Simon Gagné said Tuesday morning that James Scantlebury has decided to join the Remparts of Québec in August 2026, ending the club's wait for the center it selected in the first round of the 2025 draft. The announcement came at a morning news conference and put a date on a move the organization had expected for months.
Scantlebury, a 5-foot-10, 172-pound center from Montréal born Jan. 15, 2009, was chosen ninth overall after Québec traded with the Saguenéens de Chicoutimi to move up for the pick. He spent the 2024-2025 season with the Chicago Steel of the USHL, finishing with 16 goals and 23 assists for 39 points in 62 games and earning a place on the USHL rookie team.
Gagné said the Remparts were confident when they used that pick on Scantlebury, even though the forward had initially decided to keep developing with Chicago. He said a few contacts took place during the season, but the discussions resumed only after the USHL schedule ended, when the team and player were able to move forward on the agreement for August 2026.
The deal gives Québec the player it had targeted when it paid to move up in the draft, and it adds another piece to a prospect pipeline that has been taking shape around the 2009 cohort. Scantlebury becomes the third player from that group and selected in the 2025 draft to join the team, after Thomas Charbonneau and Alex Desruisseaux had already come aboard. Bastien Michaud and Louis-Thomas Lapointe also saw limited action as affiliated players during the 2025-2026 season.
Scantlebury said he was grateful for his year in Chicago and proud to be joining an organization he described as excellent, with an exciting group of players. For the Remparts, the move closes one chapter and opens another: the player they waited for is now committed, and the next step is getting him to Québec for camp in August 2026.
