The San Jose Sharks have made another trade as the trade deadline approaches, this time bringing in a player instead of sending one out. The Sharks have acquired 28-year-old defenseman Vincent Desharnais from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a 2028 fifth-round pick.
Desharnais is in the first year of a two-year deal that pays him $2 million per season, according to Puckpedia. His size had to be an asset to General Manager Mike Grier. Desharnais clocks in at 6-foot-7, 226 pounds. The fact that he shoots from the right-side couldn’t have hurt either since the Sharks are a bit short on right-shot defensemen at the moment.
Desharnais has played with both Pittsburgh and the Vancouver Canucks this season, totaling 44 games and three assists. He has played 158 NHL games with 19 points (1 G, 18 A). While he’s not a scoring machine, he’s defensively responsible.
Looking at his regularized-adjusted plus-minus (RAPM) chart from Evolving-Hockey you can see that his expected goals against and Corsi against is on the better end of NHL regulars. What’s more, he’s been relatively consistent over the past three seasons.
Looking at his RAPM chart from 2022-25, you can see that while he’s not driving play offensively, he is reliable in his own end. Desharnais is also willing to sacrifice his body. He has 238 career blocked shots in his 158 games, according to Natural Stat Trick.
How does Desharnais fit into the Sharks’ defense plans?
Desharnais fills a hole that the Sharks would have needed to fill in the offseason if the team didn’t do it now.
Looking at Puckpedia, with the addition of Desharnais, the Sharks will have six NHL-level defensemen signed for next season. This includes Marc-Edouard Vlasic (L), Jake Walman (L), Mario Ferraro (L), Timothy Liljegren (R), Henry Thrun (L) and Desharnais (R).
Shakir Mukhamadullin (L) and Jack Thompson (R) both need new contracts and so aren’t guaranteed to be with the Sharks next season, even though they are both restricted free agents. Of the players in the AHL and signed through next season, only one, Gannon Laroque is a right-shot defenseman.
Even assuming that the Sharks re-sign Mukhamadullin and Thompson, Desharnais would still be needed. Given what we know, the defensive combinations could shake out something like this:
Jake Walman – Timothy Liljegren
Mario Ferraro – Jack Thompson
Shakir Mukhamadullin – Vincent Desharnais
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Henry Thrun
This, of course, is assuming that Luca Cagnoni isn’t ready for a shot at the NHL or that Sam Dickinson or an unnamed potential draft pick does not force their way onto the team.
Conclusion
Credit to Mike Grier for adding a piece that the Sharks need for a cheap cost. If all goes well, that 2028 fifth-round pick will be closer to a sixth-rounder. And that’s not even counting the fact that if Desharnais gets a boost from playing more minutes on a weaker team, he could up his value at the next trade deadline. If he does, the Sharks could get more than a fifth-round pick in a 2026 trade.
