When the San Jose Sharks traded a 2025 fifth-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Vincent Desharnais in March of last year, there wasn’t much to the deal. The idea was that the Sharks had acquired a depth 6/7 defenseman who would fill in when there was an injury. For a fifth-round pick far, far in the future, it wasn’t a hefty price to pay. So it was a surprise when Desharnais proved, midway through the season, to be one of the more reliable and steadfast defensemen within the Sharks’ lineup.
In a season that included up-and-down play by other players on the blueline, the coaching staff has been able to rely on the 6-foot-7, 29-year-old to lock down the right side of the defense. While he will never be a scoring machine, he can effectively kill penalties with his long reach and clear out the front of the net. Two things that the Sharks seemed to be lacking at various times during the season.
Desharnais’ 2025-26 production
For a player who was only supposed to be a seventh defenseman, Desharnais’ usage this season was more than that.
| Games Played | Goals | Assists | Points | +/- | Shooting % | TOI/Game |
| 53 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +7 | 2.9% | 18:11 |
As you can see from his numbers, the defenseman played 53 games this season for the Sharks and averaged more than 18 minutes per game. Desharnais’ minutes were hard, all coming at even-strength and on the penalty kill.
Sharks’ most effective defenseman
And while many of the Sharks’ defensemen will be lauded for their offensive skills and skating abilities, there is something to be said for keeping it simple. In a season when there were plenty of mistakes from the blueline, Desharnais was the most effective of the Sharks’ defensemen.
Looking at Evolving-Hockey’s Goals Above Replacement (GAR) chart comparing all of the Sharks’ defensemen who played 100 minutes or more this season, you can see that Desharnais had the best impact on the ice.
For Desharnais, it wasn’t the offensive impact that put him over the top; it was his defense. He was by far the most effective defenseman on the Sharks’ blueline. He prevented goals at even strength and was just as effective on the penalty kill. The eye test can attest to that, where Sharks fans more than once saw Desharnais use that long, 6-foot-7 reach to break up passes and poke pucks off of sticks in front of the net.
He also used his big body to clear out the front of the net. Even when opponents didn’t have the puck, he was hard on them in front of the net, giving them no quarter. He kept the game simple, something that we saw very little of from other Sharks’ defensemen this season.
What can Desharnais be to the Sharks?
At 29 years old, Desharnais has refined his game and now understands what his role within any NHL organization should be. He knows he needs to play a simple game that uses his size and reach to control the space in front of his own net and clear pucks out of his defensive zone. He does that very well, something he showed this season.
That said, he’s not going to be an offensive dynamo for any team now or in the future. We have seen the peak of his game and so he is what he was when the Sharks acquired him, a secret 6/7 defenseman who will be an incredible asset in a playoff race. This is the kind of player that playoff-bound teams trade for (he’s a very big man who can kill penalties), and the Sharks already have him.
What’s more, he plays the right side, something the Sharks are incredibly short on both at the NHL level and within the organization in general.
His size has the added benefit of allowing him to play potentially alongside Luca Cagnoni next season, something the Sharks have already toyed with this season, offering some added protection to the diminutive defenseman.
Desharnais’ future with the Sharks
Desharnais will be a free agent at the end of this season. He’s coming off a two-year deal that paid him $2 million per season. If the Sharks are smart, they will lock him down to a two- to three-year deal that might be a bit pricier, given the current state of the NHL salary cap.
This is a deal that should and needs to happen before the Sharks start thinking about all of the other players on the blueline.
Editor’s Note: Over the next few weeks, we will be rolling out the player reviews for the San Jose Sharks. We realize there were a lot of guys rotating into and out of the lineup and some of the key depth players were traded. As a result, Fear the Fin plans to focus on the players who are 1) still with the Sharks and 2) played 20 or more games for San Jose this season.
