Top 20 Quebecers in the NHL

[Voight]

What happened to hockey in Quebec? This list would have been incredible 30+ years ago.

The biggest concern is how and when the Quebec goalie factory shutdown, they err putting up historic numbers for a while.

The rest of Canada can handle the forwards and defensemen, They need Quebec to produce goalies.

 

[BKarchitect]

It’s a far cry from the past, there’s no doubting that.

I think a lot rests on Lafreniere. As should be expected. He turned into a great top six complimentary player last season, a standout at even strength. Does he have enough creativity in his locker to take that next step as a PP mainstay and star scorer? If he does, that’s huge.

Also the bright side - I think Lapierre has a ton of momentum and will shoot up this list quickly. Luneau and Bourque should establish themselves as NHLers this year with top six/top four upside.

And importantly - I think the 2025 draft is shaping up to be a good one for the province, the best in a long time. I think Desnoyers and Guite both could threaten to be lottery picks and Carbonneau is positioning himself not only as another potential first rounder but potentially another top 20 pick. If Quebec produces three top 15-20 picks in what is shaping up to be a good draft crop, that’s a big step in the right direction.

A little victory, for sure, compared to past glories. But a step. Now we need that classic butterfly star in net. A few years ago, Gabriel D’Aigle looked like the phenom that was promised…but he appears to be falling flat, hard, as his draft year arrives. That 6-8 kid Denault is probably worth monitoring though.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

Hockey Quebec is a walking corpse of dinosaurs.

 

[Anemia]

Le woof.

 

[JuJu Mobb]

Soccer has surpassed hockey in the Province :

''Football (Soccer) has always been popular in Québec and has emerged as the youth sport of choice for parents across the province. Both boys (97,000) and girls (42,000) football registrations continue to surpass that of hockey. According to Hockey Canada's annual report, 69,000 boys and 6,840 girls played youth hockey in the 2022-23 season.''

 

[stymie]

C'est dommage.

 

[Grate n Colorful Oz]

C'est dommage.

Ça craint

 

[Fatass]

Looking at that list and it’s kind of sad how the Quebec born players have fallen off. These guys used to be the best and a clubs key to winning Cups. Now Lafreniere is their second best? A once great hockey heritage is looking dead. Very sad.

 

[End on a Hinote]

Sad to see this list compared to how it looked 50 years ago

 

[thrillhous]

I'm confident in the next group of Quebec players, even though it lacks a superstar :

Hendrix Lapierre
Mavrik Bourque
Joshua Roy
Tristan Luneau
Ethan Gauthier
Zachary Bolduc
Jordan Dumais
Nathan Gaucher
Maveric Lamoureux
Sasha Boisvert
Justin Poirier
Caleb Desnoyers
Émile Guité
Alex Huang
Justin Carbonneau
Zachary Morin
Maddox Dagenais

I wish I had the same confidence. Not a strong list of prospects unfortunately.

 

[RussianShark]

I think California might have a better top 10 at this point:

Auston Matthews
Jason Robertson
Thatcher Demko
Trevor Moore
Dustin Wolf
Cam York
Nick Robertson
Jason Zucker
Matt Nieto
Devin Cooley

Maybe I should have just said top 5. But even that would have been a ludicrous thought a decade ago.

 

[JonathnTaylorTavares]

Paper in Montreal just made its annual list, its pretty much the worst its ever been

20- Hendrix Lapierre
19-Alex Killhorn
18-Anthony Beauvillier
17-Mathieu Joseph
16-Nicolas Roy
15-Yanni Gourde
14-Marc Andre Fleury
13-Samuel Girard
12-David Perron
11-Pierre Luc Dubois
10-Anthony Duclair
9-Samuel Montembault
8-Jonathan Drouin
7-Thomas Chabot
6-Jonathan Huberdeau
5-Kristopher Letang
4-Mike Matheson
3-Philip Danault
2-Alexis Lafreniere
1-Jonathan Marchessault

I take 12-20 and anyone else ever born in Quebec over PLD

 

[ItWasJustified]

They need the Nordiques back to create more interest and hate in the province.

 

[Rcknrollkillnmachine]

PLD is still too high.

 

[Silky Johnson]

Team Nova Scotia/PEI kills them despite the 9 to 1 population advantage.

Forwards

Sidney Crosby Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand
Alex Killorn
Morgan Barron
Liam O’Brien
Matthew Highmore
Drake Batherson
Ryan MacInnis
Logan Shaw
Zack MacEwen


Defense
Ryan Graves
Justin Barron
Noah Dobson (
Brandon Carlo
Luke Green
Mac Hollowell

Goalie
Zach Fucale

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Hockey Quebec, it's a disaster. Everyone knows it, just ask Jocelyn Thibault about it

How do I ask him? Where can he be reached?

 

[waffledave]

Nobody in this province wants to sent their kids to get f***ed up the ass with broomsticks anymore.

 

[BKarchitect]

Team Nova Scotia/PEI kills them despite the 9 to 1 population advantage.

Forwards

Sidney Crosby Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand
Alex Killorn
Morgan Barron
Liam O’Brien
Matthew Highmore
Drake Batherson
Ryan MacInnis
Logan Shaw
Zack MacEwen


Defense
Ryan Graves
Justin Barron
Noah Dobson (
Brandon Carlo
Luke Green
Mac Hollowell

Goalie
Zach Fucale

Three generation-defining players all coming out of the greater Halifax area in 8 years is insane.

 

[Magic 8 Ball]

Team Nova Scotia/PEI kills them despite the 9 to 1 population advantage.

Forwards

Sidney Crosby Nathan MacKinnon
Brad Marchand
Alex Killorn
Morgan Barron
Liam O’Brien
Matthew Highmore
Drake Batherson
Ryan MacInnis
Logan Shaw
Zack MacEwen


Defense
Ryan Graves
Justin Barron
Noah Dobson (
Brandon Carlo
Luke Green
Mac Hollowell

Goalie
Zach Fucale

Pretty sure Fucale is Quebecois, unless we're including players who played in NS/PEI

 

[Zalos]

A list of factors that partly explain the OP:

1) The basic skill level in the NHL has went up immensely in the past twenty years and Hockey Quebec hasn't followed suit. The organization is archaic and in a sad state of affair. Everybody else in the world seem to have upped their focus on forging better young players, though. There are more and more gifted prospects from the US, for example.

2) There used to be a time when goaltenders made in Quebec (tm) were ahead of the others, but I believe that everyone else have learned from goalies like Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur and that they've moved beyond. Like apprentices that learned from their masters until they irremediably surpassed them.

3) As others have pointed out, parents do not send their kids into hockey as much anymore here. Other sports are favored, because hockey comes with monetary constraints and higher risk of grave injuries.

4) It is also possible that we are in a lull as far as extremely gifted Quebecois hockey players are concerned. There's bound to be some again eventually, even with a smaller number of kids from Quebec playing hockey.

When a team is brought to Quebec City again, and the rivalry between Quebec and Montreal is revived anew, more local kids will want to play the sport again.

 

[WatchfulElm]

I think the main factor is often overlooked.

The mentality regarding violence in hockey has evolved a lot in Quebec these past 10 years, among parents, fans, pundits and even former players. I think it's fair to say that the vast majority of Quebecers now oppose fighting and believe the NHL doesn't take headshots and their consequence seriously enough. Also, there has been massive outrage here over all the scandals about degrading initiations and all the sexual misconduct stuff.

I read both the English and French speaking press and the media treatment is really different. In the English speaking medias, there's this "boys will be boys" mentality regarding initiations. Violence is still considered to be an integral part of hockey. Not in Quebec.

Parents in Quebec are watching this are and less and less inclined to send their boys in such a toxic environment. I would argue that it's the main reason behind the decline of hockey here.

On the other hand, Quebec's athletes are shining in the Olympics. Last winter olympic games, half of Canadian medals were won by Quebecers, despite them making only 20% of the population. Sport is more alive than ever. Hockey is still very popular, but parents prefer to send their kids on the speed skating rink, not the hockey one.

 

[bobholly39]

Bad, lacking top-end talent, lacking depth, and filled with players who are clearly past their prime.

What happened?

It's all political.

Last time Quebec wanted to separate from Canada - they had Lemieux, Roy, Brodeur etc and so Canada blocked it. Need that talent to win Olympic gold.

I figure next time Quebec tries to go - Canada's gonna be like - seeya, we're good.

 

[Bixby Snyder]

They need the Nordiques back to create more interest and hate in the province.

Except most of the greats of Quebec hockey came up in an era when the Nordiques didn't exist and also how do you explain Nova Scotia producing more elite talent?

 

[Team_Spirit]

Except most of the greats of Quebec hockey came up in an era when the Nordiques didn't exist and also how do you explain Nova Scotia producing more elite talent?

Quebec hockey greats came up when hockey was cheap and elite hockey was accessible to the average family.

Crosby and Mackinnon went to ssm that's like 50k a year at 14yo.

 

[InglewoodJack]

Soccer has surpassed hockey in the Province :

''Football (Soccer) has always been popular in Québec and has emerged as the youth sport of choice for parents across the province. Both boys (97,000) and girls (42,000) football registrations continue to surpass that of hockey. According to Hockey Canada's annual report, 69,000 boys and 6,840 girls played youth hockey in the 2022-23 season.''

Soccer is a big part of it, but it’s crazy that you could probably put together a list of the best 10 athletes from Quebec and the list would be mostly non-hockey players. You could probably put 5 guys ahead of even the best NHLer from Quebec.