As we continue to look forward into the upcoming 2026-27 QMJHL season, it's interesting to look at who the top players could be across the league.

With junior-aged players, it can often be difficult to project performance year over year. Some players can explode out of nowhere in bigger roles as they get older, and some players peak at younger ages and fail to hit the top level that was projected of them.

With the recent NCAA/CHL rule changes, there are more players moving back and forth between Canada and the U.S. than ever, which further complicates this exercise. 

With that all being said, the absolute top-of-the-line players are usually easier to forecast. It's rare someone who's head and shoulders above their age group simply stops playing at that level. 

We've compiled a list of three players who should be frontrunners for the 2027 Michel-Brière Trophy as QMJHL MVP, based on a criteria of both how good their teams project to be and how good they are as players.

The first overall pick in the 2024 QMJHL draft's career didn't quite take off as expected at first, with the 6-foot-4 forward struggling to find his feet offensively in his rookie year.

As his sophomore year begun, there were expectations for Dagenais to really take off and showcase the talent he showed at the youth levels that had him so highly-regarded as a prospect.

It still took the Montreal native a bit to find his feet, though. He held his own physically, throwing big reverse hits and working in the corners, but his offensive game felt forced and stale.

That was until the calendar flipped to 2026. Suddenly, Dagenais was pushing the pace on the puck, finding lanes off it, and becoming a force using his wicked one timer and big frame to his advantage.

He ended the season with 62 (30+32) points in 62 games, had three goals and three assists in Quebec's 11-game playoff run, and found a spot on team Canada at the U18 Worlds in May.

This explosion saw Dagenais shoot up draft boards, and land at 16th overall to the St. Louis Blues, the top QMJHLer taken in the 2026 NHL draft.

For next season, he projects to be the top forward on a very talented Remparts team that is really loading up. They've added James Scantlebury as a free agent, could have more coming in Carter Meyer, and overall look like a dangerous team as younger players develop.

If their talisman continues his elite play from the end of last season, and potentially levels up even more, he could be in line for an MVP-calibre season.

There's already been so much talk about Alexis Joseph, and it's for good reason.

The top pick in the 2025 QMJHL draft had an excellent rookie season, recording 60 (24+36) points in 54 games on a pretty bad Sea Dogs team, instantly becoming the top player on the team and a can't-miss talent.

It's been a little while since a draft-eligible talent won the Michel-Brière Trophy, with that being of course Alexis Lafreniere taking him his second straight MVP award in his draft year, but Joseph has the best shot of anyone since the top pick in the 2020 NHL draft.

Simply put, the Lachenaie native is the best prospect to come out of the QMJHL since Lafreniere, and he'll be on a Saint John side looking to seriously compete in 2026-27.

The Sea Dogs have added top goaltender Samuel Meloche, alongside solid young players like Thomas Charbonneau and Ryan Howard through trade, and Jamie Glance as a signing.

Joseph is a big, 6-foot-5 centre that possesses a ton of skill and deception for a guy his size, a fantastic shot, and the rangy ability to be a nuisance all over the ice.

While scouts will want to see him up the pace of his game shift-over-shift and use the middle of the ice even more often, the pure skill and scoring ability alone allows Joseph the ability to be an MVP-level talent in the QMJHL, even as a 17-year-old.

The big news from early June around the Val-d'Or Foreurs was Philippe Veilleux announcing his return for the 2026-27 campaign.

After three years in the QMJHL, the last two ending with 87 and 96 points respectively, it seemed very possible the star scoring forward would be heading to NCAA Northeastern for next season.

But, after some deliberation, Veilleux decided to return to Val-d'Or for his 19-year-old campaign, which immediately put the Foreurs into buying mode.

The team has added goaltender Arseni Radkov, as well as skaters Olivier Laverdiere, Maxime Sauthier, Noah McKinnon and Nolann Heroux.

This team was already build around the talent and offensive ability of Veilleux, and have now bolstered the depth of a team went to the second round of the 2026 post-season.

If the 5-foot-10 winger can eclipse the 100-point mark this season and the Foreurs are among the top teams in the league, the MVP discourse will firmly be in his favour.

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