Simon Després Signs With LNAH’s Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon

A former first-round pick of the 2009 NHL Draft is returning to his native Quebec to continue his professional playing career. In a team announcement, the LNAH’s (Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey) Saint-Hyacinthe Bataillon shared that they’ve signed defenseman Simon Després to a contract for the 2025-26 season.

Després was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins a few weeks after the organization reached its first Stanley Cup Final since the 1991-92 season. The Laval, Quebec native was playing for the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs at the time, finishing his tenure with the team after the 2010-11 season, during which he managed 25 goals and 134 points in 240 games, including six additional goals and 39 points in 58 postseason contests.

Given that the team had won the Stanley Cup in 2009 and continued as one of the best teams in the league for the next few years, there was no need for the Penguins to rush one of their top prospects to the NHL level. Still, despite spending most of his time with their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Pittsburgh gave Després plenty of opportunity to make his mark at the game’s top level.

Unfortunately, no such impact was made, at least on the offensive side of the puck. Over the next three and a half years, Després partook in 144 games as a Penguin, scoring five goals and 33 points with a +27 rating while averaging 15:54 of ice time. Pittsburgh had been looking for more offense from Després. Still, he was a sneakily positive defensive option, maintaining a 53.2% CorsiFor% (CF%) at even strength, and a 92.8% on-ice save percentage (oiSV%) at even strength, while also averaging nearly two hits per game.

Regardless, the Penguins felt they had seen everything they needed to regarding Després’ future with the organization, and they finally traded him to the Anaheim Ducks in 2015 for defenseman Ben Lovejoy, who had been a teammate of Després in the first two years of his NHL career. Unbeknownst to Després at the time, his move to Orange County would mark the end of his NHL career.

Severely limited by concussions, Després finished with one goal and 10 points as a Duck from the trade in 2015 to the end of the 2016-17 campaign. It’s difficult for any player, especially one who hasn’t established himself as a legitimate talent, to recover after nearly two years away from the game. Despite a five-game stretch with the AHL’s Laval Rocket during the 2018-19 season, Després has spent the rest of his professional career overseas, recently scoring six goals and 29 points in 52 games with the EIHL’s Glasgow Clan last season.