2025 NHL Draft: Craig Button has big ambitions for the QMJHL

The QMJHL is experiencing lean years when it comes to the selection of its players in the NHL draft.

No QMJHL representative has heard their name in the first round in the last two years and a total of three players were drafted in the second round during the 2023 and 2024 auctions – Ethan Gauthier, Etienne Morin and Spencer Gill.

The 2025 draft could, however, restore the status of the Quebec league according to TSN recruiting director Craig Button.

Button published his list of the 64 best prospects in anticipation of the draft and no less than seven QMJHL players are there, including three among the top-32.

We have to go back to the 2020 draft to see seven QMJHL players being drafted in the first two rounds.

Caleb Desnoyers, of the Moncton Wildcats, is the best Quebec prospect according to Button, who ranks him ninth in his ranking. He is followed by Blainville-Boisbriand Armada forward Justin Carbonneau (21) and Saint John Sea Dogs winger Zach Morin (29).

“Caleb is what I call a pivotal center for your team,” Button said. Five on five, power play, penalty kill, physical games, offensive games. He can score, he can make plays. His level of competition is extraordinary. He is a pure competitor and he has very strong assets. »

Desnoyers has 14 goals and 31 points in 20 games in his second season in the QMJHL, after collecting 56 points in 60 games last year.

Carbonneau is tied for first in the QMJHL in scoring with 38 points in 24 outings, while Morin joined the Sea Dogs during the season, after starting the year in the USHL. He amassed 16 points in 18 outings.

In the second half of the standings, Button believes that Rouyn-Noranda Huskies forward Bill Zonnon (37), Chicoutimi Saguenéens forward Émile Guité (49), Armada center Mateo Nobert (57) and Val-d’Or Foreurs forward Philippe Veilleux (63) are all part of the 64 best prospects as of today.

Veilleux was not on the first official NHL Central Scouting list in October, but our colleague Mikael Fillion spoke of him as a player to watch for the draft.

At the top of the list, Button sees Ontarian Porter Martone in his soup and he believes he is the best prospect of his vintage so far, after a start to the season which allowed him to obtain 17 goals and 43 points in 21 games with the Brampton Steelheads in the OHL.

“When I watch Porter Martone play, it’s very simple. The mix of talent, power, ability on skates, the ability to play in any scenario and hockey sense – I see a player who can make a difference, Button said. He is a player who is not fun to play against, someone who imposes his will on the ice in many ways. »

American James Hagens has slipped to second place in Button’s standings, just ahead of Michael Misa who is third. Canadian defender Matthew Schaefer and Swedish center Anton Frondell complete the top-5.