Team Canada has announced a 41-man camp for the upcoming Hlinka-Gretzky U18 tournament in Edmonton, and it features 11 talents from the QMJHL. Among the 11 is Moncton's Caleb Desnoyers, who I highlighted as the QMJHL's top 2025 NHL Draft eligible in my summer watchlist below.
Desnoyers is already one of the most internationally experienced players among invitees, as he already represented Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge (five points in eight games with Team Canada White) and even at the Under-18 World Championship last May (five points in five games). The former QMJHL first overall pick is coming off a strong 56 point (20+36) campaign over 60 games. Desnoyers is currently on track for to be the first QMJHL first rounder since the 2022 NHL Draft.
Another player to spotlight is Chicoutimi's Emile Guite. who led Team Canada White with 10 points in eight games at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Guite is coming off a strong rookie campaign with the Sags, notching 57 points (25+32) over 61 games. Should he continue his play, he too could very well hear his name get called in the first round next June.
Of Canada's four goaltenders, the Q supplied two of them in Lucas Beckman and William Lacelle. Beckman is coming off an electric nine game stretch with Baie-Comeau winning seven, posting three shutouts, all with a .938 save percentage. Meanwhile Lacelle of the Rimouski Océanic, is coming off a decent cup of tea in the QMJHL with an .894 save percentage across seven games, while being among the top five in save percentage over the last two seasons in Quebec AAA hockey. Lacelle is among the five underaged players at Team Canada's camp, alongside Gavin McKenna, Ryan Roobroeck, Ryan Brown and fellow QMJHLer Xavier Villeneuve.
Villeneuve had a monsterous rookie year with Blainville netting 43 points (8+35) over just 53 games. The former seventh overall pick in the 2023 QMJHL draft is shaping up to be one of, if not, the top defenseman of the 2026 NHL Draft Class.
Here's the master list of QMJHLers who will attend the camp:
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Alongside the 11 skaters, one person from the QMJHL has already made the team. That happens to be the head coach of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, Gordie Dwyer. Dwyer will be one of Team Canada's assistant coaches at the tournament.
The tournament will officially begin August 5th.
National U-17 Development Camp
Team Canada has also announced 80 camp invitees for the National U-17 Development Camp. Much like the World Junior Summer Showcase, this camp will help decide who will represent Canada at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge this November. Of the 80 players invited, 18 were drafted into the QMJHL.
Fresh off of being the first overall selection in the QMJHL Draft, Maddox Dagenais is expected be among the group's premier players after an 81 point season (42+39) with the Quinte Red Devils of the Ontario Minor Hockey Association's U-16 league. He was second in league scoring, just three points behind OHL first overall pick Ethan Belchetz who will also be at the camp.
QMJHL first rounders D Louis-Felix Gagnon (Shawinigan, 15th), D Jacob Gouchie (Val-d'Or, 16th), C Benjamin Olivier (Val-d'Or, 17th) and LW Liam Arsenault (Acadie-Bathurst, 18th) are among the notable omissions.
Here's the master list of QMJHL draft picks who will attend the camp:
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The two Canada teams will both be fronted by QMJHL coaches in Saint John's Travis Crickard and Blainville's Mathieu Turcotte. Other QMJHL staff includes assistant coaches Brad MacKenzie (Halifax), goalie coach Antoine Samuel (Moncton), video coaches Jonathan Deschenes (Sherbrooke) and Matthew Smith (Acadie-Bathurst), equipment managers Andrew MacNeill (Charlottetown) and Charles-Emile Lemelin (Sherbrooke) and athletic therapist Raphael Boudreau (Victoriaville).