The 6-foot-2, 178-pound Desnoyers registered 35-49-84 and a +51 rating in 56 games with Moncton last season, finishing tied for fifth in points and ninth in assists among all QMJHL skaters. He also posted 9-21-30 in 19 QMJHL playoff games and added 1-1-2 in four Memorial Cup contests as the Wildcats won their third QMJHL championship and finished as the CHL runners-up.

Desnoyers was awarded the 2025 Guy Lafleur Trophy as the QMJHL’s postseason MVP, finishing first in assists, second in points, tied for third in goals and third in power-play points (3-7-10) among all league skaters during the playoffs.

The St-Hyacinthe, Quebec native tallied 20-36-56 in 60 games with Moncton in 2023-24 and earned selection to the QMJHL’s All-Rookie Team after ranking third in points and second in assists among first-year players.

Desnoyers has played two QMJHL seasons with the Wildcats, totaling 55-85-140 and a +53 rating in 116 regular-season games and adding 10-22-32 in 23 playoff appearances. He spent both seasons as a teammate of Gabe Smith, who was selected by Utah in the fourth round (103rd overall) of the 2024 NHL Draft.

Desnoyers has won gold medals with Team Canada at the 2024 IIHF Under-18 World Championship and 2024 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, and he also helped Team Canada White to gold at the 2023 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. He served as an alternate captain at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and Hlinka Gretzky Cup.

His brother, Elliot, was also selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the fifth round (135th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft, and his stepfather, Pascal Trépanier, skated in 229 career NHL games as a defenseman with the Colorado Avalanche, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Nashville Predators from 1997-2002.

Islanders select Ontario defenseman No. 1

LOS ANGELES — The New York Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft Friday night.

High-scoring forward Michael Misa went second overall to the San Jose Sharks, and the Chicago Blackhawks took Swedish forward Anton Frondell third at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Center Caleb Desnoyers went fourth to the Utah Mammoth, who moved up 10 spots in the draft lottery. The Nashville Predators grabbed physical forward Brady Martin with the fifth pick.

The Islanders surprised nobody by using their first No. 1 selection since 2009 on the 17-year-old Schaefer, a 6-foot-2 blueliner from Hamilton, Ontario, who spent the past two seasons with the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. He played only 17 games last season before breaking his collarbone in December, but Schaefer’s acumen on both ends of the ice still propelled him to the top of nearly all draft boards.

Schaefer is just the fifth defenseman picked No. 1 overall in the NHL draft since 2000, and the first since Owen Power went to Buffalo in 2021.

Schaefer persevered through tragedy to reach this milestone. Schaefer’s mother, Jennifer, died of cancer 16 months ago, and he also endured the recent deaths of the Otters’ owner, Jim Waters, and the mother of his billet family.

When Schaefer pulled on his Islanders sweater for the first time, he kissed a pink ribbon patch on the chest representing breast cancer awareness before breaking into tears.

“I appreciate you taking a chance on me,” Schaefer said in a video conference call with the Islanders’ front office. “I promise I won’t disappoint, but especially I just want to say to my mom and all my family and friends, thanks for everything.”

— Greg Beacham, Associated Press