Deslauriers offers depth at forward
The Canadiens are going into training camp with more bodies than they need to fill the 23 roster spots when their season begins on Oct. 3 in Toronto. This is the third in a fivepart series about players who are on the bubble to earn a roster spot.
Nicolas Deslauriers was one of the pleasant surprises in a largely disappointing 2017-18 season. The 27-year-old winger from St-Anicet was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres last October in a trade for defenceman Zach Redmond.
You have to chalk this deal up as a win for Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin, even though the deal started out as an AHL trade.
While he had played three full seasons for the Sabres, the Canadiens were looking at Deslauriers as a Quebecer who could bring some experience to the Laval Rocket in their first season at Place Bell.
Deslauriers’ NHL experience was the reason why the Canadiens recalled him on Nov. 16 and he made an immediate impression when he accepted a challenge from Arizona’s Zac Rinaldo and scored a one-sided decision.
It was the first of five fights for Deslauriers last season, but his pugilistic skills weren’t the reason the Canadiens rewarded him with a two-year, one-way extension with a cap hit of $900,000. Deslauriers joined fellow Rocket call-ups Byron Froese and Daniel Carr to provide a high-energy fourth line.
Deslauriers led the Canadiens with 238 hits. That ranked seventh in the NHL and he was No. 2 in hits per game with 4.1. But the eye-opener for the Canadiens and their fans was his goal-scoring. Deslauriers had a career-high 10 goals in 58 games.
Coming off a career season, you would expect that Deslauriers would have a spot locked up for the coming season, but the lineup at left wing includes Max Pacioretty (for the time being), Max Domi, Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon, who gets consideration over Deslauriers because he’s younger and there’s a feeling that he has more of an upside.
Deslauriers realizes that he’s in a battle for ice time and he has been working diligently this summer on his skating with a personal trainer in Joliette.
While Deslauriers moved up and down the lineup, the best-case scenario for Deslauriers appears to be a role as an extra forward who will be pressed into service when the Canadiens play teams with more of a physical edge.