The Gatineau native is one of the top goaltending prospects available in the 2026 NHL draft.
The 2026 NHL draft is now just a week away, and it's time for fans to really get familiar with the prospects that will hear their names called in Buffalo.
Today's profile is on William Lacelle, a quick and technical goaltender with a fascinating story, and should be one of the first netminders selected in the draft.
Lacelle split last season between the Rimouski Océanic and Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, posting a combined 27-15-1 record in the regular season with a .917 save percentage and 2.49 goals-against average.
William Lacelle is one of the top available goaltenders at the 2026 NHL draft. (Photo: Antoine Meunier)While his season started on a pretty poor Océanic side that fell off a cliff after they traded him, Lacelle really stepped up with the Armada, helping them reach the semifinals of the QMJHL playoffs before unfortunately getting hurt in game five against Moncton.
A 10th overall pick of Rimouski in the 2023 QMJHL draft, the Gatineau native broke out in the back half of the 2024-25 season, taking the starting role down the stretch on a loaded Océanic team. He posted a 27-5-3 record that year, before faltering a bit in the playoffs and losing his net to Mathis Langevin.
He learned from that and was very good in the playoffs this past season for the Armada, ending with a .909 save percentage.
The big strengths of Lacelle's game is his quickness and technical skill, being able to move across the net quickly and rely on his ability and reflexes to make easy and more difficult saves.
He's not the biggest goalie at just 6-foot-1, but that agility and quickness helps make up for where his size would be a disadvantage.
Where his game may falter a bit is consistency and, at times, positioning, where he can be caught out at times and be forced to rely on that quickness and reflex skill to bounce him into the right spots.
Another interesting fact about Lacelle is that he's 100 per cent deaf in his left ear and 50 per cent deaf in his right ear, which is one of the most unique and fun facts about any prospect in this upcoming draft.
He's committed to play collegiately at the University of Nebraska-Omaha next season, meaning his QMJHL career is likely over, but across his two full seasons he's shown a very strong body of work that has endeared itself to scouts.
It seems likely Lacelle will be one of the first five to ten goalies off the board this year, likely hearing his name called in the third or fourth round, depending on how things shake out.
Whoever selects him will have a very high upside netminder who should project to play in the NHL if all goes right.
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