Vincent Desharnais says 'I’m good, I’m ready to go' for upcoming game against Canadiens after twisting hand on Saturday

It looks like Vincent Desharnais isn’t going to need any time on the Injured Reserve.

According to Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic, the Edmonton Oilers defender suffered a twisted hand in his fight against Josh Manson of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. When asked about his status for Tuesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, Desharnais said “I’m good. I’m ready to go.”

Desharnais and Manson dropped the gloves late in the second period of what wound up being a 3-2 overtime win for the Avalanche. He went to the dressing room following the fight and didn’t return to the ice for the third period or overtime but told Nugent-Bowman that the coaching staff held him out as a precaution.

Though Desharnais would surely love to suit up against the Habs, his hometown club, the Oilers might opt to give him some rest with just one month left until the playoffs. At Edmonton’s practice on Monday, Troy Stecher lined up alongside Darnell Nurse, the usual pairing of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard were together, and Brett Kulak and Cody Ceci formed the third pairing. Desharnais was on the ice as the seventh defenceman.

Selected in the seventh round of the 2016 draft, Desharnais spent the first few seasons of his professional career on a minor-league contract before earning an entry-level deal with Edmonton in March of 2022. He was called up to make his NHL debut last January and has developed into a quality third-pairing defensive defenceman for the Oilers since.

Over 63 games this season, Desharnais has one goal and nine points along with an on-ice goal differential of 25-to-22 at even strength. He’s logged an average of 15:19 per game in all situations and has also been one of the team’s most commonly used players on the penalty kill. Desharnais is set to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career this summer.