With the fourth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft Friday night, the Utah Mammoth selected center Caleb Desnoyers.
The 18-year-old Desnoyers, who hails from Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada, is generally regarded as the best two-way center in this year’s draft. He often draws comparisons to Chicago Blackhawks legend (and new member of the Winnipeg Jets) Jonathan Toews.
The Moncton Wildcats, Desnoyers’ junior team, won the QMJHL championship this year, and Desnoyers’ 30 points in 19 playoff games was enough to earn him the Guy Lafleur Trophy as playoff MVP.
As you might imagine, Utah loved that about him.
“We like players that play in the big moments,” Mammoth general manager Bill Armstrong said during a press conference with local media following the pick.
“You don’t teach a baby shark how to bite — they know how to bite.”
The 6-foot-2, 178-pound Desnoyers sustained injuries to both of his wrists this year, though Armstrong said in a predraft press conference that his team had conducted conclusive health checks for every player it was interested in — specifically mentioning Desnoyers as one of those players.
NHL teams rarely draft by positional need, but if the Mammoth were to do that, center was largely perceived as their prospect pool’s biggest weakest position and Desnoyers fills that hole.
Armstrong mentioned that although he firmly believes in taking the best player available, top-six centers are hard to get without drafting them.
What does Caleb Desnoyers think of Utah?
When the Utah Jazz selected Ace Bailey with the fifth overall pick in the NBA draft on Wednesday, speculation quickly arose that he wouldn’t want to go to Utah. That won’t be the case with Desnoyers.
He stopped by Salt Lake on his way to Los Angeles, where Armstrong hosted him and the scouting staff at his house for dinner (Nomad East pizza was on the menu).
“Honestly, I’ve never seen a city as beautiful as that,” Desnoyers said. “It was gorgeous with the mountains, and just the streets, it’s so clean. Can’t wait to bring my family over.”
He’ll get the chance to return on Sunday for of Utah’s development camp, which goes until Thursday.
The 2025 NHL Draft
The 2025 draft is unique in the sense that the teams’ respective staffs stayed home. In previous years, they all met in the same building for the draft — but the teams chose to try something new this year.
The draft took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, where the players congregated, while a live feed of each team’s headquarters was displayed on a screen.
Utah enlisted the help of professional golfer Tony Finau (who is close friends with Mammoth owner Ryan Smith and whose former agent is Mammoth president of hockey operations Chris Armstrong) to make the pick on stage in Los Angeles.
With the first overall pick, the New York Islanders selected defenseman Matthew Schaefer — to the surprise of few.
Following Schaefer, the San Jose Sharks selected Michael Misa second and the Chicago Blackhawks took Anton Frondell third.