{"id":426142,"date":"2026-01-24T20:23:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/426142\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T20:23:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:23:10","slug":"desharnais-return-to-sharks-stabilizes-much-more-than-on-ice-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/426142\/","title":{"rendered":"Desharnais Return To Sharks Stabilizes Much More Than On-Ice Play"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>San Jose Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais has played three games since returning from an <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/san-jose-sharks-sherwood-injury-desharnais-activated-leddy-clears-waivers\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"3587\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">upper-body injury<\/a>, and he proved he was missed badly.<\/p>\n<p>The big d-man is once again paired with Sam Dickinson on the third rotation, but continues to play an important role. He\u2019s the top PK defenseman. The Sharks had given up at least one power-play goal in the three games leading up to Desharnais\u2019 return. Since comingback, the kill is a perfect 6-for-6.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust to keep it simple,\u201d Desharnais told SHD on Thursday. \u201cSo many things are going through your head, you want to do so many good things. Two months is two months, no matter who you are, you\u2019re gonna feel it. The timing won\u2019t be the same. My main thing was just to move my feet and make hard plays, and the rest was gonna take care of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Desharnais quickly engaged himself in his return against the Florida Panthers. He was physical all night, including a massive hit on Matthew Tkachuk.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Vincent Desharnais lays the boom on Matthew Tkachuk! \ud83d\udca5 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RgdymMocN6\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/RgdymMocN6<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NHL (@NHL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NHL\/status\/2013397118233285053?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/p>\n<p>But Desharnais on-ice impact isn\u2019t the only thing he brings to the San Jose Sharks locker room. His personality draws the rest of the team to him. He\u2019s placed next to Dickinson in the lineup, and the two have become very close.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think everybody on our team would say he\u2019s just like a pillar of stability,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cWhen he\u2019s on the ice, it just seems like things sort of slow down. Everything gets calmed down. He\u2019s huge in the penalty kill. Being lucky enough to play with him, I think over the first however many games that we played together at the beginning of the year, we built a lot of good chemistry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Desharnais got to see firsthand how much Dickinson has developed. Desharnais went nearly two months without playing, and was complimentary of his d-partner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Dickie, helped me out big time. At 19 years old, to be able to step up for me and help me out, especially the first half of the first game, I thought he was awesome for me,\u201d Desharnais said. \u201cI told him after the game, Thank you. Like everyone is talking about, oh, you play great, but I think it\u2019s important to mention, when your partner helps you out. He doesn\u2019t put you in a suit (healthy scratched), that helps a lot to look good. He played a big part in the first game back.<\/p>\n<p>Sherwood &amp; Desharnais have a history<\/p>\n<p>Desharnais loves to have fun, like the rest of his Sharks teammates. While playing for the Vancouver Canucks last season, Desharnais grew close with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhl.com\/sharks\/news\/kiefer-sherwood-traded-to-san-jose-by-vancouver-x1954\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"(opens in a new tab)\">newly acquired<\/a> winger <a href=\"https:\/\/sharkshockeydigest.com\/tag\/kiefer-sherwood\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"3066\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kiefer Sherwood<\/a>. The two are both considered late bloomers by NHL standards and have bonded over it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2018I\u2019m excited. I think it\u2019s a big addition for us,\u201d Desharnais said. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, when I texted him to welcome him, and all that, and the first thing he said was, can\u2019t wait to stir some stuff up on the ice. I think he\u2019s gonna fit right in. We already have a couple guys that are like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Sherwood met with members of the San Jose Sharks media, he was overly appreciative of his bond with Desharnais.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe hung out a little bit last year in VAN and got to know him. He\u2019s a great person,\u201d Sherwood said. \u201cIt\u2019s funny how you meet guys and mesh again, and full circle. I\u2019m excited get to know the guys and be part of this group. I\u2019m hearing great things, so I\u2019m really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Desharnais is averaging 15:14 since returning from his injury. That number could get even higher as he continues to get his rhythm back. His goal against the Florida Panthers was just the second of his NHL career.<\/p>\n<p>                                                    <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais has played three games since returning from an upper-body injury, and he&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426143,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127],"tags":[5,6386,4,1196,519,168,5306,5305,1780,8246,24660,4462],"class_list":{"0":"post-426142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose-sharks","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-kiefer-sherwood","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sam-dickinson","12":"tag-san-jose","13":"tag-san-jose-sharks","14":"tag-sanjose","15":"tag-sanjosesharks","16":"tag-sharks","17":"tag-sharks-news","18":"tag-sj-sharks","19":"tag-vincent-desharnais"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115951947279735104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}