The World Junior's Summer Showcase concluded Saturday in Plymouth.
The tournament serves as the first real chance to see who might make the World Junior teams for four of the top hockey nations in the world, in Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland.
Team Canada -- which happens to be the team where all of the QMJHL's representatives are on -- had a notably bad tournament winning just one of its three games.
The first three games saw the team split its rosters in two -- Team Red and Team White. Drummondville's Ethan Gauthier and Rimouski's Mathieu Cataford donned the red colour, meanwhile Moncton's Etienne Morin, Dylan MacKinnon and Vincent Collard sported white.
Starting off the tournament, all five QMJHL talents went scoreless in Canada's intersquad game. Though, Dylan MacKinnon made it on to the box score, albeit thanks to a delay of game penalty in the second period.
The second game saw the Reds drop a game to Sweden in shootout with the final score being 3-2. Once again, the QMJHL remained point-less thus far.
Thankfully, the cats got loose as the Moncton three each added an assist in an 8-6 win against Team Finland. That said, MacKinnon picked up his second penalty of the tournament and Collard picked up his first.
For the final game of the tournament, Canada's two teams united to take on the United States. Canada would ice a roster lacking any of the five QMJHL talents.
Canada would ultimately fall to their southern neighbours in the shootout.
Q's best chance for a representative isn't even a player who has or is expected to play in the QMJHL this season. That player is Bradly Nadeau.
Nadeau, 19, was the Hurricanes 30th overall selection in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft. The product St-François-de-Madawaska signed his entry level contract with the Canes at the conclusion of his season with the University of Maine where he potted 46 points (19+27) in just 37 games.
Nadeau had a strong tournament scoring two points (1+1) over three games, and seems to be a lock for the team barring any externalities.
The left winger is a former seventh round selection in the 2021 QMJHL draft by the Rimouski Océanic. Should Nadeau get sent to Rimouski, he would join other World Junior hopeful, Mathieu Cataford, as the Océanic are the hosts for the 2025 Memorial Cup.
With one NHL game already under his belt, and his EliteProspects page listing him on Carolina's farm team, the Chicago Wolves, for next season it's not a guarantee that Nadeau comes over to the QMJHL.
If he does, though, he would not only enter the team as it's top player, but also likely the league.