Two years ago, I made a joke that then GM Chuck Fletcher made a "huge splash" when he signed Nicolas Deslauriers. It was the only deal he made of worth that offseason. Turns out it was a solid move. While the Flyers were floundering, he was a bright spot. Not with the stick, mind you, but with his fists. He also showed some young, rising stars that he will protect you.
As such, he quickly became a fan favorite. He was one of the league leaders in hits, fights, and penalty minutes. He was bringing back old-school "Flyers Hockey" to the Wells Fargo Center. Hey, if the Flyers aren't going to win, at least we can make it exciting.
Last year, something changed. The Flyers signed Garnet Hathaway to play on the same line as him. The two became part of a supercharged fourth line that terrorized opponents. Both were physical and imposing. However, Hathaway is a better overall player. In 2023-24, Hathaway scored seven goals to Deslauriers's one. Hathaway had 326 hits to Deslauriers's 188, almost half his previous year's totals.
Does Nic Deslauriers still have a role on the Flyers?
As the Flyers slide continued down the stretch in March, Deslauriers was a healthy scratch most nights. He appeared in 60 games last season. It probably wouldn't have made a difference as the Flyers had a lot of issues, but when you have a guy like him as an enforcer, he might have been able to protect some of the young players and give them a boost in their confidence.
So what is his role this upcoming season? We know he is going to be a fourth-liner. But how much is he going to play? If Hathaway can give us the enforcing benefits of Desaluriers but with added scoring benefits, why keep Desaluriers around? He's cheap at $1.75 million a year and has two years left on his contract. He could be moved if the club doesn't see a reason to hold onto him. His roster spot could be taken up by a young kid, like Bobby Brink or Elliott Desnoyers who are trying to earn and hold onto a roster spot with the big club.
I still think he has value to this team. The line of him, Hathaway, and Ryan Poehling was a solid fourth line. I think the duo of Hathaway and Desaluriers will make other teams very hesitant to level a hit on Matvei Michkov. And with those guys protecting him, Michkov could become comfy in the NHL and take off.
However, if he is just going to be scratched constantly, I don't understand the point of keeping him here, unless there is some sort of mentoring work he is doing behind the scenes that we aren't seeing. Desaluriers seems to be a great teammate and they can be hard to find. He's bought into the "team first" mentality and doesn't publicly complain about lack of playing time. That's rare these days and could be worth hanging onto.