Hockey insider Mikael Lalancette dropped a bomb on October 2, 2024, when he scooped the story that highly touted 2025 NHL Draft prospect Zachary Morin (C, L, 6’1″, 186, Saint John Sea Dogs, 01/25/2007, Boston University) decided to leave the Youngstown Phantoms of the USHL. Youngstown, under General Manager Jason Deskins, has had a knack for attracting highly-touted prospects outside of the US with recent tenders such as Zachary Morin, Beckham Edwards and Sasha Boumedienne as well as newly acquired NHL Draft prospect Adam Benak (CZE) and highly-touted ’08 defenseman Eric Frossard (CAN). Edwards ended up deciding on the OHL route signing with Sarnia Sting late this summer and now it appears they may lose another in Zachary Morin to the QMJHL.
If you have followed the Q for an extended time, you have no doubt grown accustomed to Lalancette making headlines with insider imformation, but this one definitely adds tons of intrigue and excitement to the Saint John Sea Dogs and the entire QMJHL. Morin’s skill set and overall ability has been well documented over the years. The Quebec born product’s camp from the onset of his draft year made it very clear that the plan was always to go south of the border to play and develop.
The Blainville-Boisbriand Armada selected Morin with the 19th pick overall in 2023 QMJHL Entry Draft. Morin was ranked 3rd overall by QMJHL CSR and 2nd overall by Neutral Zone in last season’s draft class but fell to 19th given this tender with Youngstown Phantoms (USHL). With that being said Morin verbally committed to Boston University (NCAA) and did not sign with Blainville-Boisbriand and therefore the Armada didn’t add Morin to their protected list at the end of last season. He was eligible to be selected in last June’s draft where he got snatched up by the Saint John Sea Dogs in the 8th round (131st overall).
The Sea Dogs have a history of landing top prospects late in the draft and convincing them to alter their course and report to the Port City. Morin’s potential arrival in Saint John would undoubtedly add stability and skill to their top six. If he were to report Morin would likely be an immediate impact play through the middle for a very young Sea Dogs group looking to regain some traction within the QMJHL. While NZ has followed up on leads around the league saying Lalancette’s reporting is accruate; Morin has not signed with Saint John and any intention to do so at this point is speculative.
NZ’s NHL Draft Analyst Ian Moran scouting report on Zachary Morin last season with Youngstown when they played Waterloo Blackhawks in February.
The 2007 Morin is a highly skilled left shot left wing with an NHL frame who processes the game like a goal scorer. He showed a knee over toe skating base with long powerful strides and a return leg that landed on its flat edge. He showed improved top speed and explosiveness out of hard stops. Offensively he scored a beautiful cross body one-timer after recognizing a breakdown in Waterloo’s defensive zone coverage and sprinting to the slot screaming for the puck. Although he has the frame to be an NHLer there is no doubt that he is still gaining the strength and power needed to win battles consistently as there were times that he was pushed off the puck or had his stride broken while he was trying to jump off contact into space. As a high skill guy coaches are going to let him try to make plays in dangerous areas but Morin had three turnovers in the offensive grey area. None of them led to odd man situations going the other way but at higher levels, especially professionally, those will quickly end up as odd man rushes towards his goalie.
Morin’s potential arrival will draw even more attention to the Maritimes Division from the NHL scouting fraternity who will likely be making the trek to the east coast more often now to evaluate and assess the likes of Caleb Desnoyers, Owen Conrad and countless other 2007 born players eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling