Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Daniel Briere recently called Nicolas Deslauriers Matvei Michkov’s “new best friend.”
The Flyers are making it clear that tough forward Deslauriers will play a bigger role next season. One of his tasks could be to take care of the Flyers’ prized rookie Michkov. Last season, when Deslauriers’ role was reduced (his 8:09 of ice time per game is the lowest since 2016-17), the Flyers learned that they played better when he was in the lineup to support them.
“For comparison, according to Statmuse, the Flyers were 29-22-9 with Deslauriers in the 2023-24 season and just 9-11-2 without him,” wrote Philly Hockey Now writer Jonathan Bailey. “Philadelphia earned a point in 38 of Deslauriers’ 60 games, meaning they earned a point 63% of the time he was on the roster. In the 22 games without him, that number drops to just 50%.”
In an interview with Philly Hockey Now, Briere said of Deslauriers, “You don’t have to worry about getting taken advantage of on the ice because Nick is on the bench and he’s ready to step in and protect you. I know I valued those players a lot as players. Knowing that Nick is on the bench when something goes wrong and he can step in and take care of things, I think is a huge benefit to our players, especially early in the season. … Play well, play a little bigger and higher, knowing you have a guy like that backing you up.”
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Particularly. pic.twitter.com/7NySFaWlSB
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) 11 August 2024
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