesses a ton of skill, speed, and a fantastic scoring touch. He'll surely be a star in the QMJHL.

The draft floor is ready, and the festivities are ready to kick off tonight!

1. Rouyn-Noranda (via BAC)
2. Victoriaville
3. Halifax (via RIM)
4. Shawinigan (via GAT)
5. Saint John
6. Shawinigan (via VDO)
7. Halifax
8. Cape Breton
9. Sherbrooke
10. Val-d'Or (via QUE)
11. Charlottetown
12. Baie-Comeau (via SHA)
13. Newfoundland
14. Victoriaville (via DRU)
15. Rouyn-Noranda (via BLB)
16. Rouyn-Noranda
17. Victoriaville (via CHI)
18. Rimouski (via MON)