<\/p>\n
Caleb Desnoyers, the 2025 NHL No. 4 draft pick, is starting his pro career with the Tucson Roadrunners. Desnoyers hit the ice for a matchup against the San Diego Gulls on Oct. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Kate Dibildox, Tucson Roadrunners<\/p>\n
The transition also comes with responsibilities away from hockey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unlike junior hockey, where players often live with billet families who help with everyday tasks. On the Roadrunners, Desnoyers now has to manage those responsibilities himself.<\/p>\n
Teammate and Roadrunners forward Tij Iginla has known Desnoyers since they played together for Team Canada at the U18 Championships in spring 2024 before becoming teammates in Tucson.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a really good kid and has a good sense of humor,\u201d Iginla said. \u201cHe likes to crack some jokes and keep it light.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having played alongside Desnoyers at both the international and professional levels, Iginla believes the young center already has skills that could translate to the NHL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think his skating is definitely ready for the NHL, as well as his playmaking,\u201d Iginla said.<\/p>\n
Now, his time on the Roadrunners will give him the \u201cpro experience\u201d he needs to take the next step, Iginla said, adding that he already has the work ethic to succeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just really loves the game and works hard at it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Beginning his professional career in Tucson wasn\u2019t originally part of his plan, Desnoyers said.<\/p>\n
His goal during the summer was to earn a spot on the Mammoth\u2019s NHL roster.<\/p>\n
At first, he was disappointed to be heading to Tucson, but he said he understands that this is an opportunity to improve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the thing that I wanted, but I think it\u2019s also a great opportunity for me to get better and get closer to my dream,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Caleb Desnoyers, the 2025 NHL No. 4 draft pick, is starting his pro career with the Tucson Roadrunners.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[462],"tags":[2666,702,5,6,285,4,465,466,730,41659,2661],"class_list":["post-694918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl-draft","tag-arizona","tag-caleb-desnoyers","tag-hockey","tag-ice-hockey","tag-national-hockey-league","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-draft","tag-nhl-entry-draft","tag-tij-iginla","tag-tucson","tag-tucson-roadrunners"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117500380701161940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=694918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}