Elliot Desnoyers sets Phantoms rookie goal record
Elliot Desnoyers, also known as “Desy”, has had a fantastic first professional season with the Flyers organization. He was the 135th pick in the 2020 draft and was coming off a 35-point season in 61 games with the Moncton Wildcats.
Now he’s breaking records in the AHL for the Phantoms.
Elliot Desnoyers Breaks Phantoms Rookie Record
Coming out of the 2020 draft, the consensus among scouts was questions surrounding Desnoyers’ ability to consistently implement a solid offensive game to go along with his already very solid two-way play.
Desnoyers answered those questions in his D+1 year after getting traded from the Moncton Wildcats to the Halifax Mooseheads. Not sure what happened but it’s where everything changed for him.
In 2020-2021, Desnoyers went from a 35-point season with the Wildcats in 61 games, to a 49-point season with the Mooseheads in 37 games.
He showed all the scouts that he actually can contribute offensively to go along with his extremely solid two-way play.
Desnoyers’ last year in the QMJHL was his best. With 88 points in 61 games, Desy was absolutely incredible for the Mooseheads. He played in all situations, whether that was PK, PP, or 4v4. Desy and Jordan Dumais were the guys over there in Halifax.
Now He’s a Pro
Everyone knows the AHL is more of a defensive, grinding league. I was very interested to see how Desnoyers adapted to the AHL game, considering he was already an outstanding two-way player.
The question was never, “Can he hold up on that side of the puck?” The question was always, “The QMJHL isn’t a defensive league at all, so how much of that offense can we realistically expect to translate over?”
We have our answer.
Not that the list includes star players (Danick Martell in 2015-2016, and Connor Bunnaman in 2018-2019), but it’s still very nice to see Desnoyers setting the new record of 23 goals!
Due to his great play in the AHL all year, Desnoyers made his NHL debut on Feb. 25th vs NJ. He had 0 points in those 4 games, but his play was encouraging nonetheless.
All in all, it was a very successful first professional season for Elliot Desnoyers. He and the Phantoms are in the AHL playoffs and gearing up for a hopefully deep run. We don’t have playoff hockey, so we might as well turn our attention to Lehigh Valley.
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Mandatory Credit: Johnny Ulecka
