Mar 12, 2026; Raleigh, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Hurricanes left wing Nicolas Deslauriers (44) looks on against the St. Louis Blues during the warmups before the game against the St. Louis Blues at Lenovo Center. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Nick Deslauriers was torn.
He desperately wanted more out of where he was at in his career, but he wasn't getting much playing time with the Flyers.
But at the same time, he didn't want to leave his family. His wife Joanie is back in their Mullica Hill, N.J. home with their four children, who are all in school.
So, he sat down and had a long talk with Flyers G.M. Danny Briere about his situation. If he wasn't going to be more of a regular contributor to the lineup, he would appreciate it if Briere could try to find him an opportunity to fit on a contender, assuming they were interested in his services.
"I think it was brewing for quite a bit, obviously, with the status of not playing much," Deslauriers said. "I had a long talk with Danny and we came to the conclusion that if there's somebody that wants me, I would like to (go), but I also loved it there. ... I think it could have happened before, but with all the injuries we had and a little bit of the chaos against Anaheim, (it didn't)."
When the trade deadline rolled around, there was a lot of uncertainty about the Flyers ability to make the playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes were interested.
A deal commenced.
This one hurts.
Did Nick Deslauriers score fewer than 10 goals in 195 games with the Flyers? Yes.
But was he the first true goon this team had in what felt like forever? Also yes.
Enjoy this clip of him dropping the gloves in back to back scraps pic.twitter.com/S4SATOvlf2 https://t.co/QDpUdm1x93
And now, Deslauriers gets to face his former team with a berth in the Eastern Conference Finals on the line. He's not surprised.
"Just after the Olympic break, you can see that something was changing," Delslauriers said of the Flyers. And right after the trade deadline [they] went out west and won everything. That brought them back into the playoff push. It was nice to see."
Deslauriers isn't in the lineup for Game 1, and who knows if he'll get the chance, but he's already made an impact with the Hurricanes.
"It's nothing that I didn’t already know (about him)," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I mean we knew what kind of player he was. You watch him, you see what kind of impact he has on a game. We knew every team he’s ever been on, the positive nature of which everyone talks about. We knew that and it’s certainly been the case (here)."
As for what the future holds, Deslauriers is unsure. He'd like to continue to play in the league, but he and his wife now consider the Philadelphia area their home.
They went through the whole green card process last year, and their kids are in school in New Jersey and thriving.
His 12-year-old daughter, Madison Rose does cheerleading competitively, and Deslauriers said that isn't available back home in Quebec in Canada.
In fact, Deslauriers isn't going to be able to see his wife and kids when the series shifts to Philadelphia because Madison Rose has a cheerleading summit in Orlando at the same time.
And then his nine-year-old sold Jaxon plays for the Philadelphia Union Junior team as part of their pre-academy.
During the Olympic break, Deslauriers was in Orlando (it's always Orlando for these things) with his son for a soccer tournament.
Deslauriers said he loves the school district for his kids and they've made some great friends in the community who are helping his wife with everything while he is away with the Hurricanes.
It's not definite that they are going to stay in the Philadelphia are, but Deslauriers, now 35, knows that his NHL career is closer to the end than the beginning, and said he and his wife have talked about where they are going to make their permanent home.
"I think that's home for us, but we'll see. We'll see where life brings us," he said.
Deslauriers isn't the only Philly connection with the Hurricanes.
The most obvious one is coach Rod Brind'Amour, who was a beloved player for the Flyers in the 1990s and is a member of the Flyers Hall of Fame.
His number is retired in Carolina though, where he is a Hurricanes legend, who was part of their lone Stanley Cup championship team in 2005-06.
Now, he is considered one of the sport's best coaches and has the Canes in contention for another Cup year after year.
That said, he still remembers his time in Philadelphia fondly.
"I loved it," he said. "It was a great opportunity to come into when I did. We were kind of a young team at the time and I loved every minute of it. The fans, the environment, the kind of mentorship that they have there. They had a bunch of older guys that looked after the younger guys. I still have good relationships there all these years later. It was a very positive experience.
"I’m actually happy for that fan base. That’s a great sports town. They deserve a good team and they’ve got one."
Hurricanes coach and former Flyer Rod Brind'Amour calls Philadelphia fans “one of the best fan bases” and “fair.”
“If you put in a good effort, [the love] is there for you. If you're not, they let you know about it.” 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ZjBul31RBG
Brind'Amour had some high praise for the current Flyers team.
"You’ve got a team on the same page," he said. "A team that’s on the same page I feel is pretty stingy. And they have good goaltending. That helps. That kind of goes without saying. They’ve got a good D-corps when they’re healthy. Teams that are playing at this time of year are all stingy because they get it."
There will be a couple former Flyers on the ice as well. While Deslauriers won't be in the lineup for Game 1, defensemen Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker will.
Walker is looking forward to playing against some of his former teammates, especially Travis Konecny.
"Before I played with T.K. he was definitely one of those guys (who gets under your skin) for me," Walker said. But now that I know him, it won't be too hard to ignore him."
Other, more distant connections to Philadelphia are winger Eric Robinson, who is from Bellmawr, NJ and Carolina G.M. Eric Tulsky who grew up in Philadelphia as a big Flyers and Phillies fan. He also used to write for the SB Nation fan blog Broad Street Hockey before launching his own blog called Outnumbered.
Noah Cates has had down ballot votes for the Selke Trophy before and it wouldn't surprise if he did again this season.
But just because he is considered one of the better two-way forwards in the game, doesn't mean he can't find things to work on when it comes to his game.
One that he has been concentrating on leading into the playoffs was improving in faceoffs.
For his five-year career, Cates has had a subpar 43.2% success rate on Faceoffs. By comparison, the best faceoff guys in the league are frequently between 55-58%.
Against Pittsburgh in the Quarterfinals, Cates was much better.
While it was a small sample size, he won 40 of 75 draws for 53.3%. In Game 5 specifically, he won 13 of 18 draws.
He credited captain Sean Couturier and the Flyers video coaches for helping him improve.
"Throughout the years and obviously in that Pittsburgh series, he did a great job," Cates said of Couturier, who won an eye-popping 39 of 53 draws in the six games (73.6%). "He talks to me about different guys and what he does against them. But then the video guys, they send you a bunch of different clips about what (the opponents) like to do and just kind of seeing it from different angles is good, too."
It'll be important for Cates to continue this improvement because the Hurricanes are an excellent puck possession team, so the more faceoffs the Flyers can win, the better their chance of controlling play.
"It's more of a mindset and kind of getting the things I like to do with my hands and learning and knowing the guys more," he said. "In a series you get to learn them even more."
