QMJHL Stock Watch: Yegor Shilov, Alexei Vlasov taking over for Victoriaville

The Junior hockey landscape is changing, and there’s an argument to be made that no league has benefited more from this shift than the QMJHL.

With the NCAA ruling on CHL prospects’ eligibility, more and more European imports are reporting to the Q, and the same goes for eligible Americans from the East Coast. In fact, three of the four prospects in our “Stock rising” segment hail from outside of Canada — including two Russian rookies in Victoriaville, who have taken the helm of the Tigres and steered the team in a promising direction.

We start this month’s Stock Watch with them.

Stock Rising 📈

Yegor Shilov, C, Victoriaville Tigres (2026 NHL Draft)

Yegor Shilov has arrived. The Victoriaville Tigres’ third-overall pick in the 2025 CHL Import Draft has wasted no time at all making his presence known in the QMJHL, racking up three goals and six assists in six games to start the 2025-26 campaign.

After splitting his time between 16U AAA and the USHL last year, Shilov has acclimated incredibly well to the QMJHL game, making the most out of every puck touch with his blend of decent size, fluid skating, high-end dynamic skill and consistent engagement, which I highlighted in this September game report:

“One sequence stood out in the third period where he muscled through a check, faked with his hip pocket before tap-deking through a defender to the middle, but then opted for a pass instead of leveraging the clear shooting lane he had. Worked a lot of smart board-to-middle plays into his retrievals, either by stepping inside himself or by using his pre-scans to identify open teammates. Surprisingly polished and defensively engaged for a Russian QMJHL import (...)”

In a draft short on true centres, Shilov fits the mould — he back-tracks, stays above the puck, acts as a connective element between defencemen and wingers through his routes, and mostly does a great job identifying his man in zone coverage. So far, we at EliteProspects see him as a clear top-20 pick, and if he keeps this up, he’s unlikely to fall out of favour with our scouting team.

Alexei Vlasov, LW/RW, Victoriaville Tigres (2026 NHL Draft)

The second Russian first-round import selection tearing it up in Victoriaville, Alexei Vlasov’s game complements Shilov’s wonderfully — he, too, has earned three goals and six assists in six games to start the year, albeit through different means. The former USHLer has found an alluring niche as a goal-scoring dangler, with the motor and will to overpower massive defencemen despite his 5’9” frame. 

His shot stands out — dense, compact wristers force netminders to guess where the puck is going rather than telegraph it through stick-blade reads, making Vlasov a potent mid-range scorer. He has a slight lean towards back-leg-loaded releases, but can also mix it up with stutter-step snappers and potent one-timers. His main setback is his combination of small stature and below-average skating mechanics, both of which he powers through with sheer effort. 

As he develops this year, the Tigres’ 13th-overall CHL Import Draft pick will likely lean more and more into his skill, but his ticket to the NHL will likely rest on how much he can develop his size-circumventing checking tools. Absorbing hits, using proactive contact on retrievals, lowering his centre of gravity to “ride” cross-checks… Vlasov does these things at a decent enough level right now, but these skills will need to become high-end to elite in order to fool pro-quality defencemen. That’ll be the difference-maker for him. 

Alexis Joseph, C, Saint John Sea Dogs (2027 NHL Draft)

It isn’t often that a 16-year-old centre steps into a relatively strong QMJHL roster and instantly becomes its offensive leader — but first-overall QMJHL Draft pick Alexis Joseph is no ordinary 16-year-old.

The Saint John Sea Dogs’ 6’4” pivot has been incredibly impressive to start the year, already having earned four goals and six points in six games to start the year. Beyond the points, Joseph’s tools and positional sense have translated wonderfully, as I highlighted in this October 4th game report:

“He held his own defensively too — played on the penalty kill, applied intelligent effort, and leveraged his positioning to jump on loose pucks and create shorthanded chances. His skating is already 5.5 grade, and at his size, that’s a massive advantage (...). Joseph is already emerging as his team's offensive cornerstone, and he hasn’t even hit double-digit games. He’s going to be a monster this year and the next.”

As Joseph further develops his pace and gains situational experience — when to simplify, and when to complexify his puck touches — his unique combination of size, skill, sense and fluidity will continue to shine even brighter, but so far, he has exceeded expectations in Saint John.

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

Moncton’s latest high-school prep finding on defence, Tommy Bleyl has caught our scouts’ attention through six games with the Wildcats, scoring two goals and adding three assists in six games while forcing himself into the top power-play quarterback spot with his distribution skill.

Incredibly fluid and dynamic from the back-end, Bleyl has the passing range to bomb pucks up the ice, and the mobility to activate quickly into the offensive zone. He works give-and-gos, finds slip pass opportunities while in-motion, and is comfortable driving the net directly from the blue line. Defensively, he leverages his mobility into a solid rush defending game, matching footwork on entries and timing his pokes with carriers’ crossing attempts.

Bleyl is still figuring contact out — he has some interesting ideas, most notably when it comes to cutting off opponents’ hands along the wall, but hasn’t incorporated proactive contact, net-front clearing and check-absorption details into his game yet. His quick edges get him out of most sticky situations on retrievals, but leveraging those edges into a more contact-resistant toolkit will only increase his effectiveness as a two-way puck-mover.

Honourable mentions: Xavier Villeneuve (2026 NHL Draft), Loik Gariepy (2027 NHL Draft), Chad Lygitsakos (2026 NHL Draft), Simon-Pier Brunet (Buffalo Sabres), Émile Guité (Anaheim Ducks), Olivers Mūrnieks (2026 NHL Draft)

Stock Steady ↔️

Lars Steiner, RW/C, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (2026 NHL Draft)

After putting up 60 points in his rookie campaign with the Huskies, the pressure was going to fall squarely on Lars Steiner’s shoulders this year — with veteran Antonin Verreault aging out and star forward Bill Zonnon’s trade to Blainville-Boisbriand, last year’s deadly front three is down to one.

Although the points have been coming for Steiner — eight in seven matches, to be exact — they’ve mostly come in ways that don’t exactly translate. A lot of his rush patterns fall short of NHL-calibre, as he mainly attacks in straight lines down the flanks or up the middle of the ice. This leads him into avoidable battles, the likes of which a more dynamic carrier would bypass by angling towards the middle, accelerating, decelerating and manipulating defenders’ feet. 

Steiner’s release makes up for lost ground in terms of production — he folds his wrists aggressively off the catch-and-release, and his weight transfer generates torque on pucks that make them hard for netminders to handle — but in order to make it as more than an undersized bottom-six checker, Steiner will have to rely on more adaptable routes, and incorporate more dynamism into his game. Still, he remains a high-end defensive presence with an impressive motor and a stocky, hard-to-knock frame, which gives him better odds at a pro career than most linear 5’10” forwards.

Stock Falling 📉

Raoul Boilard, RW/C, Shawinigan Cataractes (New York Rangers)

Since his trade to the Shawinigan Cataractes, Raoul Boilard has failed to hit the scoresheet through five games, and has been stuck playing third-line right wing. The New York Rangers’ 119th-overall pick in 2024 was a key top-six piece for Baie-Comeau throughout last year, scoring 46 points in 53 games while showing a bit of consistency issues — but this start to his season has been more difficult than any of his lows from the previous campaign.

Boilard’s effort level hasn’t been up to par through the start of this campaign, as the 6’2” centre has often to recognize opportunities to back-check hard and disrupt dangerous chances. He has mainly adopted a passive approach, preferring to read and react from the periphery rather than lead the charge like he does when he’s on. This has led to him being on the ice for multiple chances and goals against.

Boilard should be leading the charge in this lineup — he is being outplayed at the moment by most of his teammates, and even by his centre, 2007-born import rookie Elias Schneider, who has taken over centre responsibilities on their line. Boilard will need to right this ship soon in order to maintain his good standing in the Rangers’ organizational depth chart.