CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The Charlottetown Islanders three-year pursuit of Cedric Desruisseaux has successfully ended.
The Isles acquired him Friday when the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League trade period opened. Desruisseaux was always part of the deal that sent defenceman Pierre-Olivier (P.-O.) Joseph to the Drummondville Voltigeurs but he stayed in Drummondville, Que., to help with the playoff push.
The Isles sent the Voltigeurs second-round pick in 2021 back to Drummondville for the 19-year-old forward, who has two years of junior eligibility remaining.
“Our interest in him dates back to the draft in Charlottetown,” Isles head coach and general manager Jim Hulton said. “This is a young man that we interviewed and held in pretty high regard. In fact, had he been available at our pick, we would have taken him.”
Desruisseaux went 17th overall to his hometown Victoriaville Tigres at the 2016 draft at the Eastlink Centre, one pick ahead of the Isles selection of defenceman Marc-Olivier Alain.
When the Islanders made the difficult decision to part with Joseph it had a couple of goals in mind. They included recovering draft picks it had spent to get to back-to-back semifinals while also acquiring known commodities.
The Joseph deal netted them Desruisseaux, defencemen Xavier Bernard and William Trudeau, a second-round pick in Saturday’s draft and Drummondville’s first-round selection in 2021.
“We fought hard to try to get Cedric back at Christmas,” Hulton said, but “they wanted some insurance in their lineup.”
The Islanders are intrigued by Desruisseaux, who is a small, quick player with an offensive flair to his game. He had 19 goals in 59 games this season on a stacked Voltigeurs club after scoring 24 in 64 games in 2017-18.
“He’s going to help the power play dramatically,” Hulton said, noting his 10 goals with the man advantage last season. “We think he has a lot of offensive upside that hasn't been realized yet.”
The Islanders top power-play producer last year was overage forward Daniel Hardie, who sniped 10 of his 34 goals with the man advantage. Lukas Cormier was the next best marksmen with seven while Kevin Gursoy and Nikita Alexandrov each had five.
Hulton envisions Desruisseaux being a one-time option off the half wall with the man advantage.
Desruisseaux played left-winger in Drummondville but was drafted as a centre and the head coach said he thinks he could play any of the three forward spots. He sees him starting with Alexandrov on one of the club’s top lines.
Hulton had a chance to speak with Desruisseaux, who had heard good things about the organization from Joseph and former Islanders forward Gregor MacLeod.
“He sounds like a really, really mature kid,” Hulton said. “It’s nice to hear the excitement in his voice about coming to the Island.”
The trade also helps the Isles recover from a tough 2016 draft that didn't bear much fruit.
With the trade of goalie Dakota Lund-Cornish, the lone holdover the Isles have is Charlottetown’s Thomas Casey, who was a sixth-round pick.
“The 2000 age group was an age group we needed to prop up,” Hulton acknowledged.
Bernard was the 12th overall selection in the 2016 draft class.
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