Anaheim Ducks trade Nicolas Deslauriers to the Minnesota Wild
Anaheim Ducks GM Pat Verbeek has wasted no time in starting to reassemble the Ducks franchise. After moving defenseman Josh Manson on Monday afternoon to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2nd round pick and defenseman Drew Helleson, the next move for Verbeek was to deal pending UFA Nicolas Deslauriers. The Ducks announced at 2:45 PM Pacific Time that they had moved Deslauriers to the Wild for a 2023 3rd round pick.
Deslauriers was a heart-and-soul type of guy that was beloved by the Ducks locker room, but the on-ice results for him were subpar, to say the least. Here is Deslauriers’ RAPM chart (courtesy of Evolving-Hockey), player card (courtesy of Jfresh), and microstats player card (from Corey Sznajder):
Needless to say, none of that data paints Deslauriers in a great light, and losing him will not hurt Anaheim’s on-ice product, even if it might have an effect in the locker room.
The return for Deslauriers is great value. The Ducks acquired him for a 4th round pick in the summer of 2019, and were able to flip him as a pending UFA for a better pick.
I want to give credit to Crash The Pond staff writer Mike DeFlorio for nailing this trade in his deadline preview: “Nicolas Deslauriers is dealt for a 3rd or 4th round pick to a contending team looking for a 4th-line enforcer. This value would be similar to the Vegas Golden Knights receiving a 3rd round pick from the New York Rangers in exchange for enforcer Ryan Reaves this past offseason. Verbeek will not re-sign Deslauriers during the offseason.”
Verbeek would shortly follow this up with another move, which was of an even more significant impact.