Vincent Desharnais opened up.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s been the norm for the gregarious Desharnais over his career, but this time, the 6-foot-7 defenseman was honest about his mental struggles last year, from dealing with the expectations of his first significant NHL contract, signed with the Vancouver Canucks. He also got traded twice, to the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks, and ended last season injured.<\/p>\n
Desharnais only played seven games after the Sharks acquired him at the Trade Deadline, felled by an upper-body injury to end last season.<\/p>\n
But he\u2019s got a new attitude this season, after taking some time for himself this summer.<\/p>\n
Desharnais also spoke on his shootout goal during Saturday\u2019s scrimmage, playing with camp partner Sam Dickinson, and more.<\/p>\n
\nDesharnais wins what I believe was a 16-round Teal-White shootout. Think he was the last Teal shooter \ud83d\ude06 pic.twitter.com\/MZDSKt8TPb<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) September 20, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Vincent Desharnais, on what was said during the shootout scrimmage:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Someone has to score at some point. The goalies were good, but I think there were 30-something guys who went, and you gotta score at some point, so the coach asked me to let the younger guys go, and then they kept going. It was fun, it was pretty funny.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on what he\u2019s seeing from his group so far:<\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s fun. It\u2019s fun to see the younger guys and the older guys mixing in together. A good example is my partner, Dickie. I think he\u2019s 10 years younger than me, but it\u2019s awesome. He wants to learn, he\u2019s asking questions, and it\u2019s nice to build a little chemistry with him. It\u2019s a fast-paced camp\u2014practices are fast, there\u2019s a lot of compete, and that\u2019s what we need. The last 2, 3 years, we\u2019ve been at the bottom, it\u2019s gotta change. That\u2019s why we\u2019re here, that\u2019s why everyone signed here in the summer, they want the San Jose Sharks to move in the right direction, and I think that starts with training camp. It starts with practice and starts with having good habits, and that\u2019s how you build those habits on a daily basis.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on what he\u2019s working on personally:<\/strong><\/p>\n
For my game, just with everything that happened last season, I just want to play, and I just want to play myself. I just want to be Vinny that got to the NHL and made a difference with Edmonton, and I know I can make a difference here. I know I can help younger guys, I know I can help with my defensive skills and having good sticks, blocking shots, being physical. The big, big emphasis here is being solid on the PK. I would love for us to have a very, very strong PK\u2014top 10 in the league\u2014because that\u2019s how you win and lose games.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on Sam Dickinson:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Well, one thing I told him right off the bat is that his skillset is a lot better than mine. Whatever I tell you, it\u2019s just from my experience from things I\u2019ve seen just from being around. I told him \u201cAt the blue line, you\u2019re going to get the puck every time. Don\u2019t you worry, you\u2019re the one who\u2019s getting points here.\u201d But yeah, it\u2019s fun. We can have fun and he works hard. He\u2019s going to ask questions, and when I see things, I\u2019ll go talk to him, and he\u2019s very receptive and he wants to get better, he wants to be here. He\u2019s a hard worker, and I love guys that are like that, because it makes you work hard as well and makes you want to help him more and makes you want him to get to that level.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on what he can bring to a defensive pairing with Dickinson:<\/strong><\/p>\n
I think just doing the dirty work for him, going to corners\u2014I\u2019m a bigger guy and I know I can create room. Obviously, he\u2019s got a very good offensive-minded IQ. Whatever to make his game the easiest possible\u2014me doing the dirty work, whatever it is. If it\u2019s being physical, if it\u2019s clearing the net, if its boxing out in front of our net, just making it as easy as possible. A big thing too that we\u2019re kind of building is trying to talk as much as we can to make our job a lot easier. I\u2019ve never seen him play in a real game and all that, so I\u2019m excited to see this season how he\u2019s going to play, how he\u2019s going to develop, because he\u2019s going to get better and better as the season goes on.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on what Dickinson\u2019s biggest challenge will be defensively in the NHL:<\/strong><\/p>\n
I think the speed is the biggest challenge if you come in from the juniors. The speed in this league\u2014you can be the best defenseman in juniors or in college, and you get to this league, and it\u2019s a little bit of a challenge at first, because it\u2019s such a fast pace and the top lines on each team are so fast. You just get to that pace and make sure you don\u2019t get beat in one-on-ones and being hard in the D-zone. It\u2019s a lot of work, it\u2019s hard to get there, but it\u2019s a key in this league. If you want to stay in this league and be a very good defenseman for a long time, you have to be able to defend well.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on what it was like coming to a new environment on short notice:<\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s not easy\u2014not because of the players or coaching staff here, that\u2019s the opposite, they made it a lot easier. It\u2019s just a lot, getting traded twice, I was in Pittsburgh for I think 34 days, and it\u2019s hard to find some comfort. You\u2019re all alone in all of this and showing up here was cool to finish the season although I got hurt and that\u2019s not ideal, but it was nice to be with the guys and coaching staff talking to you and making it feel like \u201cHey, we need you. You have a role here. Whatever happens at the end of the season, who cares, but once you show up next season, we have a role for you and we need you.\u201d It was a good summer for me to flush all the negative that happened and flush it all and look back to see what I can take from it and move forward to build something. I\u2019ve made a few changes and did a lot of mental work. I think when the season ended, I was kind of in a tough place mentally. I took a lot of time off in the woods and fishing with no phones or social media, and that was very helpful. I\u2019m back and ready. I feel good physically and mentally, and I want to help this team turn around. I want to help this team get better and be competitive. I want teams to see the San Jose Sharks and go \u201cOh, not them again,\u201d and not \u201cOh, San Jose Sharks, gonna be an easy one tonight.\u201d A lot of the first three practices and the first three days of camp, I think it\u2019s looking really well for us to be very annoying to play against.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on his talks with Mike Grier and Ryan Warsofsky:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Obviously, when you get traded twice in a year\u2014and going back to Edmonton, not playing every game in the Stanley Cup Finals, playing the whole season, most of the playoffs, and in the end, you\u2019re not in, you\u2019re kind of questioning yourself. You change teams, things aren\u2019t going away, you get traded and traded again, at some point your confidence is kind of taking a hit. You\u2019re questioning yourself a lot and having that reassurance helped a little bit. But it doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re going to hand me that. We have a very competitive D core, and it\u2019s good. It makes everyone push each other. Obviously, we had some good talks with them, but it doesn\u2019t mean that they\u2019re going to give it to me. I have to earn it, and I\u2019m ready to do anything for that.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on seeing the San Jose Sharks adding to their D depth:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Well, it\u2019s exciting. July 1st, I was excited. It took a little bit of time for the Sharks to get going, but I thought they had some great signings. We added a lot of a couple of older d-man depth, and I think that was excellent. Every team you go to, they\u2019re going to have that, they\u2019re just going to have good players and you just play your game, and whatever happens happens. If we\u2019re playing 7, 8, that\u2019s above my pay grade, I just show up at the rink. If I\u2019m in, I\u2019m in, and I\u2019ll do everything I can to win. If I\u2019m not, I\u2019ll do everything I can to get back in.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on the news in Edmonton surrounding Connor McDavid:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Hey, I had enough drama last year. I\u2019ll focus on myself right now, I\u2019ll focus on training camp here, and I wish them all the best. To be honest, I don\u2019t care that much, I just focus on here.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on where he improved mentally last summer:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Just the whole business aspect of the game. My first 2 years in Edmonton were minimum salary, I wasn\u2019t really paying attention to all that, and I was just kind of happy to be there. Then I signed my first real deal, and expectations rose, and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. Obviously, there\u2019s a mix of lot of things that happened last season, but at some point, my confidence and being at peace with myself and with my thoughts\u2014when I got home at the end of the season, I was not in a great headspace, and there was a lot of negativity and I was trying to get out of it, so I faced everything that happened. I kind of looked back into it. It\u2019s like I mentioned earlier, what can I get out of it? How can I get better? What needs to change? I started working with a new sports mental coach and that helped a lot. Just like I said, it\u2019s stupid, but go into the woods and go fishing and turn off, doing something else and being a normal human being like \u201cOkay, life is okay. We\u2019re all good,\u201d and just reset. Now I have a \u201cfuck you\u201d mentality to just go out there and play. I have nothing to lose, I\u2019m a 7th-rounder, 2016, 8 years ago, I shouldn\u2019t technically be here, let\u2019s just have fun. The thing last year that I got away from is having fun. I got caught in the business of things and trades and all that. Why I\u2019m here is because I work hard and I have fun. That\u2019s why I came back to it this summer, just keep working hard and have some fun.<\/p>\n
Desharnais, on what the San Jose Sharks can improve on defensively:<\/strong><\/p>\n
Small details. It\u2019s not that the guys were not working hard, I think it\u2019s just working a little smarter. Warso mentioned it at the first meeting, I think he talked about competing and he said \u201cI know you guys compete. We have to compete smart,\u201d so when we track back and we skate back in our d-zone, we have to stop instead of curling a bit. The guys will work, but just the small details\u2013the stick details\u2014the small little things at the end of the day will cost you a goal that you can\u2019t afford to give up, right? I think there\u2019s a small bit, and that happens when you have a young team as well. If you have a young team, there\u2019s going to be little details that aren\u2019t as sharp, so I\u2019m glad to see that in training camp, the coaching staff is pretty stingy about those small details, because they\u2019re going to make a difference. Stop at the net for rebounds, tracking and stopping in our d-zone, having good sticks, communicating. Those are all small details, but by the end of the day, you can win or lose a game because of those. For me, the biggest difference this year for us is to just focus on those details and keep improving every game.<\/p>\n
Watch the full interview here<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t