Player Discussion Vincent Desharnais

[DingDongCharlie]

It was nice to see him add some toughness to the lineup in the regular season. A 26 year old rookie getting his shot in the NHL. These playoffs have in my opinion absolutely exposed him though. He's not a capable NHL regular. I know Woodcroft loves going 11F / 7D. At this point I feel Desharnais is absolutely costing us games. He's been the worst player on the Oilers and we've had a number of passenger's in the lineup as is not pulling their weight but nobody else who's routinely costing us as he has. I also have a hard time believing there's not 1 other player in the organization we could dress in the lineup without being the negative on ice presence that he's been. I also don't see him turning this around.

The question is simple. Do you think he should be in the lineup again in these playoffs? For me I see no reason to be risking losing another game, or worse a series due to dressing a #6/7D who's routinely being owned.

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[Drivesaitl]

It was nice to see him add some toughness to the lineup in the regular season. A 26 year old rookie getting his shot in the NHL. These playoffs have in my opinion absolutely exposed him though. He's not a capable NHL regular. I know Woodcroft loves going 11F / 7D. At this point I feel Desharnais is absolutely costing us games. He's been the worst player on the Oilers and we've had a number of passenger's in the lineup as is not pulling their weight but nobody else who's routinely costing us as he has. I also have a hard time believing there's not 1 other player in the organization we could dress in the lineup without being the negative on ice presence that he's been. I also don't see him turning this around.

The question is simple. Do you think he should be in the lineup again in these playoffs? For me I see no reason to be risking losing another game, or worse a series due to dressing a #6/7D who's routinely being owned.

Even Nemo could play 10mins a night and maybe not get burned alive every night. But we forgot entirely about that player in the teams zeal to turn Desharnais into some kind of player. I admit I bought it for about a month or more. Then the kinks started to show.

Playoffs is just an entirely different animal and you don't know what you got in a D until you get there. The Oilers org have been fooled by this kind of thing for decades. Bergeron, Bear, Desharnais, thats just a shortlist. Long list would take me hours.

As for the poll I would say some sheltered minutes but really for D that doesn't exist in the playoffs against good clubs every night. So I went with no. its unanimous so far...lol

 

[Mr Kot]

Hopefully the increased pressure on woodcroft to not play him will work. Would rather go 12-6 if we can and have broberg in. Or as drive said, niem cant be any worse.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Maybe let’s stop falling in love with career AHL defenders.

 

[McBigYak]

Anybody but this guy. Get Niemelainen up, Demers up.

Getting absolutely ridiculous.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Anybody but this guy. Get Niemelainen up, Demers up.

Getting absolutely ridiculous.

I was thinking Demers when I made the thread but there is other options. Even dressing 12 forwards would be better.

 

[bone]

While I said No. Unfortunately they don't really have much more for options to play those PK minutes and/or would be on their proper side.

Since they seem unwilling to play Broberg elevated minutes, you'd have to think they needed to find a way to get one veteran PKer for the right side as they could have demoted Broberg to do it.

 

[Spawn]

I was thinking Demers when I made the thread but there is other options. Even dressing 12 forwards would be better.

I don’t think Demers is even with the team. He was never one of the guys they announced having called up. Only other RHD we have available now is Philip Kemp.

As to the question at hand, I think he could probably use a game in the pressbox at the very least. He’s in over his head at the moment.

 

[McBigYak]

I was thinking Demers when I made the thread but there is other options. Even dressing 12 forwards would be better.

It's funny, lots of people were freaked out about the game he played, especially when he gifted a goal off a brutal giveaway. But VD has made plays like that 5..... maybe even 6 times this playoffs.

I think an 11-7 with Demers in the lineup would work well. The guy is 34 years old with a ton of NHL experience. He could handle the 7-8 minutes a game far better than VD.

Whatever they do, they CANNOT keep putting the dude in the lineup. Like enough is enough.

 

[Fixed to Ruin]

I think a player like Desharnais is matchup dependent. I think against certain teams he's effective and against others he's ineffective. He's at best a #7 defenseman.

Right now, the Golden Knights forecheck requires good puck movers who are quick decision makers and good puck carriers. Basically, everything that Desharnais is not.

If we were playing the Flames for example, I would want Desharnais pushing around the big bodies like Lucic and Lewis. However, against the Golden Knights we need guys like Broberg who can move the puck and escape the pressure from the Golden Knights.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I really like him. He's worked his ass off to get to the NHL being about a 200th overall pick and there's not much hope for guys taken that late.

But.

He needs more seasoning for playoff hockey. He is on the ice for a lot of bad goals against that were completely preventable, and alot by or because of him.

This isn't the preseason where you can f*** around and work the kinks out. 3 more losses this round and it's season over. Run 12-6 and PB him. Let him watch to learn. Getting turnstiled, missing assignments and coughing up turnovers that usually lead to goals isn't helping him grow either.

 

[McBigYak]

I think a player like Desharnais is matchup dependent. I think against certain teams he's effective and against others he's ineffective. He's at best a #7 defenseman.

Right now, the Golden Knights forecheck requires good puck movers who are quick decision makers and good puck carriers. Basically, everything that Desharnais is not.

If we were playing the Flames for example, I would want Desharnais pushing around the big bodies like Lucic and Lewis. However, against the Golden Knights we need guys like Broberg who can move the puck and escape the pressure from the Golden Knights.

Confidence plays a huge factor. 36 game stretch in the NHL regular season he was making all the right plays.

All of a sudden you start messing up, especially in pressure type situations, and you cannot wait until the puck is off your stick. In the back of your mind, you're just thinking of the possibility of turning it over again. Last night the pass into the shinpads in the slot, and the lost puck in the corner on the penalty kill were 2 prime examples. Guy wanted nothing to do with the puck.

Even sitting him or a game or 2 can resolve something like this. Instead they continue to play him 8 mins and he gets absolutely caved.

 

[trick91]

I dont understand why people keep saying Neimo. We aren't going to play him on the right side, that would be horrible.

Put broberg in.

 

[Soundwave]

I dont understand why people keep saying Neimo. We aren't going to play him on the right side, that would be horrible.

Put broberg in.

He'll probably get targetted and exposed too.

Maybe stop playing guys with less than 150 games NHL experience. This isn't development camp this is the playoffs, it's hard enough as is without the Oilers just gifting opponents easy money by trotting out inexperienced D one after another.

 

[Duke74]

Desharnais owes Draisaitl an all-expenses paid night on the strip after singlehandedly negating his legendary performance.

Never understood why people fell over themselves for this guy. ECHL player at best.

The height of his idiocy involved not that blatant giveaway in front of his own net on the first Vegas goal, but crosschecking Stone in the back AFTER Stone had already scored. He doesn't even bother to tie up Stone's stick in the first place, resulting in the goal AND then proceeds to risk a completely unnecessary penalty. He was lucky that didn't get called.

I'd say I'm done with this guy but I never saw what others saw in him in the first place. Sorry.

 

[Soundwave]

Desharnais owes Draisaitl an all-expenses paid night on the strip after singlehandedly negating his legendary performance.

Never understood why people fell over themselves for this guy. ECHL player at best.

The height of his idiocy involved not that blatant giveaway in front of his own net on the first Vegas goal, but crosschecking Stone in the back AFTER Stone had already scored. He doesn't even bother to tie up Stone's stick in the first place, resulting in the goal AND then proceeds to risk a completely unnecessary penalty. He was lucky that didn't get called.

I'd say I'm done with this guy but I never saw what others saw in him. Sorry.

Oilers do this every year ... it's not really Vinny's fault. He didn't ask for this.

The Oilers coaching and management think guys with 40-80 NHL games can be thrown into playoff hockey.

 

[Duke74]

Oilers do this every year ... it's not really Vinny's fault. He didn't ask for this.

The Oilers coaching and management think guys with 40-80 NHL games can be thrown into playoff hockey.

True. It's more on Woodcroft than anyone else for not recognizing VD's limitations and adjusting. One or two blatant errors should suffice for PB duty. The room for error is razor-thin and we can't give Desharnais any more rope at this point.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Serviceable #7 with PK ability but he’s getting exposed with the fast pace of playoff hockey
Need to sit him

 

[McBigYak]

Desharnais owes Draisaitl an all-expenses paid night on the strip after singlehandedly negating his legendary performance.

Never understood why people fell over themselves for this guy. ECHL player at best.

The height of his idiocy involved not that blatant giveaway in front of his own net on the first Vegas goal, but crosschecking Stone in the back AFTER Stone had already scored. He doesn't even bother to tie up Stone's stick in the first place, resulting in the goal AND then proceeds to risk a completely unnecessary penalty. He was lucky that didn't get called.

I'd say I'm done with this guy but I never saw what others saw in him in the first place. Sorry.

I think ECHL level defenseman is a little harsh. The guy is likely to establish himself as a strong #7 d man that can perform well in stints.

This is an issue of the Oilers putting him in a position to fail rather than succeed. And it's partly because we have relatively little options to go to other than him.

They say you need at least 9 capable d men to win the cup. Oilers barely have 6.

 

[McTonyBrar]

I love Vinny but he is not cut out for this series. He's not fast enough, his puck skills aren't good enough to keep up with the rest and, for some reason, he's not using his size. 2 goals last game were on him in my opinion last night

 

[FunkyChicken]

Sit hime for a game or two to watch from the pressbox.
Hope he can simplify his game by watching from the 10,000 ft view.
Bring him back as the 7th D and hope he re-finds his game.

Almost as concerning is how meh Broberg has been. Not physical, timid with the puck but at least he is not doing the major gaffe or two each game.

 

[Broberg Speed]

I voted yes. If we go 11-7, which I'm not completely opposed to, I can see the strategy of keeping Desharnais in the lineup for the pk but his minutes need to be reduced and the matchups have to be monitored closely.

 

[EchoesoftheEighties]

IMO 73 needs to sit or see heavily reduced minutes. He's starting to cost us games.

 

[McBigYak]

I voted yes. If we go 11-7, which I'm not completely opposed to, I can see the strategy of keeping Desharnais in the lineup for the pk but his minutes need to be reduced and the matchups have to be monitored closely.

He's generally good on the PK, but that goal last night where he not only gave the puck up in the corner with a brutally soft play but then lost his man in front of the net for the goal shows he has absolutely zero confidence. Wouldn't want him out on the PK right now.

 

[McJadeddog]

I think the answer is pretty obvious. Go with 11/7 still, and play both Broberg and VD situationally. VD should only see ice against exceptionally favorable matchups at ES (if any ES at all) and then PK mins, where he is actually not bad and his long reach and net front/shot blocking comes in handy. Broberg should see sheltered minutes at ES only. They should then rotate one of Ceci or Bouchard, or even Nurse/Ekholm on their wrong side, every 3rd or 4th shift on the bottom pairing. Cut VD down to 4-6 mins, with half on the PK. Have Broberg play about 6-8 mins at ES, and the increase the Nurse, Ekholm, Ceci and Bouchard minutes by 2-3 each. It makes the bottom pairing a little more complicated of course, but you just CAN'T trust VD at ES against Vegas, you just can't. Broberg still needs a lot of sheltering as well, although he is better at evens than VD is.

For the teams still left in the playoffs, their 6th Dman is playing between 11-16 mins/night. If you do the above, Broberg + VD would have about 10-14 mins/night, which is right on average for the 6th Dman on other teams. VD has averaged 13 mins/night on his own so far, with 11 coming at ES, and Broberg 6:30 entirely at ES. That is WAAAAY too much for VD. Cut his ES minutes by 75%, and increase Brobergs ES mins by 25%. That is the entire "VD solution", and manages to keep him around for the PK. It also doesn't overly burden our other D. Nurse and Bouchard are playing the most at 23:45 and 23 mins respectively. You could increase them both by 2 mins (as well as Ekholm, and Ceci) and cover off the difference easily.