Penticton, BC — Vincent Desharnais, one of the key offseason additions to the Vancouver Canucks blueline, spoke to the media to close out his first day of training camp. The towering 6’7″ Laval native inked a two-year contract with a $2 million average annual value (AAV) on July 1st to join the Canucks that his former Edmonton Oilers club eliminated from the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In a very Nikita Zadorov-like fashion, Desharnais made a strong first impression the first time he stood in front of microphones as a member of the Canucks.

A few weeks ago at the Canucks’ Jake Milford Charity Golf Tournament Desharnais reflected on how difficult it was to play on the opposing side of the Canucks during a team Q&A with fans. On that day, Desharnais said the biggest thing he learned by being on the other side was that JT Miller was an a**hole.

So, of course, on the opening day of training camp, Desharnais couldn’t help but joke about his comments about Miller. “I kind of feel bad after, I’m like, he’s a leader, and I just called him out. But everyone came to me and we were like, that was awesome,” he laughed. “I went to see him after, and he was like, ‘Well, did you tell them that we had a couple “waters” last night to make up?'”

Miller echoed that, complimentary about Desharnais’s day one. “Love battling with Vinny; he’s a beast. Today we were going at it again; it was just fun,” he said yesterday. “We know that we don’t have to ask each other to play each other rough.”

“He’s gonna be a great addition.”

Desharnais further spoke about his first skate in Canucks colours and taking part in his first Rick Tocchet training camp as he settles into his new environment.

“I’ve been in Vancouver for 10 days now, and I think every day I’ve hung out with with a player, guys have been great at inviting me over, inviting me out for dinner,” Desharnais said about the welcome that he got from the rest of the team. “I feel like I’m part of the team already, and I’m very excited to start traveling, to start playing games.”

Certainly, there’s no questioning that he likes the Canucks’ style of play.

“I thought they were the hardest team to play against, and their style of play reaches a little bit of my style, which is north and hard,” Desharnais described. “Obviously points are important. But you can tell that all four lines, all six d-men will block shots, all six d-men will will try to be physical, which is something that I take pride in.”

With the Canucks looking to replace Nikita Zadorov by committee on the back end – at least to start the year – Desharnais thinks that he has more to contribute. The defenceman isn’t going to be racking up points, but his size and skating should make him a good fit on the back end.

That belief in himself to take the next step comes from his roots. Desharnais ground his way up from the ECHL to the AHL to a full NHL season, which isn’t easy for a seventh-round selection.

“There’s no secret. I think the biggest thing is having fun doing it. When I was in the east coast, I was questioning myself a little bit. I would have conversations with my parents, my brother,” Desharnais said about his early professional career. “He was like, dude, I wake up at 5am every morning to go to work. I go, I get stuck in traffic for an hour and a half. I work eight to nine hours with people that I don’t want to work with. I don’t make a lot of money, and after that, I come back home an hour and a half of traffic. Well, dude, you’re waking up. You want to practice every day, if it’s the SPHL, the NHL, enjoy it. As you as long as you play hockey, enjoy it.”

“I just think about my dad waking every morning, my parents sacrificing for my brother and I to have everything that that we needed. This is easy.”

Desharnais found himself iced on a pairing with Carson Soucy as a potential look at a regular season pairing with the belief of the organization showing on and off the ice. “I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason, and I had some great conversations today with with Sergei [Gonchar], with [Adam] Footer, about growing. And they came to see me at least 10 times today,” he said. “I’m a late bloomer, and I want to keep learning. I want to keep improving myself, and every day, getting better mindset every day, every morning, I just try to get better.”

He isn’t reading too much into the pairings, either. “You don’t really care who you play with. You just want to be here. You just want to make a difference.”

The defenceman continued on his high praise of Miller, discussing his leadership qualities and how they showed on and off the ice.

“I think he’s a great leader for this team. You guys saw last year how intense he is, how skilled he is, and during practices today, I think he finished his hits three times on me and that’s great. That’s how you win. That’s how you win games,” Desharnais said. “You just build your practice habits. In games it’s going to be even harder.

That leadership is something that Desharnais wants to bring to this team in his own way.

“I don’t have 500 games under my belt, but I know I have some leadership within me, and I know I can bring it. I know I can help the top guns perform better. I know I can bring good good good energy, good vibes, positivity when it’s not necessarily going well. That’s something that I take pride in. That’s something I want to, I want to build off,” Desharnais stated. “That’s something I realize that have in me and that I want to bring to the team even more, especially I get older, I get more comfortable, I’m more confident, I’m more mature.”