QMJHL teams add 38 players during 2026 CHL Import Draft
The 2026 CHL Import Draft was held earlier today and QMJHL teams selected a total of 38 players that were born in European countries.
The Halifax Mooseheads, who acquired the second overall selection in a trade with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar yesterday, got things started by using that pick to claim 17-year-old Austrian forward, Paul Sintschnig.
The Rimouski Océanic was the next QMJHL representative to speak, opting to select Czechian winger Maxmilian Mares with the 5th overall pick. The only other QMJHL squad to select inside the Top 10 was the Gatineau Olympiques, who used the 8th overall pick on Russian-born forward Ilya Pautov.
For the second straight year, the CHL Import Draft consisted of three rounds as the CHL enters its second season with three import player spots available on each club’s roster.
However, new rules were in effect for this year’s draft: 20-year-old import players were eligible to be selected in any round, while 16-year-old import players could only be selected in the first round.
CHL clubs can carry a maximum of one 16-year-old import player per season. That player cannot be traded or replaced by another import player during his 16-year-old season. If a 16-year-old import player is released to another level of hockey during the regular season or deleted from a club’s roster, that club will be limited to two import players for the remainder of the regular season and playoffs.
In the end, every QMJHL team added two players in the first two rounds of this year’s CHL Import Draft. The only QMJHL teams to select players in the third round of the draft, however, were the Baie-Comeau Drakkar and Charlottetown Islanders – all other clubs having filled their import player roster spots by then.
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