Dieppe, New Brunswick’s Jonathan Desrosiers returns home to face the organization that gave him his first opportunity to play in the QMJHL.
The 1st round matchup between the Moncton Wildcats and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens will be extra special for the gritty ultra-competitive 21-year-old defenceman. The Sags captain has seen it all when it comes to his journey in the game and QMJHL.
It’s been a long road for the former Moncton Wildcat draft pick who was quite high on everyone’s draft board during his draft year. The former Moncton Flyer had a phenomenal start to the season and was a solid two-way presence for that hockey club. There were times during his draft year with the Flyers that one could tell the young defender was searching for his identity and on some nights was caught in between wanting to be an offensive transitional D or a gritty shutdown defensive force. On some nights he forced the issue, but what 15 year D-man doesn’t? The road to the Q as a 16-year-old defencemen isn’t always sunshine and rainbows.
Desrosiers’ draft stock fluctuated during his 15-year-old campaign which can be extremely difficult for young players to understand and navigate.
The Wildcats selected the Dieppe product in the 9th round, 154th overall in the 2019 entry draft.
Making the jump to the QMJHL is tough for any player, making the jump to the Moncton Wildcats in their “all in” campaign was seemingly impossible. You see Jonathan Desrosiers has proved his critics wrong throughout his trajectory in the game.
Cracking the roster out of camp wasn’t in the cards in 2019, but the Cats were faced with injury woes on the backend almost instantly, so the local kid was thrust into action and certainly didn’t disappoint.
It was baptism by fire so to speak for Jonathan Desrosiers. He handled the call up and subsequent games that year incredibly well.
September 2019 seems so long ago, so much has happened in life on and off the ice since then. The solid two-way rearguard played 11 games for the Wildcats that season. His second season with the Flyers would prove to be incredibly beneficial because it gave him another opportunity to gain confidence with the puck, but also enabled him to continue to build and refine his overall game.
He also would get his first taste of Junior A hockey that year suiting up for the Edmundston Blizzard. He appeared in 3 games at the MHL level that year.
We all know what happened in March of 2020. By that point of the year, the Wildcats blueline was jammed packed and they were on the cusp of something very special until the pandemic hit.
Depth on the blueline is a great problem to have as an organization until it’s not. The Wildcats made an effort to draft and develop their backend, but that also comes at a cost.
Desrosiers didn’t skate in any QMJHL games during the abbreviated 2020-21 season, but logged big minutes in his 17 of 19 games played with the Blizzard.
Decisions have to be made, especially when projecting the future. Desrosiers found himself caught up in the numbers game with the Wildcats, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens came calling and he was traded during the 2021-2022 preseason. As they say the rest is history.
Trades provide opportunity, but in some cases, they provide clarity for young players. Jonathan Desrosiers was more than ready for the opportunity to log big minutes in all situations on a young team, and that’s exactly what he has done and continues to do for the Sags.
Desrosiers has gone from a very underrated stay at home two zone defender into a top tier shutdown, transitional full three zone presence for the Sags.
Desrosiers has gone from depth defender to their die-hard leader, and “ rock” in every sense of the word on and off the ice. The kid wears his heart on his sleeve and has done a phenomenal job throughout the entire retooling process the Sags have experienced over the last two seasons.
It’s often unfair to categorize, label or type cast players, especially when many of them are still developing, progressing and confronted with an enormous amount of pressure and high expectations.
Jonathan Desrosiers is a player that fully embraced whatever role he was given and simply put does anything and everything he can do to try the help his team win every night.
His competitive fire on some nights may have led to some penalties, but Jonathan Desrosiers is the type of player that will go through a wall, stand up to anyone and do anything for his teammates.
Earning the right to be an overager in the CHL/QMJHL is an incredibly difficult. Jonathan Desrosiers earned that right and has flourished in QMJHL for the last three seasons. 204 career games in the QMJHL. What a journey it has been.
That journey continues as does the long road back to Moncton for Jonathan Desrosiers.
FDS Sports Blog 