Since John Tortorella first took over as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, he has made his expectations for his forward group clear: they will defend from the front, forecheck relentlessly, and do whatever they can to pester opposition players at both ends of the ice. If his men execute those objectives, they will find themselves on Tortorella’s good side insofar as he has one. If not, his legendary temper bares its teeth; ask playmaker Morgan Frost, who just about had to score a point per game down the stretch to break into the top six, or mercurial forward Kevin Hayes, who ‘Torts’ ran out of the city altogether.
Related: Flyers Are Real Losers in Hayes-Tortorella Feud
While some of Tortorella’s favorites, like Travis Konecny, Noah Cates, and Scott Laughton, were among the team’s best players last season, what he valued about them was their competitiveness and intensity. As such, more marginal NHLers like checking forward Zack MacEwan, now with Ottawa, and heavyweight scrapper Nic Deslauriers found themselves in expanded roles. The team would stink anyway, so Tortorella rewarded the players who most bought into his vision.
As a new season approaches, Flyers prospect Elliot Desnoyers will wonder which camp he belongs to. At the very least, his attitude and defensive aptitude will buy him some brownie points with the former Stanley Cup winner. “Energy guys” will always have a role to play in Tortorella-coached teams, even if their production is nothing to write home about. Is that all the Quebecer is, though? After a stellar rookie season in the American Hockey League (AHL), Desnoyers will seek to vaunt himself into the same tier as Laughton and Cates, guys who not only play the right way but do it so well Tortorella has deemed them “part of the solution.”
That work will start in training camp when Desnoyers competes with Wade Allison and offseason acquisition Ryan Poehling to distinguish himself in a surprisingly crowded field. The Flyers’ forward depth may have been tragic in 2022-23, but there are few open roster spots thanks to recovered veterans and new arrivals. Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson will return to the fold after missing last season due to their respective surgeries. Free agent agitator Garnet Hathaway is tailor-made for wreaking havoc on the fourth line alongside Deslauriers. That does not leave much room for Desnoyers to make his mark. The 21-year-old is not daunted by a challenge, though: he has already made a career of defying expectations.
Desnoyers: A Late Bloomer
When Philadelphia drafted Desnoyers in 2020, they threw a fifth-round pick at the wall to see if it would stick. Desnoyers scored just 11 goals in 61 games for the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) that season. Though his mind for the game was already apparent, there was little hope his offensive game would ever catch up enough to take him to the highest level. That changed quickly.
The season after, Desnoyers racked up 21 goals and 49 points over 38 games for the Halifax Mooseheads in the ‘Q,’ enough to prompt the Flyers to sign him to an entry-level deal. After a final junior season during which the centerman erupted for 88 points as captain of Halifax, it became clear he was ready to join the pro ranks. No one figured he would settle in so quickly, though.
As a rookie for the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms, Desnoyers was an integral part of the team’s first playoff appearance since 2017-18, when they advanced to the Eastern Conference Final. He deposited a club-high 23 goals, beating out vaunted prospect Tyson Foerster, and his 44 points in 65 games were third on the Phantoms behind Foerster and Olle Lycksell. While the AHL’s inflated scoring totals often pave the way for NHL letdowns, what is impressive about Desnoyers’s numbers is that scoring was never supposed to be his strong suit. His two-way game got him on the plane to Team Canada’s 2022 World Junior Championship victory and was on display during his four-game NHL audition late last season; he threw nine hits and blocked four shots while playing a respectable 13 minutes per night.
Can Desnoyers Distinguish Himself in the NHL?
Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere, a long-time friend of the player’s family, was bullish about his protege’s chances to someday make an impact with the big team when speaking to AHL beat writer Bob Rotruck. “He eats and sleeps hockey,” ‘Lappy’ said. “He’s giving himself the best chance to play in the NHL someday.”
Laperriere is naturally biased in favor of his charge, but that does not make him wrong. Desnoyers is a bit slight and will not pick corners for a living against the best goaltenders in the world, but his competitive drive and ability to make the smart play give him a higher ceiling than flashy players like Lycksell, who has to make his mark in the NHL. If he can fire in just 10 goals, and with Deslauriers and Hathaway around to cover any deficiencies in the physicality department, why shouldn’t he stick around on the Flyers’ second penalty-kill unit?
Related: Philadelphia Flyers’ 2023-24 Lineup Projection
For starters, Laperriere and the Phantoms can offer him the high-leverage role and ice time he needs to grow in stature and confidence. Allison and Poehling are both big, fast, puck-possession players who have already proven their ability to at least score at a relevant clip. Unless Desnoyers again beats the odds as he has so often in his young career, they will probably bar his path into the lineup in 2023-24. Even so, the versatile forward already seems like a coup for the team and could, along with Cates, provide defense down the middle far into the future.