QMJHL Stock Watch: Justin Carbonneau's Hot Start Too Much to Ignore
The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League season keeps rolling on, and with a draft-eligible class like few others we’ve seen in recent years, there’s a bigger focus than ever on what’s historically been considered the weaker of the three CHL leagues.
Caleb Desnoyers, the prospective top ‘Q draft-eligible, has been nothing short of dominant for the Moncton Wildcats. Justin Carbonneau continues to refine his game with the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada. Some dark-horse first-round candidates are also making their way into the conversation.
It isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however — some previously highly-touted prospects have been struggling,. We’ll take a look at all of that in this month’s Stock Watch.
Stock Rising 📈
Justin Carbonneau, RW, Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (2025 NHL Draft)
In last month’s Stock Watch, Justin Carbonneau featured in the “Stock steady” segment due to some concerns around his decision-making and overall frustrating style of play, despite racking up 12 points in six games to that point.
Now, one month later, he seems to have cemented his spot as a top-20 prospect in the 2025 NHL Draft—mainly due to improvements in both his offensive approach and his three-zone decision-making.
Carbonneau’s handling decisions have become much more effective. Whereas he would previously try to take on an entire defensive structure by himself or cut away from opponents instead of through their hands, he now out-waits defenders, baits them into poke-checks, and exploits the space they create. He is possibly the most manipulative handler in the ‘Q right now.
While Carbonneau’s release and handling skill continue to be the axis around which his offensive game revolves, his playmaking has become much more refined. The flashes we alluded to in last month’s Stock Watch are now much more frequent, and he has worked on the timing and execution of his distribution game. He consistently gets defenders to bite on the shooting lane with his eyes before finding a trailer, hooking a pass to his centre, or feathering a seam pass.
As his board game continues to improve—we’re already seeing flashes of pressured spin-offs, outside-edge anchoring pre-retrieval, reverse hits, and great stickwork—Carbonneau’s combination of frame, speed, and triple-threat offensive skill will only be elevated further. He’s a top-20 pick—there’s no doubt about it at this stage.
Matyáš Melovský, C, Baie-Comeau Drakkar (New Jersey Devils)
While Carolina Hurricanes fifth-rounder Justin Poirier has been the primary focus of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar’s recent success, Matyáš Melovský has quietly had a major part to play in his winger’s offensive dominance.
Selected as a second-year re-entry in the sixth round by the New Jersey Devils, Melovský currently sits on a four-game multi-point streak — a span in which he has amassed a whopping 14 points, bringing him to 21 in 11 games on the season as the Drakkar’s first-line centre.
While Poirier is receiving a lot of credit for his goals, Melovský is at the heart of many of the winger’s grade-A chances. When Poirier gets a shot from the mid-slot or the half-wall, it’s primarily due to Melovský’s work. He out-waits defenders, carries the puck past one layer of defence, then feathers smart, timely passes right into Poirier’s wheelhouse. The two have been going back and forth in creating chances this season, developing impressive synergy and elevating each other’s skill sets.
A structurally sound centre with strong playmaking and handling skills, Melovský’s 6-foot-1, 190-pound frame supports his passing abilities incredibly well. He uses proactive contact, absorbs hits, and protects the puck in transition, all with the goal of taking a defender out of the play and muscling a pass to a linemate. This has made him particularly effective on power-play zone entries for Baie-Comeau, as he receives a pass at the blue line, shields it, and initiates the cycle.
Re-entry picks are often seen as safe bets—it’s easier to project a 20-year-old’s development path than an 18-year-old’s—but Melovský has shown some exciting flashes of potential that weren’t evident last year. The question is whether his frame and battle skills will continue to serve him against pro defencemen next year or if he’ll need to rely more on his open-ice playmaking to carve out an NHL role for himself.
Ethan Gauthier, RW, Drummondville Voltigeurs (Tampa Bay Lightning)
When the Tampa Bay Lightning picked Ethan Gauthier with the 37th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, they were likely aiming for a prospect who would graduate fairly quickly and immediately complement their high-skill pieces. His draft-year skillset as a play-connecting, physical board-battler with high-end tactical sense certainly supports that assumption.
So far this season, though, Gauthier has been learning how to be the offensive focal point for the Drummondville Voltigeurs’ — and doing so wonderfully well.
The 19-year-old winger is currently on an 11-game point streak totaling 19 points, making good use of his soft skills — his finesse-oriented playmaking and handling — to drive his line, while also using his hard skills — his energy, battle mechanics, and ability to make plays inside contact — to feed pucks to his teammates in quality spots.
Gauthier has continued to be a get-off-the-wall-at-all-costs winger, but has started using that willpower to open up his own scoring looks. His release and foot speed seem to have improved slightly, as well — he spins off a check along the boards, rides the defender’s push into the half-wall, and rifles inside a weight shift on goal. His off-puck routes have continued to drive most of his shooting opportunities, but the on-puck skill gives him an extra tool in his belt.
As he stands, Gauthier projects as a middle-six line elevator, but having the skill to create looks for himself off his own stick will help him attain that upside. There is much more certainty to Gauthier’s projection now than there was two years ago.
Stock Steady ↔️
Caleb Desnoyers, C, Moncton Wildcats (2025 NHL Draft)
After nursing an injury at the start of October, Caleb Desnoyers reintegrated the Moncton Wildcats’ lineup a few weeks and looked to get back to the standards he set at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
So far, he has met those expectations.
With 22 points in 13 games on the season, Desnoyers has been the straw that stirs the drink for the Wildcats. With his borderline violent forechecking, detail-oriented on-puck approach and high-end finesse game, the 6-foot-2 centre has further cemented his spot as the top QMJHLer for the 2025 NHL Draft with consistently strong play in all three zones.
A rare blend of high-end smarts, physical tools and skill makes Desnoyers’ game a difficult one to suppress. He manages the puck incredibly well, dictates the tempo of play with every puck touch and forecheck, and can both pass and deke with the best of them. He chains a bunch of projectable tools together in gorgeous sequences — cutbacks follow delayed entries, inside pushes follow those cutbacks, and from there, the skill takes over. He dekes through one defender, attacks the feet of the next, slows down and finds a teammate with a deft seam pass.
Pace continues to be Desnoyers’ only setback. He has become an intelligent, slow-the-game centre by necessity — he just doesn’t have the agility or raw leg power to evade defenders at full speed. However, he is insanely good at what he does. A big, versatile, intelligent, physical and skillful centre who can impact the game in all three zones, with and without the puck, is something every NHL General Manager looks for. He’ll go high on draft day.
Bill Zonnon, LW/C, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (2025 NHL Draft)
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are essentially a one-line team — a line centred by Bill Zonnon.
With Antonin Verreault to his left and Lars Steiner to his right, Zonnon has been put in a position he isn’t yet used to, but certainly has the skill for — pivoting a top line. The hulking 6-foot-2 forward’s 22 points in 17 games sit third on his line in offensive output, but that doesn’t reflect his in-game contribution to that line.
Zonnon has been stringing passes with incredible efficiency — a one-touch backhander here, a give and go there, and a very wide arsenal of passes in-between make him the connecting force on that line. Despite Steiner having experience at centre in his still young career and Verreault being more experienced and a better faceoff-taker, Zonnon’s superior playmaking skill and vision have made him the default pivot on that line.
The issues in Zonnon’s game — his rough skating stride and lack of on-puck dynamism — are more mitigated at centre. He moves pucks to the better skaters on his wings, drives hard through the middle of the ice off-puck, or backs off into a pocket to offer a passing option.
The foundations of his game — playmaking, handling, forechecking and energy — make Zonnon essential to that line’s success. Steiner brings the effort, but doesn’t have the connective vision Zonnon brings. Verreault brings the speed and dynamism, but can’t match his centre’s forechecking skill or off-puck details. And neither brings the hulking physicality that Zonnon does.
The skating is rough enough to potentially prevent Zonnon from being a true NHL play-driver no matter what he adds to the rest of his game, but a team could see the vision, frame, skill and relentlessness he brings and identify a future complementary middle-six winger. We’ve seen those go in the tail end of the first round before
Stock Falling 📉
Émile Guité, LW/RW, Chicoutimi Saguenéens (2025 NHL Draft)
After showing some incredibly promising offensive refinement at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Émile Guité returned to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens for his draft-year season hoping to replicate the success of his Michel-Bergeron trophy-winning season as the QMJHL’s top offensive rookie last year.
Instead, despite Maxim Massé’s injury giving him a legitimate top-line opportunity, Guité has failed to match expectations.
The 6-foot-1 winger has three points in his last 13 games, bringing him to a measly eight points on the season through 17 matches. Though the lack of surrounding skill he has to work with certainly plays a part in this slump, Guité has also been lacking in effort in this stretch of games. The forechecking intensity he showed in last year’s playoffs for Chicoutimi is nowhere to be found, and the dual-threat offensive contributions and off-puck mastery he showed this past August in Edmonton is missing as well.
The hope with Guité was that he would find a way to combine both versions we’ve seen of him — the QMJHL playoffs, forechecking-oriented version and the pure offence Hlinka version — but instead, we’re seeing neither. These performances have already pushed him out of our first round and down the regional rankings list, and unless he finds his game back, the freefall will continue.
Matvei Gridin, LW, Shawinigan Cataractes (Calgary Flames)
The Calgary Flames’ selection of Matvei Gridin in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft came as a surprise to many, but with an NCAA commitment to the Wolverines in the books, the hope was that his progression in college would prove doubters wrong. Gridin, however, opted to go a different route and head to the QMJHL after getting drafted by the Flames.
In that case, the expectation was for Gridin to dominate with the Shawinigan Cataractes after they acquired him from the rebuilding Val d’Or Foreurs. Instead, he’s been ordinary.
With seven goals and 15 points in 13 games, Gridin’s production hasn’t been half-bad, but for a skillful and intense first-rounder with flashes of tactical intelligence, the reads just haven’t been there at all. He has been producing through pure skill and low-pace sequences, rarely moving his feet to get into the right spots or contributing to transition plays through movement and speed. Instead, he coasts, gets the puck, and nonchalantly tries a play.
The hope is that Gridin gets back to showing the energy and board skills he displayed last season with Muskegon in the USHL — so far, he just hasn’t been getting involved physically enough to let those skills shine. He doesn’t have to be a dominant, dynamic on-puck force to ensure his long-term NHL success — he just has to get back to what made the Flames pick him in the first round. He certainly has the size and the tools to play an energy game.
