Montreal Canadiens: Nicolas Deslauriers taking his promise to new heights

The Montreal Canadiens had two of its players attend Sunday’s fundraiser in Nicolas Deslauriers and Max Pacioretty showing how much they care for the city.

Sunday was the Hockey de Rue event in Montreal. The event had former Montreal Canadiens taking part in Sergio Momesso, Jesse Belanger and Enrico Ciccone, but some current players as well. Nicolas Deslauriers and team captain Max Pacioretty chose took part.

Seeing Pacioretty at these kinds of events reaffirms what he said at the end of the season. He had a bad season, and although his name was and still is out there as far as player movement goes, he wants to be here. Marc Bergevin emphasized attitude as one of the team’s issues this year.

Showing that you want to be part of the team must be a big piece of having a good one in the general manager’s eyes. Whether that sentiment has changed won’t come for the next few weeks.

Related Story: Can You Trade Pacioretty?

Deslauriers however, has been one of the feel-good stories from the 2017-18 season. What looked to be a throwaway AHL deal for Bergevin led to finding one of the most passionate players on the team. The Montreal Canadiens acquired Deslauriers from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for Zach Redmond.

The 27-year-old told media that it was a dream come true to play for the Habs organization. He started in the minors and surprised many when he was one of the first players to get the call-up. Deslauriers made it clear that he won’t have that sweater taken from him. The Quebec native stuck true to his word playing 58 NHL games and setting a career high in goals.

Every game Deslauriers played for the Montreal Canadiens looked like a blessing for him, and it showed in his goal celebrations. Seeing him get a contract extension confirmed the work he put in for the team.

Now he’s giving back to the city of Montreal.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that Brendan Gallagher‘s work ethic and determination should be a standard for the Montreal Canadiens should be a standard moving forward. The same should go for Deslauriers as his transparent passion seeped into his playing style and made him better for it.

Next: Ranking Deslauriers Goal Celebrations

Sure Deslauriers is a bottom six player, but to have talent and compete throughout one’s lineup leads to winning hockey. If the Habs can continue to find players who have that, they’ll be better off.