Good Article in the Athletic - Flyers prospect Elliot Desnoyers gives Canada a Swiss Army knife for WJC: ‘He has no glaring weaknesses’

[pilldoc]

https://theathletic.com/3003353/2021/12/16/flyers-prospect-elliot-desnoyers-gives-canada-a-swiss-army-knife-for-wjc-he-has-no-glaring-weaknesses/?source=weeklyemail&campaign=602288

 

Merry Christmas from me to you.  Since the Athletic is a subscription based platform, here is the article:

 

“Swiss Army knife.”

 

That’s the first thing that comes to James Boyd’s mind when he’s asked about Elliot Desnoyers.

 

Then: “Versatility.”

 

It’s the first thing that comes to Alan Millar’s mind, too.

 

“Swiss Army knife,” he says.

 

Then: “Utility guy.”

 

Boyd is the general manager of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s. Millar is the general manager of the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors.

 

Desnoyers is a fifth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers and captain of the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads. Given where he plays and where he was drafted, he realizes that he’s not supposed to be on the radar of folks like them.

 

But Boyd and Millar also hold other titles: They’re the two people in charge of Team Canada for the 2022 world juniors.

And no matter what they did, or who they watched, or who they talked to, he couldn’t stay off their radar.

---

This fall, when Boyd and Millar polled the QMJHL’s coaches and general managers for players they absolutely had to had in their selection camp, or on their roster, their survey quickly turned singular.

 

“He was a consensus player that needed to come to camp for us and our viewings supported that,” Boyd said on a recent phone call with The Athletic. “Not only is he a leader on his team and he provides some offensive punch, but he has the ability to play in all situations. He’s excellent on faceoffs, he rises to the occasion when he needs it.”

 

Added Millar from Team Canada’s hotel lobby in Calgary, shortly after selecting Desnoyers as one of the 14 forwards who will head to Edmonton for the 2022 tournament: “Our network of GMs and our management group in the Quebec League rave about this guy in terms of playing the game the right way and details. They use the word ‘trust.’ They use the term ‘coaches will love him.'”

 

When Sylvain Favreau, the Mooseheads’ own head coach, is informed of the results of Hockey Canada’s poll, he chuckles. Not because he’s surprised, but precisely the opposite.

 

Because of course, Desnoyers’ name was unanimous.

 

“There’s no surprise there. We see the amount of attention that he gets in games as far as defending against him. Everyone pre-scouts him pretty good. So I’m not surprised. He’s someone that stands out not because he’s super flashy, just because he’s got his foot down on the gas pedal the entire game and you can use him five-on-five, he’s great for us on the power play, and he’s also a great penalty killer,” Favreau says.

 

Then he uses the same descriptor twice used before him.

 

“He’s a Swiss Army knife,” Favreau says

 

When Cam Russell, the Mooseheads’ general manager, is given the same information, he jumps in quickly.

 

“I mean, he’s the constant team player,” Russell says. “The team comes first, his effort is there every night, he never has a bad game, and everybody knows what his character is. And on top of all that, he’s one of the best players every single night. I think those people see his consistency day-in and day-out.”

 

Ask Desnoyers about why he plays the game the way he does and he’ll tell you it started when he was playing AAA hockey in midget for his local Saint-Hyacinthe Gaulois, 45 minutes east of Montreal.

 

“I’ve always watched a lot of NHL games and I think as a guy that likes to study the game, I knew that if I could be the guy that does the little details that that could bring me somewhere some day,” he said. “A few years later, I still focus on that every day.”

 

But he’ll also tell you that it shouldn’t be confused for a lack of offence.

 

You don’t become a No. 12 pick into the QMJHL without some offence. You don’t work your way onto the QMJHL’s second All-Star team in your post-draft season, like Desnoyers did in 2020-2021, without it either. Last season, his 21 goals and 49 points in 37 games both led the Mooseheads in scoring and both ranked inside the league’s top 10. This year, before he left for Hockey Canada’s selection camp in Calgary, made the team, and travelled on with them to Banff and Red Deer, his 16 goals and 36 points in 23 games, as well as his 1.57 points per game, all ranked inside the league’s top 10 once more, besting players who were picked rounds ahead of him.

 

“I’m a big two-way forward. I’m a guy that loves to bring a lot of details and a lot of leadership on the ice. But I can also bring a little bit of an offensive touch too,” Desnoyers said.

 

But the detail, and the effort, and the two-way game get you other things. Last season, they got him a plus-12 rating on a team that was outscored by 31 goals on the season, where almost every player was in the minus. This year, they earned him the captaincy.

 

Russell called that an easy decision.

 

“It’s just his overall game. It’s what he brings to your dressing room. It’s what he brings to the ice as a skill player, as a penalty killer, all of it. He’s just such a great person, such a mature kid, such a true leader, and your best player,” Russell said.

 

Favreau calls him a “tremendous natural leader” who has clearly learned from his dad, David, and uncle, Simon Laliberte, who both played semi-pro hockey in Quebec. Favreau could see that years ago when he first met and watched Desnoyers play through Hockey Canada’s under-17 program. Now he knows it.

 

“He’s a great communicator, he’s mature for his age, he was obviously well-raised, and he’s just a great individual altogether. Hockey is in the veins for sure,” Favreau said.

 

Desnoyers credits his “really big hockey family” too. He says his passion for the game — and for getting better — comes from his dad and his uncle, and time spent watching them play for the local team. When he was younger, his dad also coached him.

 

“I truly wanted to be like them,” he said.

 

But he hopes to be a leader in his own way, too, not only in Halifax’s but also for his younger brother Caleb, a 14-year-old who is lighting up Quebec’s under-15 AAA level and will train with him for the first time under his strength coach Joey Letendre next summer.

 

“The captaincy has gone well. We have a young group so it’s definitely a challenge but it has been really good so far. I try my best to give any kind of tips to those young guys. I’d say I’m both talkative and lead by example. I’m very passionate about it so I’m always the last one leaving the rink every day and trying to act like a pro on a daily basis,” Desnoyers said.

 

Desnoyers also knows that he has battled through more adversity to get as far as Team Canada than most of those who are there — and that he can lean on that throughout the tournament.

 

There’s where he was drafted, for one. Among the team’s 12 drafted forwards, his fifth-round selections makes him the latest player picked (eight of the 11 other drafted forwards are first-rounders and the next-closest to him, Justin Sourdif, was a third-round pick).

 

There’s also the summer he’s just coming off of, which included the most grueling rehab process he has ever been through.

 

After playing through the final few games of last season in pain with a hip injury, and after consultation with his family, his agent (Andre Ruel of CAA) and the Flyers, he underwent surgery on his hip. After the surgery, instead of spending his summer at home in Quebec, he spent it in a Philadelphia apartment with a group of other injured Flyers prospects, Zayde Wisdom, Tanner Laczynski and Kirill Ustimenko.

 

“I spent the whole summer going early in the morning to do rehab and do training,” he said of the experience. “We were a little concerned about how the rehab would turn out but it turned out very well. I worked hard in Philly to come back in shape and feel good for the beginning of the season, and I pulled it off.”

 

Due to the injury, he also wasn’t able to skate at Team Canada’s summer showcase for the world juniors, attending the four-day camp only to participate in meetings.

 

So when he worked his way onto the invite list for their second Calgary camp in December, and then onto the team, it was well earned.

“We always knew he was a talented player but he has really matured. He plays with poise but with a ton of energy. He’s a two-way guy that can defend well but that’s got a ton of speed in the neutral zone offensively and can create a lot of damage in the offensive zone,” Favreau said. “He’s someone that you can insert into the top six but he’s also someone that can be very reliable in the bottom six. He’s interchangeable anywhere.”

 

In fact, despite the injury, both Favreau and Russell argue he is one of the QMJHL’s most improved players for a second year in a row this season.

That, they insist, made him an obvious choice for Team Canada even if he didn’t have some of the name recognition or notoriety of many of cuts.

“He can beat you with hard skill or he can beat you with soft skill. I just think his entire game has improved dramatically. And that’s not to say it wasn’t good before. It was. But he has just become a force,” Russell said. “Honestly, he can play anywhere. You could put him on your second line as a centre, you could put him there as a winger, you could put him on your fourth line, and regardless of what line he’s on or what role he’s playing, he can kill penalties and he can play with skill. For me, when you get a player like that who can play in any part of the rink, accepts his role, plays hard and practices hard, and has such a great attitude, for me it’s an easy decision.”

 

In camp, after what Millar described as a bit of a disappointing first game, he credited Desnoyers for responding in the team’s last game “to show exactly what management had been telling the coaches this guy can bring,” pointing specifically to that talked-about flexibility at multiple forward positions and his prowess on faceoffs.

 

Dave Cameron, Team Canada’s less-familiar head coach, took note too.

 

Though his 135th selection makes him the latest-drafted forward to make Team Canada, he’s still going to be an important piece of the team.

“We see (Desnoyers) in that role as a penalty killer, a reliable guy, the guy that the coach knows exactly how he’s going to play when he goes on the ice,” Cameron said. “He’s not flashy but he probably falls into that category of mine that I call his biggest strength is probably the fact that he has no glaring weaknesses.”

 

And after Team Canada, Desnoyers, the hockey Swiss Army knife, plans to be a big part of another team some day, swapping out red and white for orange and black.

 

 

[OccamsRazor]

Don't worry he'll get to Philly and they will ruin him...only a matter of time...

[pilldoc]

13 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

Don't worry he'll get to Philly and they will ruin him...only a matter of time...

Sadly .. you are not far from the truth….

[GratefulFlyers]

On 12/18/2021 at 5:45 PM, pilldoc said:

But the detail, and the effort, and the two-way game get you other things. Last season, they got him a plus-12 rating on a team that was outscored by 31 goals on the season, where almost every player was in the minus. This year, they earned him the captaincy.

 

This alone makes me want to see him play for the Flyers ASAP. Unfortunately I'm worried - as Occ noted - that the influence may go the wrong way, corrupting DesNoyers game instead of helping the Flyers get back to structure and discipline.

 

edit: and it's a legit worry. I didn't start feeling that way until last year, didn't appreciate the fact that maybe the Flyers actually are incompetent at developing young players. I suppose I'm late recognizing that but I kept holding out hope it was X, Y or Zomething else that was killing the spirit of the Flyers best young players. Now it's just too obvious...

Edited December 20, 2021 by GratefulFlyers

[flyercanuck]

5 hours ago, GratefulFlyers said:

 

This alone makes me want to see him play for the Flyers ASAP. Unfortunately I'm worried - as Occ noted - that the influence may go the wrong way, corrupting DesNoyers game instead of helping the Flyers get back to structure and discipline.

 

edit: and it's a legit worry. I didn't start feeling that way until last year, didn't appreciate the fact that maybe the Flyers actually are incompetent at developing young players. I suppose I'm late recognizing that but I kept holding out hope it was X, Y or Zomething else that was killing the spirit of the Flyers best young players. Now it's just too obvious...

 

Fortunately Desnoyers is only 19 and can play junior another year. Hopefully that's where he stays. I'll take my chances with the Mooseheads bringing him along over that shiteshow they have going on in LV.

[RonJeremy]

On 12/18/2021 at 5:55 PM, OccamsRazor said:

Don't worry he'll get to Philly and they will ruin him...only a matter of time...

I’m sure he will be included in one of Fletchers imminent horrible trades at the the deadline.

[GratefulFlyers]

15 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

 

Fortunately Desnoyers is only 19 and can play junior another year. Hopefully that's where he stays. I'll take my chances with the Mooseheads bringing him along over that shiteshow they have going on in LV.

 

Oh I agree. When I say ASAP I don't mean rush him into Lehigh and then after 3 games onto the Flyers. Both those teams need a major clean up - management and coaching - and until that happens the best thing for him is to stay far away.

[MaineFlyFan]

Any chance we can snag some "future considerations" for this young man!?.....

 

Come on Chuckles! Work your magic!

[flyercanuck]

Rumor has it Desnoyers has been traded to St John who are hosting the Memorial Cup. 

 

If there is a Memorial Cup.