An NHL roster is made up of 23 players. A team dresses 20 players for a game — usually 12 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders — with three extra spots for those players dealing with injuries, in the coach’s doghouse, or simply just not good enough to crack the roster.
Every team should be looking to maximize its 23 roster spots. Having a player from a bygone era in today’s NHL does not make sense.
Enter Nic Deslauriers.
Look, I get it. Everyone loves to see a fight, and Deslauriers is one of the best in the business. But what exactly does he do outside of that? He has nine goals and 10 assists in 171 games with the Flyers; 12 of those points came in his first season.
Having Deslauriers on the roster isn’t going to make or break the Flyers. Hell, it probably wouldn’t make or break any team in the league. But when the Flyers have a handful of players who are more deserving of that roster spot, it gets tricky trying to keep the enforcer who gets his cardio in by skating around seven or eight minutes per game.
And this isn’t anything against Deslauriers. He seems like a great guy and someone who is good to have around in the locker room, and even in the lineup, to make younger, smaller players perhaps stand a bit taller on the ice.
But Deslauriers just does not fit in today’s NHL.
It’s like having a fax machine in an office when there are more and more gadgets each day. Sure, it may be cool to use a fax machine, and even necessary at times, but do you really need it?
Or perhaps more like a rotary phone. It looks cool and everyone marvels at it, much like a fight, but you can communicate with anyone across the globe on a variety of devices — much like there are other players who can positively contribute on the ice while also dropping the gloves from time to time.
Most people have Deslauriers pencilled into the Flyers’ opening night lineup, either as the fourth-line left wing or a healthy scratch. Meanwhile, we’re talking about roster battles with at least four or five forwards who would be more useful on the roster.
Nikita Grebenkin looks like he belongs in the NHL and can easily make the most of fourth-line minutes, especially on a team like the Flyers, who shouldn’t staple their bottom line to the bench.
Of course, Alex Bump is a top candidate to make the team out of camp, and while he may not be best suited on the fourth line, Deslauriers is another hurdle that he has to jump to even make the roster.
Hell, even Rodrigo Abols is surprising in camp, and he’s not a young kid. He’s 29 going on 30 with hundreds of professional games under his belt across the SHL, AHL, and 22 NHL games last season.
I don’t really think there is any correlation between Deslauriers and Jett Luchanko, but perhaps if the Flyers were to waive or trade the enforcer, the young center could have a better chance to make the team, given the fact that they could have guys like Grebenkin or Abols to rotate in when the youngster needs a game or two to reset.
And then you have the likes of Anthony Richard, Jacob Gaucher, and others who have shown some ability in the AHL — and NHL for some –, and could provide more positive impact than Deslauriers.
All in all, I’m not expecting the Flyers to move on from Deslauriers before or even during the season. Maybe he’ll get knicked up and go on injured reserve again, as he did last year, causing him to miss extended time and allowing him to be around the team without taking up a roster spot.
Danny Briere, Keith Jones, & Co. have shown that they’re willing to work with veterans like Erik Johnson in the past to do what’s best for them. Perhaps they find a team where Deslauriers would like to go and possibly get more ice time. This is the final year of a four-year contract with a cap hit of $1.75 million — a point I didn’t even touch on — handed out by Chuck Fletcher in 2022.
It’s hard to find a logical argument for keeping Deslauriers on the roster if the Flyers want to optimize all 23 spots.
