Even though the QMJHL is often referred to as the little brother league of the CHL for it's recent dry spell of high end NHL draft talents, the QMJHL has always seemed to find a way at the Memorial Cup.

The league has won four of the last five tournaments, including a win as the cup hosts with the Saint John Sea Dogs -- coached by current Moncton Wildcats bench boss Gardiner MacDougall.

However, the QMJHL's two teams this tournament seemed sluggish out of the gate, dropping their first three games.

Why have the Océanic and the Wildcats faltered early this tournament?

Firstly, there is something to be said about the amount of NHL-level prospects on each team. The Rimouski Océanic feature the roster with the lowest number of NHL drafted talent with six.

These players include defensive and depth prospects like Basile Sansonnens (Vancouver) and Luke Coughlin (Florida), potential down the line up producers like Eriks Mateiko (Washington) and Spencer Gill (Philadelphia) and two key offensive pieces in Alexandre Blais (Anaheim) and Mathieu Cataford (Vegas).

While it is true that goaltender Mathis Langevin may get drafted this year, thanks to an impressive regular season and playoff run, and the team also features top 2026 NHL goalie prospect William Lacelle as well, Lacelle hasn't played this Memorial Cup yet and Langevin is a draft re-entry candidate. Additionally, the Océanic have been with out GIll so far due to injury.

Florida Panthers Prospect To Leave QMJHL, Commits To Maine The Memorial Cup host Rimouski Océanic's roster boasts many NHL prospects. On their blueline, <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/florida-panthers">Florida Panthers</a> prospect defender Luke Coughlin.

Meanwhile, the Moncton Wildcats sit at just one more NHL prospect with seven.

They feature a handful of defensive depth prospects such as Loke Johansson (Boston), Dylan MacKinnon (Nashville) and Gabe Smith (Utah), two down the lineup contributers in Etienne Morin (Calgary) and Dyllan Gill (Tampa) as well as one key offensive piece in Juraj Pekarcik (St. Louis).

Another caveat here is that Detroit Red Wings prospect goaltender Rudy Guimond has yet to play in the Memorial Cup, instead backing up former Team Canada world juniors goaltender Mathis Rousseau.

However, the Wildcats' roster features two feasible draft picks: potential Top 10 selection Caleb Desnoyers and draft re-entry candidate Julius Sumpf.

These are no doubt among the most talented rosters in the CHL, however when compared to their foes, it doesn't compare.

The London Knights' roster features 13 NHL drafted prospects, including first round talents such as Sam Dickinson (San Jose), Oliver Bonk (Philadelphia), Easton Cowan (Toronto) and Sam O'Rielly (Edmonton). Alongside the baker's dozen NHL picks, the team also boasts likely draft picks in goaltender Aleksei Medvedev and Henry Brzustewicz.

On the other hand, the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers team only has eight NHL drafted prospects. However, those include former first rounders Cayden Lindstrom (Columbus) and Tanner Molendyk (Nashville).

In addition to their established talents, the Tigers feature a really strong young crop of potential NHL draft picks, including 2025 NHL draft eligibles like Kadon McCann and re-entry candidate Bryce Pickford, 2026 NHL draft eligibles such as Gavin McKenna and Liam and Markus Ruck and even 2027 NHL draft prospect Shaeffer Gordon-Carroll.

Three QMJHL Stars Rank On The Hockey News' Newest Top 64 NHL Draft List <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/THNHOME/posts/SFDxNUytM09Eq7wKEomE">The Hockey News' Tony Ferrari</a> published his newest draft list for the 2025 NHL draft.

All-in-all, the Océanic and Wildcats lag behind in star power. However, that doesn't mean that they have no chances to surprise, however they cannot let the game come to them -- which generally, both Rimouski and Moncton have been caught doing in the Memorial Cup.

Both teams have been less willing to engage physically into puck battles, and it has costed them. This is notable as in the finals between the Q's two Memorial Cup representatives, both teams were grinding away in the corners and getting their noses dirty. 

When these teams have gotten dirty, they've found success. Two of Rimouski's three goals came off of contact in their recent loss to Medicine Hat. The first saw Rimouski's Maxime Coursol take a hit to pass to Alexandre Blais who shot passed to Mael Levigne backdoor for the tap in. Another goal resulted directly from an aggressive forecheck from Alexandre Blais on Tigers' defender Veeti Vaisanen (Utah), before passing to Mael St. Denis who shoots short side on Harrison Meneghin (Tampa).

So far, both London and Medicine Hat's goalies have proven to be beatable. Moncton had success with screens and Rimouski had success netfront versus London's Austin Elliott and Medicine Hat's Harrison Meneghin drops his hands a lot allowing shooters to pick corners. 

Additionally, both Moncton and Rimouski need to ease up. Often times they seem to let the game get away from them in the third period, and struggle to catch passes.

All-in-all, it's difficult to say that these two teams are entirely out of the tournament with all three games being close enough and competitive score-wise. However, they'll need to clean up their act for the remaining games if they want to escape elimination and ultimately have a chance at the Memorial Cup.

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