CHL Storylines: Desnoyers leading Wildcats at the top of QMJHL

The Moncton Wildcats have been one of the premier teams in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League all season and are currently leading the pack as the end of the regular season inches closer.

Moncton leads the league with a 34-8-2 record entering Wednesday’s action and are five points ahead of the Drummondville Voltigeurs and seven points up on the Memorial Cup host Rimouski Oceanic.

The Wildcats have been led offensively by top NHL prospect Caleb Desnoyers, who is tied for fourth in QMJHL scoring with 27 goals and 62 points in 39 games while maintaining a plus-39 rating.

The 6-foot-2 centre was the first-overall selection in the QMJHL draft in 2023 and he may also hear his name called early at the NHL Draft in Los Angeles this year.

Desnoyers began the season at No. 9 on TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button’s pre-season list and at the No. 10 position on TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie’s pre-season draft rankings.

Since then, the St-Hyacinthe, Que., native has moved up to No. 6 on both McKenzie and Button’s rankings due to his strong regular season and his impact at the CHL USA Prospects Challenge in November.

“His progression has been phenomenal, I don’t know if there’s any other word for it,” said Button. “He will do whatever needs to happen in order to help his team win. He’s just a difference maker and a driver.”

Desnoyers recently had a 15-game point streak snapped when the Wildcats fell to the Oceanic 5-3 on Saturday. He had 12 goals and 27 points during that span.

The 17-year-old is a prototypical playmaking centre who has the ability to make the players around him better.

“I would call him a lower-case Jonathan Toews,” said Button. “For players like Desnoyers, every aspect of his game matters. It doesn’t matter if it’s a puck battle, shot blocking, or killing a penalty.”

Moncton has won 13 of their past 16 games but have slowed down over the last week after losing two of their last three games.

As a team contending for a Gilles-Courteau Trophy and a trip to the Memorial Cup, the Wildcats loaded up at the trade deadline by acquiring star goaltender Mathis Rousseau from this Halifax Mooseheads and Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Dyllan Gill from the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Gill had an injury-plagued season last year, which limited him to only 12 games with the Huskies.

This season, he appeared in 24 games with the American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch, recording two goals and four points, before he was returned to junior hockey at the beginning of January.

The 6-foot-3 right-shot defenceman has a goal and seven points in eight games since joining the Wildcats.

Rousseau, 20, was one of the QMJHL’s best goaltenders last season, finishing with a 31-8-4 record and led the league with a .925 save percentage to go along with a 2.27 goals-against average. He also represented Canada at the 2024 World Juniors in Sweden, putting up a 3-2 record with a .912 save percentage and 2.00 GAA in a fifth-place finish.

The 5-foot-11 netminder struggled this season with a Mooseheads team that sits in last place in the Eastern Conference. He had a 9-16-5 record with a 3.16 GAA and .906 save percentage before he was dealt to Moncton.

Rousseau has yet to find his groove with the Wildcats, putting up a 3-3-0 record with a .893 save percentage and 3.02 GAA in six games so far.

“I’m not worried about Rousseau one bit,” said Button. “He’s getting acclimated to a new system, new defencemen, and the team is trying to figure out how to play in front of him.
 
“The bottom line is that he has a body of work that’s very impressive. He’s a goaltender that has gone deep in the playoffs and has shown that he’s capable of winning.”

Red hot Tigers going all in

The Medicine Hat Tigers have been red hot since the end of the end of the World Juniors and the passing of the CHL trade deadline.

Medicine Hat are winners of their last 10 games, including an explosive 10-4 win over the Regina Pats on Jan. 21.

The Tigers are trying to stake their claim at the top of the Western Hockey League’s Central Division and Eastern Conference with a 31-15-2 record and hold a three-point advantage over the Calgary Hitmen in both.

Phenom Gavin McKenna has been the offensive catalyst all season for the Tigers and currently is in the top spot in WHL scoring with 22 goals and 79 points in 39 games.

He is on a 23-game point streak, which is the second long in the league this season. During that span he has 13 goals and 50 points with him missing nine games while he was with Canada at the 2025 World Juniors in Ottawa.

Outside of McKenna, the Tigers bring a lot of fire power to the table.

Minnesota Wild prospect Ryder Ritchie was acquired prior to the start of the season from the Prince Albert Raiders to provide some secondary scoring.

After suffering a scary injury in October where he was cut by a teammate’s skate, the 6-foot-1 winger returned and has 18 goals and 35 points in 33 games this season.

“Ritchie is a goal scorer and he’s always a threat to score,” said Button. “That becomes really important for a team with this much skill because he is someone that can win a game for you with just a flick of a wrist.”

The Tigers’ blueline is also incredibly deep with Utah Hockey Club prospect Veeti Vaisanen, Dallas Stars prospect Niilopekka Muhonen and Nashville Predators prospect Tanner Molendyk, who was acquired at the trade deadline.

“Vaisanen and Muhonen are really good defenders,” said Button “They got weight, length, they’re smart, and they aren’t flashy, but they make the right plays. You need those types of players to have success.

“Those guys will also help [a star defenceman] like Molendyk be himself so he can go out and play without worrying too much about supporting his defence partner.”

The Tigers could have a couple of wild cards off the injured list as they approach the playoffs, with Calgary Flames prospect Andrew Basha and Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Cayden Lindstrom both missing time.

Basha was deemed to be out long-term with a lower-body injury on Jan. 8 and hasn’t played since before the New Year. The 6-foot winger is coming off a career-season last year registering 30 goals and 85 points in 63 games. He put up nine goals and 29 points in 23 games before going down with the injury.

Lindstrom was drafted fourth overall by the Blue Jackets in the 2024 draft but hasn’t played since December of 2023 due to a back injury. The 6-foot 4 centre had minor back surgery in November and was expected to return at some point this season.

Medicine Hat has a proud history in the WHL, winning five Ed Chynoweth Cups in franchise history, with the last coming in 2007. They are one championship behind the Kamloops Blazers for the most titles in the history of the league.

They are also looking for their sixth appearance at the Memorial Cup and their first title since they won back-to-back in 1987 and 1988.

“When you think about the great franchises of the CHL, the Tigers come to mind near the top of that list,” said Button. “It’s a franchise with a long-storied history and a long-storied history of great players.

“When you combine the history, the institutional knowledge of head coach Willie Desjardins, and the superstar status of Gavin McKenna, if the team were to win this season it would be outstanding for the community.”

Player to Watch: Simon Wang – Oshawa Generals

When McKenzie released his mid-season rankings on Jan. 22, a name that has been on the rise is Oshawa Generals defenceman Simon Wang.

The native of Beijing played hockey in China until he was a teenager and then moved to Canada to continue to develop his hockey career.

He originally planned to commit to Boston University next season, but after the NCAA made rule changes that allows players who played in the CHL to be allowed to join the NCAA later, he joined the Generals in December.

Wang was playing for the King Rebellion of the OJHL prior to joining Oshawa where he had four goals and 22 points in 38 games. He is still getting his feet wet in major junior, only appearing in 10 games with the Generals and has yet to register a point.

“There’s a wide variance of opinion on him,” McKenzie said during his mid-season rankings special on TSN. “There was one scout who rated him at No. 18 for this season’s draft and another scout who had him outside the second round.

“Right now, he’s a borderline first-round prospect but where it goes from here, we’ll see.”

Wang ended up in the No. 31 position on McKenzie’s rankings, just squeaking into the first round. He was also placed at No. 58 on Button’s January draft list.

The differing viewpoints from scouts have to do with the fact the Wang is still finding himself as a defenceman. Standing at 6-foot-6, scouts know he has size and the ability to skate but has gone from playing in China to playing major junior hockey in a short period of time, leaving scouts with many questions.

“It’s been a rapid escalation of levels that he’s played at,” said Button. “Coming from overseas, to under-16 hockey, to Junior A, then the OHL in quick succession. Nobody has had a chance to watch him for a long period of time.

“It would be premature to label him as a certain type of defenceman because I don’t think Simon knows what type of defenceman he is. He has a lot of raw potential when you watch him skate. He’s not afraid to take initiative, and he’s a competitor. But what’s he going to develop into? I’m not sure and I don’t think he knows yet either.”

Wang joined a Generals team that is in the midst of a heated race at the top of the Eastern Conference and the East Division. They lead their division with a 27-15-4 record entering Wednesday’s action, one point ahead of the Kingston Frontenacs. They are also two points shy of the Barrie Colts for top spot in the conference.

There will be no shortage of opportunities for the Generals to test Wang’s mettle at the junior hockey level as the team has high aspirations to return to the OHL Championship Series after being swept by the London Knights last season.