(Image Credit: Steve Dunsmoor)
15 year-old phenom

Madden Daneault: Breaking records and breaking hearts

Oct 5, 2026 | 7:00 AM

Five games into his Western Hockey League career, Madden Daneault isn’t just keeping up.

He’s leading the Kelowna Rockets in scoring.

The 15-year-old has two goals and five assists for seven points, putting him in a tie for 6th in WHL scoring and giving the Rockets something they probably didn’t expect this early in his major junior career: their youngest player is also their leading scorer.

And Daneault appears to be getting better with every game.

His 17 shots on goal are third on the team, behind Ryan Outhoudt’s 20 and Owen Folstrom’s 18, another indication that his seven points aren’t coming by accident.

He’s getting involved. He’s getting pucks to the net. And he’s finding the scoresheet.

Then there is the history.

Daneault scored his first WHL goal September 25th against the Penticton Vees, and when the puck went in, it did more than give him his first major junior goal.

It rewrote the Rockets’ record book.

Daneault was 15 years, four months and 18 days old, making him the youngest player in franchise history to score a WHL goal.

There is an interesting connection to Tyson Baillie, who also scored his first WHL goal on the road in his debut.

Baillie did it Sept. 24, 2011, in Everett, at 15 years, 10 months and eight days old.

Daneault accomplished the same thing nearly six months younger.

The players Daneault passed on the Rockets’ list include some significant names.

Trevor Wong was 15 years, eight months and 29 days old when he scored his first WHL goal in 2019.

Shane McColgan was 15 years, 11 months and 16 days old when he scored his first in 2008.

Nolan Foote was also 15 when he scored his first WHL goal in October 2016.

Wong became one of the most productive players in Rockets history before being dealt to Saskatoon in the Colton Dach deal. Dach is now teammates with Connor McDavid in Edmonton.

Baillie became one of the franchise’s all-time offensive leaders and was money in the playoffs.

McColgan was a hotshot American-born player who burst onto the scene and nearly led the Rockets in scoring as a rookie, only to be outdone by dynamic defenseman Tyson Barrie.

Foote became a first-round NHL draft pick and a Rockets captain.

That’s some impressive company for a player who still doesn’t have his driver’s license.

Because of his age, Daneault can play only 34 regular-season games this season.

Five are already in the books.

Points in four of those five games.

And with 29 remaining, there is a lot of room for that seven-point total to grow.

But right now, that’s not even the most eye-catching part of his start.

The most eye-catching part is this:

The youngest player on the Rockets is leading them in scoring.

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