2026 first-round is in the books

Vincent Ethier/QMJHL

HALIFAX - The opening round of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Entry Draft has been completed.

After a lengthy evening inside Halifax's Scotiabank Centre, 13 forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders were selected.

Here's a quick recap of what went down.

		Player	P	H	W	Team (Prov)
1	ROU	Thomas Boisvert	C	5'10	149	Mount St. Charles
2	VIC	Vincent Boutet	D	6'1	196	Séminaire Saint-François
3	BLB	Jacob McKinnon	LW	5'8	157	Séminaire Saint-François
4	SHA	Pierre-Alexandre Lemieux	C	6'2	186	Collège Esther-Blondin
5	VIC	Jakob Royer	RW	6'0	159	Trois-Rivières
6	SHA	Julien Bergeron	LW	6'0	188	Châteauguay
7	HAL	Émrik Ménard	RW	5'10	146	Woodbridge
8	RIM	Justin Gagnon	RW	6'3	170	Collège Notre-Dame
9	SHE	Damien Leduc	LW	6'1	178	Châteauguay
10	RIM	Max Brien	C	6'2	185	Steele Subaru
11	CHA	Aslan Tremblay	C	6'1	206	Amos
12	BAC	Tommy Leroux	C	5'11	189	Collège Charles-Lemoyne
13	NFL	Damian Norris	C	5'11	167	Upper Canada College
14	SNB	Lawrence Williams	D	6'1	165	Weeks
15	ROU	Zachary Lainesse	G	5'11	161	Lévis
16	ROU	Malik Tremblay	RW	5'10	162	Magog
17	BAC	Enzo Roy	LD	5'9	148	Lévis
18	BAC	Nathan Boulanger	G	6'0	143	Collège Esther-Blondin

Some news and notes from Friday night...

• Big shout out to the fan wearing a PEI Rocket jersey.
• The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies didn't hit the stage until 7:51 p.m. local due to several speeches. 
• Forward Thomas Boisvert, who was ranked first by QMJHL Central Scouting, went first overall to the Huskies. Boisvert is a Trois-Rivieres native who spent last season at Mount St. Charles.
• Vincent Boutet, considered by most the best defensemen in this draft class, went second overall to the Victoriaville Tigres. He was ranked fifth by Central Scouting and most didn't have Boutet going top-two.
• As expected, the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada acquired the third overall pick from the host Halifax Mooseheads in a major deal that sends Vegas Golden Knights prospect Mateo Nobert to the Moose. The Armada selected forward Jacob McKinnon (who is not a Maritimer, despite the name) with the pick. 
• The Sea Dogs traded pick No. 5 to Victoriaville for picks No. 14 and No. 17. With the fifth overall pick, the Tigres selected forward Jakob Royer.
• The host Mooseheads hit the stage to an electric entrance at pick No. 7. Justin Barron made Halifax's selection – forward Émrik Ménard.
• At pick No. 8, the Cape Breton Eagles finalized an expected massive trade, acquiring QMJHL champions Lucas Beckman, Alonso Gosselin and Liam Lefebvre from the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in exchange for a bunch of picks. The Sags then flipped the No. 8 pick to the Rimouski Oceanic for Louis-Félix Gagnon. The Oceanic selected Justin Gagnon with the pick.
• Jacob Melanson of the Seattle Kraken made the Sherbrooke Phoenix's pick at No. 9, selecting forward Damien Leduc.
• The first Atlantic Canadian went off the board at No. 10 when the Oceanic selected Fall River's Max Brien, who played for Dartmouth Steele Subaru last season.
• Scott Harris was announced as the "acting general manager" of the Charlottetown Islanders with Jim Hulton leaving the organization. At No. 11, the Isles picked forward Aslan Tremblay.
• At pick No. 13, the Newfoundland Regiment once again took a Newfoundlander in the opening round, taking forward Damian Norris from Upper Canada College. Norris, a Middle Cove, NL native, was ranked 26th by Central Scouting.
• The 14th overall pick was wild.

  Pas sûr que j'ai déjà vu ça depuis mes débuts comme journaliste: un choix qui se fait échanger cinq fois dans le même repêchage!
  
  Le #14 ce soir:
  
  De Victoriaville à Saint-Jean
  De Saint-Jean à Québec
  De Québec à Chicoutimi
  De Chicoutimi à Baie-Comeau
  De Baie-Comeau à Saint-Jean.

  — Mikaël Lalancette (@MikLalancette) June 6, 2026

• The Huskies took the first goaltender of the first-round with the 15th overall pick, selecting Zachary Lainesse from Lévis. The Baie-Comeau Drakkar also selected a netminder at No. 18, picking Nathan Boulanger.

The full list of drafts picks can be found here and trades here.

The first-round can be watched in it's entirety below.