Edmonton Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais has attracted attention this season for the quality of his game and boxing skills, but some fans disliked one of his fights and even sent him death threats.
He confessed to radio station 98.5 on Thursday evening. The 26-year-old player has worked his way up the Alberta team’s defensive roster, notably appearing in his team’s 12 playoff games. Now that the Oilers are on vacation, he took a few minutes to talk about the past, including his head-on encounter with the Montreal Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj during the Feb. 12 game at the Bell Center.
That day, the Blue, White, and Red carrier suffered an upper body injury, visible in the shoulder, and the result was not happy for some people.
“Unfortunately, he got injured and I didn’t like that. The messages from the Canadian’s supporters weren’t fun afterwards. I can understand them, they are very intense and don’t want their players to get injured. Look, the death threats… that was something! I didn’t tell my parents at the time because my mother wouldn’t have felt safe. That’s when I realized how intense the Canadian’s fans are,” he said.
“My intention was not to hurt anyone. […] We lost 3-0 back then and I wanted to provoke something. Obviously it was my first game in Montreal and I had more than 50 people in the stands. The adrenaline was there,” he added.
Proud
Desharnais prefers to keep the positives of his campaign, which he sees as fulfilled given the progress that has taken him to the National League. Quite an achievement for a seventh-round pick in the 2016 draft.
“I’m really proud of myself. “I’ve responded to the various challenges this year and have not let up by staying positive in everything because it hasn’t been easy,” admitted the one, who also played in 13 American League matches in 2022-2023 has. There have been several moments over the past few years where I have wondered if this is really what I wanted to do. There I had one goal in mind and that was to play my first game with the Oilers; I ended up playing almost 50.”