The QMJHL's defenseman of the year could sneak his way into being a first-round selection.
The draft profiles continue, and today showcases a player whose stock has taken a huge jump after an exceptional season.
That player is Moncton's Tommy Bleyl, who was so good he earned the QMJHL's defenseman of the year award.
Bleyl played his D-1 season at the U.S. high school prep level with a few USHL games sprinkled in, so his name wasn't really a must-see on boards as he transitioned into his draft year with the Wildcats, even if Taylor MacDougall and co. could clearly see his talent.
After a fabulous rookie QMJHL season, Tommy Bleyl is projected to go somewhere in the 20-50 range in the 2026 NHL draft. (Photo: Daniel St. Louis)But, he walked into what was the defending Gilles-Courteau trophy champion Wildcats and instantly became their top blueliner, and eventually the best in the league.
His mix of skating, puck-handling, vision and shot are a marvel to behold. There are shifts he totally takes over with the puck on his stick, being able to make the perfect play and just dictate play in the offensive zone.
By season's end, Bleyl posted 13 goals and 68 assists for 81 points in 63 games, and added another six goals and 22 assists in 21 playoff games during the Wildcats' run to the final.
Another benefit to being such a good skater on top of the ice he's able to cover is the motor and tank it gives him. It felt like in big games down the stretch into the playoffs Bleyl was on the ice for half of the game, and he was still waterbugging around the entire ice with the puck on his stick.
However, there are still some detractors to Bleyl's game. The main one is a common problem for smaller offensive defenseman, and that's the defensive and physical sides to the game.
At 6-foot tall, the Schenectady, NY, native isn't the shortest blueliner ever, but he's certainly not tall, and pretty slight at 165 pounds.
There are times where he certainly gets caught watching the play defensively, and can lose a lot of puck battles along the wall to bigger and stronger players.
The more granular arguments against Bleyl come down to translatability, similar to the concerns overlaid in Xavier Villeneuve's recent profile.
It's very difficult to make it as a small defenseman in the NHL. Typically, you need to have the skill level to be a top power-play quarterback, and still be able to hold your own in big 5v5 minutes. Otherwise, there aren't a lot of depth roles available out there for offensive defenseman.
So, can Bleyl get to the level of a Quinn Hughes or Lane Hutson? It would be pretty unfair to expect any prospect to be that good, and if not, he's looking towards players like Shayne Gostisbehere and Sam Malinski in paths for smaller blueliners that have carved out depth roles.
That's an uphill battle, and if NHL teams don't believe they have the slot or time open to give to a player in this archetype, it's hard to justify selecting them early in a draft.
So, while Bleyl's upside is sky-high, and his play was exceptional in the QMJHL this past year, it's still likeliest he goes at the end of the first round, or start of the second round this year.
We'll see if players like him and Villeneuve can buck the trend of smaller defenders being overlooked, and over-perform their draft spots in the coming years.
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