General manager Chuck Fletcher raised some eyebrows at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft when he traded a pair of seventh-round picks to the Nashville Predators for the 135th overall selection to take Elliot Desnoyers. The idea of packaging picks to move up in the draft isn’t uncommon, but to do so for a forward that barely averaged over 0.5 points-per-game in two QMJHL seasons seems a bit questionable. Less than a quarter into the 2020-21 season though it’s becoming pretty clear what Fletcher and company saw in the Quebec native when they drafted him last month.
In his first two QMJHL seasons Desnoyers accrued 23 total goals in 122 games for the Moncton Wildcats with 12 tucks in 61 contests in 2018-19 before his total dropped to 11 in the same number of tilts last season.