Building a solid prospect pool requires teams to search the globe for the best young players available. Over the years, one of the best places to find these prospects has been the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League or QMJHL. Surprisingly though, the Vancouver Canucks have opted against this route over the last decade, with the last QMJHL players drafted by the organization being Carl Neill and Guillaume Brisebois in 2015.
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Not drafting a player from the QMJHL in the last nine years is a little bizarre, especially considering the talent available. Over the past four years alone, 70 players from the “Q” have been drafted, showing that the league is able to consistently produce talented prospects that NHL teams desire. Maybe even more bizarre is that this trend has stretched over multiple management groups, as no player has been drafted since Jim Benning’s second year on the job.
The Canucks staying away from QMJHL players also extends past the draft. Since the 2014/15 season, Vancouver has seen only 13 players who played in the QMJHL play games at the NHL level, while only Conor Garland and Alex Burrows have eclipsed the 200-game mark. Based on the amount of former QMJHL players who are currently in the NHL, this number is very surprising, as over 86 have played at least 200 games over the past decade.
Related: Meet The Prospects: Vancouver Canucks 2024 NHL Entry Draft Edition
Players should not automatically be drafted because of the league they play in, but it does not make sense to go nine years without selecting a QMJHL player. As mentioned, this is a league that has produced plenty of talent since 2015, and it feels like a missed opportunity not having at least one draft pick during that time. With plenty of talent available in 2025, it would be surprising to see the Canucks once again pass over the QMJHL and extend their no-draft streak to ten years.
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