Some players get you to the Stanley Cup playoffs, players who get you through them, but some players solidify your lineup despite seeing very little ice time. That’s what former Montreal Canadiens’ forward Nicolas Deslauriers has done with the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes acquired the 35-year-old La Salle native on trade deadline day to add depth, experience, and physicality to the Stanley Cup Champions-to-be.
Even though he had only played 24 games with the Philadelphia Flyers in the regular season, GM Eric Tulsky didn’t hesitate to strike a deal for the gritty forward, sending a conditional seventh-round pick at the 2027 draft to Daniel Briere and the Flyers. Speaking about the trade, Tulsky said:
Nicolas is a strong, physical player who plays with an edge, factors that become even more important as we get to the postseason.
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Deslauriers played only seven regular-season games with the Hurricanes, recording an assist and five penalty minutes. He got a fighting major against Mathieu Olivier in his very first game with the Canes. With his team trailing 2-0 against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the 6-foot-1 and 208-pound heavyweight decided to try to wake his team up. In the playoffs, he saw one match of action in the fourth game of the Canes’ first-round series against the Ottawa Senators, taking a double minor for roughing on then-captain Brady Tkachuk andfor unsportsmanlike conduct.
While he definitely fell short of meeting the threshold to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup (having played at least 41 regular-season games with the champions or one game in the final), it was a no-brainer for the Canes to petition the league for permission to put his name on the Cup. The winger found out from Tulsky that he would get his name on Lord Stanley’s mug:
“I got a call, I think, on the day before the (championship celebration) parade talking about what I did for the organization. It was a long, 15-minute talk with Tulsky and me, and then he said that they petitioned for my name and that it was actually not hard and asked me how I wanted to write it on. Still thinking about it gives me chills.”
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The Canes recognized the importance of the leadership role he assumed with the team and even signed him to a new two-year contract, live from the stage during their championship celebration. Speaking about his role in the conquest, Tulsky said:
“Nic was there in the room with the guys every single day from April to June,” he said. “And regardless of how many games he played, he was part of the team.”
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On Friday, Deslauriers chose to spend the day with the Cup in North Wildwood, a vacation spot he and his family fell in love with during his four seasons with the Flyers, where he bought a home on June 30. He spent most of the day taking pictures with fans on the Seaport Pier as over 1,100 fans turned up.
Deslauriers spent two seasons with the Habs in 2017-18 and 2018-19 before being traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a 2020 fourth-round draft pick on June 30, 2019, in a cap-space-clearing operation that also saw them trade veteran Andrew Shaw. The gritty Deslauriers put up12 goals and 19 points in 106 games over two seasons with Montreal but wasn’t one of then-coach Claude Julien’s favorites. His last season in Montreal didn’t start well when he suffered a facial fracture in a preseason fight against New Jersey Devils’ Brandon Baddock, and he only skated in 48 games in that campaign, which led to the forward wanting out even though playing for the Habs had been a childhood dream of his.
Since being selected in the third round of the 2009 draft by the Los Angeles Kings, Deslauriers has skated in 708 NHL games, totaling 106 points and 799 penalty minutes along the way. The fact that the Canes made it a priority to get his name engraved on the Cup and sign him to a new contract goes to show how important that kind of player can be to an organization. The Hurricanes are not the Broad Street Bullies from the 1970s, but they recognize just how useful Deslauriers has been and can be. One has to wonder if the Habs are aware, as their own tough guy, Arber Xhekaj, is still waiting to sign a new contract.
Follow Karine on X @KarineHains Bluesky @karinehains.bsky.social and Threads @karinehains.
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