There comes a point in time where tough decisions need to be made, and there may not have been a tougher one for the Oilers this season than letting Vincent Desharnais walk in free agency.

Taken by the team in the seventh round of the 2016 draft, he’s been nothing short of a success story in hockey, now having played 114 NHL games.

Since the NHL reduced the draft to seven rounds in 2005, there have been 367 players selected in the seventh round. Only 87 of them, 23.8 percent, have played at least one game in the NHL, and only 43 of them, 11.7 percent, have played as many NHL games as Desharnais has.

The odds have been overwhelmingly against him to do the things he’s done now, and that, in part, is what made him such a fan favourite in Edmonton, let alone his physical style of play that Oilers fans love from their defencemen.

Evidently not known for his offence, Desharnais and his 6’7, 226 lb. frame was a vacuum in the defensive zone. His defensive underlying numbers were strong, and above average in all of the shot attempt against share, scoring chance against share, expected goal against share and the actual goal against share. He was never expected to be an offensive producer for the Oilers, but knew his role and played it very well.

As highlighted by the hockeyviz.com graphs, he pencilled in as a third-pairing defenceman this year, contributing defence at a six percent rate above league average and penalty kill work at eight percent above league average. Opposing teams were very limited in terms of getting shots away from the high-danger areas when Desharnais was on the ice.

However, Desharnais began to find himself the odd man out the deeper the team got in the playoffs. He was out of the lineup for the final three games of the Western Conference Finals against Dallas, and only played in Game 2 against Florida in the Stanley Cup Finals.

His lack of foot speed and an inability to consistently exit the zone fell him as the style of play shifted. Against the Kings and Canucks, it was something the Oilers were able to work around, but it became more and more apparent Edmonton needed a different mix. Philip Broberg, who excels at skating and exiting the zone in various ways, entered the lineup and the shift was noticeable.

Desharnais chased the bag this summer, signing a two-year, $2-million AAV out west with the Vancouver Canucks. For $212,500 less against the salary cap, the Oilers went out and signed Josh Brown and Troy Stecher and in the tight cap world the team is in, it was a necessary move to make.

VINCENT DESHARNAIS’S CAREER SO FAR

PLAYERS REVIEWED SO FAR

• Warren Foegele
• Ryan McLeod
• Sam Carrick