Où sont passées les vedettes Québécoises de la LNH?
To spare the inevitable rush to Google Translate, I will save you the time.
NHL stars from Quebec…where have you gone?
Follow the thread…Rocket Richard. Doug Harvey. Jacques Plante. Jean Beliveau. Boom Boom Geoffrion. Jean Ratelle. Serge Savard. Guy Lafleur. Gilbert Perreault. Marcel Dionne. Mike Bossy. Denis Savard. Ray Bourque. Patrick Roy. Mario Lemieux. Luc Robitaille. Martin Brodeur. Martin St. Louis. Patrice Bergeron. All-time greats.
Heck, let’s expand the parameters and include Michel Goulet, Rod Gilbert, Pierre Pilote, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe, Jacques Lemaire, Rick Martin, Pierre Turgeon, Roberto Luongo, Vincent Lecavalier, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Kris Letang.
Lists are fun, right (said the guy subjecting you to more commas than anyone should have to consume through three paragraphs of a hockey story).
No, this isn’t an exercise in rapid-fire-listing great NHLers who likely had their names mispronounced by broadcasters on a regular basis. Nor is it me showing off players who my Dad said I should watch to improve my own game, as though I had a pre-YouTube, VHS collection of 1970’s Stanley Cup Playoffs matchups.
It’s a peek into the past; both distant and much more recent, to look at some of the significant exports from the province of Quebec.
Now, a thought exercise. Who is the best Quebecois in the National Hockey League today? Letang has put together the best career, no doubt, but he will turn 39 years old in April. Who do you think of next?
When Canada announced its team for the upcoming 2026 Milan Olympics, it was tough to squint your eyes and find a player from Quebec who would have even been in the conversation for roster consideration. Ottawa’s steady blueliner Thomas Chabot was likely a member of the long-long list, and Alexis Lafreniere can be found on some projected lineups on platforms that took a crack at the ‘26 roster back in 2021 or so (Craig Button, you content monster, you). The same can be said for Jonathan Huberdeau, who once seemed destined for a top-six role, but now finds himself tied with known-sniper Blake Coleman for fifth on the Flames in points.
In fact, not a single skater from Quebec was even invited to Team Canada’s Orientation Camp this summer.
But what about goaltending? Well, that has dried up, too. Through the 80s, 90s and 2000s, Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur each staked legitimate claims to being the best netminder to ever play the game. They were followed by Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo, and then by future HOF’er Marc-Andre Fleury.
At the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, all three Canadian netminders were from Quebec (Brodeur, Luongo, Jose Theodore). Luongo and Brodeur were in the crease at the 2006 Games. The pair were joined in 2010 by Fleury, making it, again, a fully Quebecois battery between the pipes.
Montreal Canadiens’ goalie Sam Montembeault was in attendance at the orientation camp this summer, but his play this season more than disqualified him from consideration for the final roster for 2026. But for an area of blue ice that once represented a great strength for Quebec, the reality of the depth at the position is staggering; Montembeault is the only goaltender from the province to even appear in a single NHL game this season.
We are all aware the Rocket Richards and Jean Believeaus only come along once. That Patrick Roy and Marty Brodeur are once (or apparently twice) in a generation goaltenders. But can we get a Vincent Damphousse? A CLAUDE Lemieux? We’d take Eric Desjardins! A Daniel Briere? Simon Gagne, come on down. A JS Giguere?
For a generation of hockey fans that grew up with Mario Lemieux posters hanging on their bedroom walls, the present - and future - look bleak. The active leader for career points by a player born in Quebec? David Perron. David PERRON. A solid, point-producing winger, who has played for nine teams in his NHL career.
And this year? Well, the leading point-getter is Pittsburgh winger Anthony Mantha, of Longueuil, Quebec, who has never reached the 50-point plateau in his 11-year professional career.
A tree, after all, is judged by the fruit it bears. Maybe, the next harvest will be productive?
No pressure, Caleb Desnoyers. The Saint-Hyacinthe native was taken fourth overall by the Utah Mammoth in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft, after winning a QMJHL championship with the Moncton Wildcats. But after the Utah selection at #4, only two of the next 81 picks were Quebec products. In 2024, none were taken in the first two rounds of the draft. The year prior, Etienne Morin’s selection at #48 represented the first Quebecois to hear his name called.
There is a scenario where Lafreniere finds his stride. Maybe Joshua Roy elevates his game, or Zach Bolduc becomes a 30-goal scorer. Pierre Luc Dubois’ motor leaves something to be desired, but he is certainly talented. Or maybe we wait for Desnoyers, and hope he develops into an elite talent and fills the gap open since Patrice Bergeron skated into the sunset.
If not him, then who?Je ne sais pas.