Philadelphia Flyers Nicolas Deslauriers' Should Play Less in 2024-25 – Hockey Writers – Philadelphia Flyers

Entering the third season of a four-year contract, 33-year-old Nicolas Deslauriers is what he is for the Philadelphia Flyers at this point. He likes to fight, to fight, and he doesn't back down from anyone. With that said, the Flyers should consider extending his involvement to 2024-25.

Flyers Played Too Bad With Deslauriers

Deslauriers only played 489 minutes with the Flyers last season, which admittedly isn't a lot. But when he was on the ice, like at work, Philadelphia played terrible hockey. Scoring just four points in 60 games and putting up a minus-7 average, that's evident by looking at the basic numbers. Advanced stats don't do him any justice.

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Now, Deslauriers hasn't had much of an impact or anything, but the numbers still aren't great. Let's take a look at the Flyers' rankings in expected field goal percentage (xGF%), Corsi percentage (CF%), and field goal percentage (GF%) at 5-on-5 in three different areas. We will check their numbers in the previous figures without Deslauriers, their normal numbers without restrictions, and we only have him on the ice. Their rankings in the metrics among the 32 NHL teams are listed in the last column of the table.

The Flyers were a little better with Deslauriers out of the equation compared to normal, but that improvement is important for a team in the offseason trying to get going. Yes, if we break down the minutes of the drafters, the Flyers are one of the worst teams in the NHL across the board. The most interesting part about it is that Philadelphia's depth was actually pretty good—he played with good teammates, not bad ones.

I've seen the stat that the Flyers were 29-22-9 with Deslauriers against a 9-11-2 record without him a few times, but that's misleading for a number of reasons. More than half of those absences came when the wheels fell off the Orange and Black's wagon at the end of the season—he was scratched in 11 of their last 12 contests. The team couldn't score, and couldn't really save. It's widely accepted that the fourth-line winger is not controlling his goals with a league-worst .829 save percentage (SV%) and 7.1 shooting percentage (SH%) over that span.

Despite the team's bad luck with fatigue, they actually used better stats in the games where he was scratched. In those 22 contests, they had a 54.9 xGF% at 5-on-5—this would rank fourth in the NHL over a full season. In those 60 games while on the roster, the team had a 51.5 xGF% which would have ranked 11th in the league.

So, not only did the Flyers play worse when Deslauriers was on the ice, but they also played better when he was completely out of the lineup. Considering that half of those games were without Sean Walker, who was the Flyers' best defender last season, it doesn't look good for the Deslauriers. Again, winning didn't come when he was completely gone, but skaters playing well and winning games are highly correlated—if your goalie can't save and no one can score on their golden chances, it doesn't matter. who's on the ice, anyway.

Deslauriers Are A Defender, But How Important Are They?

When asked about 19-year-old Matvei Michkov, general manager (GM) Danny Briere said Deslauriers will be his best friend on the ice. To his credit, this makes sense—he had 11 games in 2023-24 (tied for the most in the NHL), had the sixth-highest 60 points in the league, and is second to none when it comes to that. dropping the mitts. However, to say that he is a great defender of his teammates on the ice is not as true as it may sound.

First, let's take a look at who Deslauriers is dropping the gloves with and in what situations. Of his 11 matches, all were against players in the 91st percentile or higher for major penalties taken per 60 minutes. All but three of his fights were pre-arranged, one was the result of a small interception by Walker, the next was due to a good but routine hit on Owen Tippett, and the last was defending Cam York there. he took a dangerous hit along the boards.

In those first two, it seemed like the Deslauriers were looking for an excuse to face a tough opponent—enough. In fact, only one of those tilts turned into a heated argument because his teammate played a song he didn't like. That's a good job of his, but that's one of his 11.

But let's go even deeper. Deslauriers was at the top when defender Jamie Drysdale, the youngest player on the team at the time, suffered a horrific injury that saw him miss the entire month of March and 16 games in total. So, what was the response as the teenager skated? Basically nothing. There was a little scrum but no real punches were thrown.

It wouldn't be fair to begrudge the Deslauriers for this, but it's an important piece of context to consider here. Drysdale is a valuable young player whose fate remains the same even for a player as tough as nails. He shouldn't have put himself in the position of being crushed on the ice like he was, but someone like Deslauriers should scare players who are looking for a good song—it's not. If opponents are fearless and don't get consequences for their actions, is it worth having a player with the worst on-ice stats in the league?

Unfortunately for Deslauriers, the Flyers have a few players who can't stick with their teammates. Garnet Hathaway and Nick Seeler are two experienced wrestlers who have been on the ice many times. In addition, Joel Farabee had an incident where he fought when York caught another bad hit, while Travis Konecny ​​had grit as well. The Deslauriers are probably more of a fodder here, but they're not as important a lead as you might think—Michkov will be protected regardless of whether his “best friend” is on the roster, in theory.

Deslauriers Are Still Important To The Team

Do I advocate that the Flyers send Deslauriers to the minors, or just not play him at all? Not at all. But I say that maybe they would have been better if he had played more moderately. Scratched in 11 of the team's last 12 games as I mentioned earlier, it seems that head coach John Tortorella felt this way as well.

It's unclear how much Deslauriers will play, but he doesn't have much of a roster spot on a regular basis, in my eyes. The good thing is that, if he plays, he may be among the best two and the best six players in the league. He had a 54.9 xGF% next to Ryan Poehling and Hathaway over 127 even-strength minutes in 2023-24, which is pretty good. Although the 163 minutes that Noah Cates was in his place was much better with a 72.4 xGF% and a plus-1 rating to Deslauriers' minus-4 rating, the sense is that he won't be a liability with the right players.

Moving away from the analytical side of the game, Deslauriers is loved by his teammates and they are happy when he fights. This is obvious, just looking at the bench when the camera goes past them after its tilt and when we see footage of the locker room after a win. No, he is not the best NHL player in the world, but he is respected for his courage and presence as a leader.

This is not enough to justify playing Deslauriers 60 games again, no doubt. But it's enough to put him on the ice here and there. If the Flyers' plan is to increase their ability to make the postseason, what I just suggested would agree. They will probably suffer in the stats department but not as much as they did in 2023-24, and they will maintain their identity as a tough team to play against.

I'm not a coach, and I won't pretend to be. But for everyone to be on the same page, we have to truly understand what the gritty veteran brings to the team: hitting, fighting, personality, but not bad minutes. In moderation, that's perfectly acceptable and probably the best thing about the Orange and Black.

Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick