Willie Desjardins likes to tell this story.



For the majority of the 2012-13 AHL season Desjardins, then the coach of the Texas Stars, would have weekly meetings with Antoine Roussel that were initiated by the player.



“Once a week he'd come up and ask me, 'What can I do to get better?'” Desjardins told The Athletic. “That's all he wanted to do. He had a burning desire to be the best he could be, and he never let go of that.”



The weekly meetings were just part of Roussel's drive. He was the team's hardest-working player, “all in on everything,” Desjardins said, and during that 2012-13 season, Roussel's work earned its just rewards.



Roussel had to work his way up through the minor-league system after getting passed over in the NHL draft. He signed an AHL contract with the Providence Bruins for the 2010-11 season and spent most of the season in Providence, but finished the season playing in the ECHL with the Reading...