QMJHL Stock Watch: Ivan Ryabkin settling into his offensive role in Charlottetown

We’re heading into the final month of the 2025-26 QMJHL campaign, and the league’s landscape is still shifting.

The Chicoutimi Saguenéens have some competition at the top of the standings, as Maxim Massé’s astounding leadership by example still hasn’t quite allowed them to create separation by the ever-consistent Moncton Wildcats. At the core of the Wildcats’ push for the top of the standings stand Caleb Desnoyers at centre and Tommy Bleyl on defence, both driving consistent offence in fundamentally different ways.

Meanwhile, arguably the biggest riser of the 2026 NHL Draft class, Maddox Dagenais, has finally found the missing elements that made our team hesitant to consider him a first-rounder, and the Québec Remparts are feeling all of the benefits of that change in approach.

At the top of the point-per-game chart in the entire league, however, is a Russian mid-season AHL-to-CHL demotion whose game seems to be trending in all the right directions, leading to the Charlottetown Islanders sitting comfortably in playoff contention. We’ll kick off this Stock Watch with him.

Stock Rising 📈

Ivan Ryabkin, C, Charlottetown Islanders (Carolina Hurricanes)

Ivan Ryabkin’s time with the Chicago Wolves saw him explore key areas of his game that have only grown in importance since his addition to Charlottetown’s roster in mid-January. The Hurricanes’ 62nd overall pick in 2025 has been on a tear as of late, scoring 14 points in seven games since the start of February while helping the Isles post a 6-1 record with him in the lineup. 

That 6-1 record includes two wins against the league lead-contending Moncton Wildcats in a back-to-back home-and-home, and a win against the powerhouse Blainville-Boisbriand Armada this past weekend. Ryabkin scored eight points in those three games.

The centre’s AHL stint saw his intensity and pace ramp up a decent amount — a previously concerning deficiency in his game. He started hustling down low, recovering shots through contact, working the net front, and joining scrums to dig pucks out of corners. We’re seeing the same tendencies in the QMJHL, as Ryabkin has made a habit of putting himself in situations that allow his stocky frame to shine. Meanwhile, the skills look just as promising; a heavy release sits atop the highlight reel from this past month, but the playmaking vision also stands out, as he threaded seam pass after seam pass from the half wall while making quick one-touch circulation plays.

The next step will be to add dynamism to those sequences, and the QMJHL is a favourable environment to explore with that concept. More of his puck touches are coming off the wall, which will put him in situations to explore with wall-to-middle carry patterns and escapes. Even without that development, Ryabkin could still make his intense, punishing, and highly entertaining game work at the next level.

Maxim Massé, LW, Chicoutimi Saguenéens (Anaheim Ducks)

Another high-scoring month for Maxim Massé has further contributed to Chicoutimi’s dominance over their division. The Ducks’ 66th overall pick in 2024 has been a model of consistency for the Saguenéens, helping them to a 10-2 record with an 18-point month.

Massé’s overall scoring arsenal has increased, with a release that has grown in both power and versatility. Crafty backhand moves down low, quick downforce-laden snaps off the catch, and powerful mid-range wristers off his front leg have helped him score goal after goal this season. He is four goals shy of hitting 50 for the first time in his QMJHL career, after a shortened draft-plus-one campaign put him on pace for it, but unable to reach the mark.

The increase in Massé’s scoring versatility isn’t the only explanatory factor for his scoring uptick, either; the scoring winger also has some of the most refined battle mechanics in the entire QMJHL. He leans through defenders’ hands on retrievals, reads their feet to pin them more effectively when he’s second to the puck, and uses a blend of proactive contact and active feet to turn 50/50 scenarios into advantaged puck acquisition.

Battle wins will, in all likelihood, be Massé’s bread-winner in the NHL. Stepping off the wall to create will be the next natural development layer in his game, and he is already exploring with it at this level, taking pucks inside check-shrugging pivots to access open space in the middle. More pace is required to execute those same manoeuvres against NHL-quality defenders and structures, but Massé has the foundations to add that to his game. There is little doubt of his NHL upside at this stage, as he could likely play bottom-six checking minutes already.

Caleb Desnoyers, C, Moncton Wildcats (Utah Mammoth)

Caleb Desnoyers has hit his stride in convincing fashion since his return from the World Juniors, and that impact has been felt throughout the month of February. The Utah Mammoth’s fourth overall pick in last year’s draft has been lights-out as of late, with 26 points in his last 11 games to pull the Wildcats to an 8-3 record in that span. What’s more impressive, however, is his continued focus on entry chance creation, which he has effectively mastered against QMJHL competition.

From a glide, with the puck in his hip pocket, Desnoyers forces defencemen to bite first, before adjusting his speed and puck placement to find space wide. He baits, reads, anticipates, and reacts with precision and unshakable poise, which makes him a nightmare to try and defend off the carry. Once in the offensive zone, he can manoeuvre wide and set up the cycle, or dish off a quick drop pass and drag a defender or two with him with off-puck tie-ups, forcing them to abandon contested areas to open up acres of space for his linemates to exploit.

This area of his game will require some tweaking, as those patient, gliding entries won’t work against the premium rush-stoppers of the NHL. Luckily, everything about Desnoyers’ game hints at his high-end adaptability; he has shown in flashes, when necessary and most beneficial, that he can use crossovers and higher-pace, higher-manipulation attack patterns to create chances. He attacks this way at the moment because it works, rather than because of any clear mechanical deficiencies forcing him to create through patient, low-pace patterns. His skating and power have taken a step, allowing him to play an efficient checking game when his team requires it, too. Desnoyers, as of right now, is both the QMJHL’s most intelligent attacker, and its most versatile. He’ll play NHL minutes fairly quickly.

Tommy Bleyl, D, Moncton Wildcats (2026 NHL Draft)

A draft-eligible American defenceman seeing this level of success this early is almost unheard of, but Tommy Bleyl is no ordinary defenceman. The Moncton Wildcats’ recent prep-school addition has continued his upwards trajectory in February, leaning on his phenomenal skating and impressive puck skills to rack up 16 points in his last 11 games, eclipsing Jordan Spence’s record for points by a Wildcats rookie defenceman which earned him the title of rookie of the year in 2019.

Bleyl’s skating drives a great portion of his two-way effectiveness. He pinches and closes gaps defensively with impressive confidence for a rookie, erasing space better than anyone on the Wildcats. From there, his stickwork takes over, as he takes away the right lanes, baits carriers one way before lifting their sticks to escape the other way, and quickly shakes back pressure through tremendous escape acceleration to access open ice in the neutral zone. He’s a one-man breakout, more than willing to skate pucks out of his zone directly, take on multiple waves of pressure, and create entries off his own stick.

There are some notable limitations to his current game, mainly in the way of contact skills and passing awareness on breakouts, but overall, Bleyl has made himself impossible to ignore for the 2026 NHL Draft’s top 100 despite his 5-foot-11 frame. There are a couple of development trajectories his game could take due to his combination of translatable offensive-zone control and elite skating. With more physical investment, he could turn into a Troy Stecher archetype, while more of an emphasis on pass-and-activate sequencing could help him turn into a player in the mould of Spence. He’ll be an exciting prospect to follow in the seasons following his selection this summer.  

Maddox Dagenais, C, Québec Remparts (2026 NHL Draft)

We featured Maddox Dagenais in December’s Stock Rising segment due to his improving contact game and work rate, and as of late, that area of his game has taken an even bigger step, leading to his impressive tally of 16 points in 10 games since February. This tally has allowed Dagenais to bump his scoring average to above a point per game on the season.

“This is, without a doubt, the best Maddox Dagenais game I’ve watched”, I wrote in a recent game report. “The night-and-day difference between his work rate in previous viewings versus this game was the key differentiator; he really, really tried in this one, and was highly effective on forechecks and cycle plays as a result. He won foot races, dug into his outside edges on retrievals, exploded out of contact, controlled the tempo offensively, ran clever and timely off-puck routes to put pressure on breakout attempts, and was a nightmare to contain along the wall.”

Along with the work rate improvements, we’re seeing Dagenais leverage clever reads, fluid mobility, above-average shooting and passing skill, along with some impressive handling sequences to beat defenders off the wall. He is becoming an utterly dominant factor in all three zones, leading his draft stock to rise beyond late-first-round contention. 

Honourable Mentions: Lars Steiner (2026 NHL Draft), Nathan Quinn (Philadelphia Flyers), Oleg Kulebyakin (2026 NHL Draft)

Stock Falling 📉

The Baie-Comeau Drakkar

The last-placed team in the QMJHL did themselves no favours this past month, showing slight promise by winning their first match of the month before stringing together nine straight losses since. They scored 17 goals in those 10 games, an extension of their biggest issue of finding the back of the net.

Baie-Comeau’s top scorers this season, Kyle Powers, and Mattias Gilbert, both have 26 points to their names. No other player on their team has more than 20. That would be a concern in December for any team, let alone February. 

The Drakkar have had to rely more than they should on underage talent, with Liam Armit, Declan Wotton, and Matys St-Gelais punching above their weight in the lineup as 16-year-olds. Armit has been the most consistent, with his combination of size and speed allowing him to stay afloat in Baie-Comeau’s middle six as a linear North-South checker. 

On the bright side, Drew Allison looks more and more like a top-pair defenceman in this league, stringing together impressive shutdown sequences to try and put out as many fires as he can while playing an increasingly composed blue-line game. Meanwhile, Biagio Jr. Daniele’s acquisition from Newfoundland has proven to be a positive, as the young defenceman’s skating and breakout savvy have allowed him to keep lengthy defensive-zone shifts to a minimum.

With some promising young pieces on offence and a deep 2027 NHL Draft class to delve into fairly soon, the Drakkar shouldn’t struggle at length to get out of the depths, but for now, the light at the end of the tunnel is still small and distant. They’ll need time to get back to their peak.