CAMP: Desharnais digging in to grow the mental side of his game

EDMONTON, AB – “It doesn't matter what happened yesterday,” said defenceman Vincent Desharnais.

“It's today that matters, and you have to focus on what's happening right now and not the past because you play 82 games. You're going to make mistakes.”

After making his NHL debut during the 2022-23 NHL season and suiting up for 48 high-stakes regular season and playoff games for the Edmonton Oilers to rave reviews, the towering 6-foot-6 blueliner has developed a keen understanding of those notions after focusing on the mental side of his game over the offseason.

Desharnais has been participating in Training Camp this week at Rogers Place feeling for the first time like less of a fringe player and more of a crucial part of the Oilers locker room with the help of his strengthened internal resolve and a growing level of confidence.

“I think playing in this league takes a toll on you physically, but mentally, I saw it last year for half the season. I saw it in the playoffs,” he said. “I feel more confident because I proved to myself that I could play here,” he said. “I proved it in the season. I proved it in the playoffs."

“Never before was I thinking about that because I wanted to make it. But now, it's not that I want to make it – I want to win a Stanley Cup.”

It wasn’t easy to reach this point for the Laval, QC product. When you live and die by your own individual play as an up-and-coming blueliner focused on figuring out what it will take to stick at the NHL level, the spectrum of on-ice results can lead to plenty of moments for self-evaluation.

After playing in 36 regular-season games after his January call-up from the Condors, only three Oilers players – Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse and Connor McDavid – recorded a plus/minus higher than his +15 over the course of the full 82-game campaign.

The 27-year-old settled into a depth-defending role with a place on the Oilers penalty kill while his influence and ice time (13:32 average time on ice) steadily grew in large part thanks to his solid physical game and dedication toward protecting Edmonton’s net.

In the postseason, however, the blueliner ran into some roadblocks – most notably in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-Final against the Vegas Golden Knights as the pressure upon his tall shoulders began to weigh down on him.

“Obviously, a little bit less time with the puck. There's just the nerves,” Desharnais said. “There's just a lot more things going on, a lot more pressure, so I'm very happy I got to go through it because once I got back [to work] in the summer, I felt more confident because I'm like, ‘Okay, I proved to myself I can play at this level in the playoffs.

Desharnais rebounded by not being on the ice for another goal against for the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after Head Coach Jay Woodcroft and his staff reassured the defender by bringing him back to the feeling of excitement that he first felt when he received his initial call-up.

"I had a chat with Woody and he told me, 'Hey, we trust you,'" Desharnais said. "'Just the coaching staff taking the time to tell me, 'Just let the pressure go. Just play your game.' From there, I was just having fun... In the playoffs, I think I got away a little bit from that where it's more pressure, and more is at stake. But it's the same game, it's the same puck. Nothing has changed."

But the series defeat for the Oilers in six games to the eventual Cup champions was a hard pill to swallow.

“The motivation was that once we lost that game against Vegas, that pit in the stomach hurt,” he said. “It hurt all summer, and you wake up in the morning and you're like, ‘Hey, I want to win a Stanley Cup. Let's go.’ That motivation to wake up every morning and tell yourself ‘I want to win a Stanley Cup,’ and never before was I thinking about that because I just wanted to make it.

“But now it's not want to make it – I want to win a Stanley Cup.

Desharnais’ dedication to the mental side of his game over the summer included a deep dive into his decision-making when defending against opposition forechecks. “On the ice, I think my biggest thing was always to have my eyes up and to always see what's coming,” he said. “Always know where the forecheck is coming from, know where my players are and where my options are.”

Thanks to some creative work with his skills coach, Desharnais was able to simulate some of those in-game scenarios this summer.

“We would work a lot with coloured pucks,” he said. “My skills coach would put a puck in the corner and I’d have to shoulder check, and depending on what the colour of the puck is, let's say red is a rim or yellow is a wheel, I’d have to look up a couple of times to make the play and not just skate, take the puck and make a pass. It's easy to do when you don't have anyone on the ice to do it, so we even added pressure."

Desharnais believes that the early returns are already being felt at this year’s Training Camp before the start of the Oilers pre-season schedule – beginning Sunday at Rogers Place against the Winnipeg Jets.

“I think I've seen it a little bit in practices where I feel more confident because I know what's coming,” he said. “Obviously, I still have to get used to it and get better at it, but I feel like I'll shoulder check a little bit more just to try to make sure I know what's coming. Once you get the puck, you know who's coming at you, so it makes your decision-making a lot easier.”