Will Nic Deslauriers be the last true Flyers enforcer?

When former Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher signed Nic Deslauriers to a four-year, $7 million deal ($1.75 million AAV) on July 13, 2022, many didn’t see the logic behind the deal. Deslauriers had a 10-goal season for Montreal in 2017-18 in just 58 games. But he wasn’t a playmaker, nor a sniper. In short, he was an enforcer. A fighter. Somebody who was the Flyers’ policeman on the ice, and tried to deter liberties being taken on star players or smaller players by the opposition. Deslauriers understood the role, and in his first year with the Flyers, he ended up with 136 penalty minutes in 80 games. He dropped the gloves a lot, delivered good shots, took good shots.

That season, according to Hockeyfights.com, he had 14 fights. He was paid to do his job. And he did his job. In 2023-24, Deslauriers engaged in 11 bouts, perhaps none more famous (or infamous) than his titanic tilt with Rangers youngster and giant Matt Rempe in February of 2024. Both threw haymakers, both connected, and both parties believed they fared well in the fight. Of course, Deslauriers’ face looked bruised and swollen afterwards, but the crowd’s reaction in Philadelphia was boisterous.

The Flyers winger and fourth-liner fought twice more that season. But since that Rempe fight, Deslauriers has fought quite sporadically. Last season he dropped the gloves three times. And this season he’s fought four times. And with half a season left in the contract, it seems rather unlikely that the Flyers would resign the soon-to-be 35-year-old to a short-term, team cap-friendly extension in the summer. Most likely Deslauriers’ time in Philadelphia is coming to an end. After 80 games in his first year with the Flyers, he’s seen his ice time diminish. In 2023-24 he played 60 games while the following season he appeared in 31 games. Given how this current season is playing out, Deslauriers will probably be in the 25-game to 30-game range barring a rash of Flyer injuries the rest of the year. He has 17 games thus far, and looks to be playing in his eighteenth game Wednesday night against host Buffalo. Bobby Brink is unable to play and Denver Barkey looks to be a healthy scratch.

So, with Deslauriers’ time with the Flyers in the homestretch it appears, is it safe to say that he will be the last true enforcer the franchise will have? It seems to be trending in that direction, just going from his own usage over the last four years. With the fourth lines of most teams now preferring to score 15 to 20 goals or more if they can to add offensive depth, the likes of guys like Deslauriers seem to be dwindling somewhat in terms of need. Of course, some teams will always wish to have an enforcer in their lineup. But nowadays a lot of teams are opting to draft bigger, stronger, and more talented players who can do more than fight or patrol the ice for 10 to 12 minutes a game. A guy like Washington’s Tom Wilson, as dirty as some of his hits have been, is also able to put between 20 to 30 goals in the net also. So the fighting aspect is just part of his game, not all of the skills in his proverbial toolbox. That appears to be the trend more and more teams are subscribing to. Not simply finding a guy who only has one trick up his sleeve.

Currently, Philadelphia have two guys besides Deslauriers who can fight: fellow fourth-liner Garnet Hathaway and defenseman Nick Seeler. Both guys have skills besides fighting, whether it’s on the penalty kill or blocking shots. Yet both can also handle themselves and some other opponent if they see one of their teammates on the ice hurt. One would be hard pressed to describe either guy as an enforcer though, which is what Deslauriers has been for the last three seasons and change. And with Flyers general manager Danny Briere looking forward, it appears he’s not keen on finding the next younger, fresher Nic Deslauriers to add to the roster. If he did sign such a guy, most likely it’s a depth player who, like Deslauriers current is now, going to be relegated to between 20 to 30 games. And be rather inexpensive.

So where does Deslauriers sit in terms of all-time Flyer enforcers?

Nic Deslauriers will probably be remembered as the last true enforcer for the Philadelphia Flyers. But as far as where he sits among others who have played for the team since 1967-68, Deslauriers isn’t really in the top 10 or top 20. To put it in perspective, Wayne Simmonds — who was a strong net-front presence while also being able to fight — has 784 penalty minutes with the Flyers. That might seem like a lot of minutes. Yet on the Flyers all-time list, that puts him at nineteenth overall. Simmonds is behind the likes of Behn Wilson, Terry Carkner, Ed Van Impe, Scott Hartnell, and even Eric Lindros who sits in twelfth position (948 penalty minutes).

The top 10 is like a Murderer’s Row of fighting: Rick Tocchet, Paul Holmgren, Andre “Moose” Dupont, and Bobby Clarke are the top four Flyers for penalty minutes. Tocchet has 1815 minutes, 215 more than Holmgren who is second. Meanwhile, behind those players sits Dave “The Hammer” Schultz, Dave Brown, Bob Kelly, Gary Dornhoefer, and Craig Berube. Glen Cochrane rounds out the Top 10 with 1,110 penalty minutes. As it stands now, heading into the Buffalo game, Deslauriers has 264 penalty minutes in 188 games with the Flyers. So while he has done his job over these four years, in the bigger picture he’s dwarfed by a glut of players from the ’70s and ’80s.

Few will truly miss Nic Deslauriers when his time in Philadelphia is up. They’ll remember the Rempe fight but probably little else. But his leaving might be noteworthy for a team that prided itself on being rough and tumble dating back to NHL expansion and year one at the Spectrum. Deslauriers could fight with the best of them. Yet his departure probably makes him the last of the true enforcers the Philadelphia Flyers will ever dress.

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