NHL teams want young defensemen who are big, mobile and physical. Despres checks all those boxes.

Selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round (No. 30) in the 2009 NHL Draft, Despres (6-foot-4, 218 pounds) loves to deliver hard checks. The Laval, Quebec, native's skills with the puck can be underappreciated, but he is also capable of contributing offensively.

Despres stepped right into one of the NHL's great rivalries in his NHL debut on Dec. 1, 2011, skating with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins against Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals. He got his first NHL point with an assist on Chris Kunitz's game-winning goal in the third period of that game, a 2-1 win. After he got his second assist in his seventh game, against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 16, 2011, Despres' first NHL goal the next night in an 8-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres gave him his first NHL scoring streak.

In the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Penguins trailed the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 in their first-round series when they inserted Despres, then 20 years old, into the lineup for Game 4. Despres finished his playoff debut with a plus-two rating over 13:05 of ice time in Pittsburgh's 10-3 win and remained in the lineup for the final two games of the series.

Despres made the Penguins' opening-night roster for the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, but after being named Pittsburgh's Rookie of the Year in 2013, he spent much of 2013-14 shuttling between Pittsburgh and the American Hockey League. A yoga aficionado, Despres credited an intense stretching routing with helping him get in shape for regular playing time during the 2014-15 season, when he played 75 NHL games.

Despres was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for Ben Lovejoy on March 2, 2015. In 16 games with the Ducks that season, Despres scored a goal and six points. He finished the season tied for 16th in the NHL with 233 hits.

Despres played in all 16 of the Ducks' playoff games in 2015. His first NHL playoff goal was the game-winner in Anaheim's 2-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final.

In 2011 he helped Canada win a silver medal at the World Junior Championship. He also was named the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's best defenseman in 2010-11, after leading Saint John to a league championship and a Memorial Cup title.

NOTES & TRANSACTIONS

• QMJHL All-Rookie Team (2008)
• QMJHL First All-Star Team (2011)
• QMJHL Defenseman of the Year (2011)
• Traded to Anaheim by Pittsburgh for Ben Lovejoy, March 2, 2015.