David Desharnais Discussion (Slow Start & Contact Talk)
 

DD had a slow start last year and same is happening this year. However, in a 48 games season he better start producing because we do hand dept at centre now. Pacioretty's injury might buy him some time however.

What the issue here, just slow start? Cole not on yet? Transition from Swiss league messing him up?

He seems to seems to have a harder time controlling and protecting the puck in order to set up his wingers like he did so well last year.

Just a question of time?

I think it's likely he's just not that good a player, and we should be lucky to see this before he negotiates his contract next summer.

Last year he benefited from ridiculously easy opposition. His Corsi Rel Qoc was +0.007. To give you an idea, Joe Thornton plays against +1.497 players, Jeff Carter against +1.349 players, Jonathan Toews against +1.011 players, and so on. Desharnais had ridiculously easy minutes for a 1st line center, and he produced at a mediocre clip of 1.97 points/60 minutes, which is 36th in the league for offensive production among centers. People like to point out he was 14th among centers for production, but that's primarily because he had a ton of minutes.

He's probably just not very good. Good thing we find out in time, this will keep his second contract low, below 1.5 million.

I would have no problem not getting him back next season.

Another one hit wonder a la Pierre Dagenais

I like the guy but he's not a 1st line center. I would like to see him moved, personally.

One thing that is clear to me: teams are giving him no time and space this year. As soon as he has the puck in the offensive zone, defenceman are getting right in his grill. And Desharnais doesn't have the speed or the size to win those battles.

We need him as long as Galchenyuk does'nt steal his job.

It's 3 and a half games, I'm not that worried yet. I think he'll pick it up, especially if Pacioretty can come back from injury soon.

DD and Cole. No excuses.

Gio havent played hockey in a whole year. Didnt miss a beat.
Plekanec no training camp with a rib injury. Doing just fine.

He'll be fine. I still think he'll be a very good 3rd line offensive specialist centre a la brière.

So gionta and plekanec can have off years but when DD and Cole have a bad 4 games they're gone?

:shakehead

His size is an issue...even last year. The thing is Max and Cole were on fire with their rushes down the wing. Those rushes aren't as effective now...hence the slow start.

It will be interesting to see what happens. DD is the type of guy that needs two big wingers to go in and do the dirty work.

The thing is how long until the organization realizes that's his calling card? I'm scared it's going to take way too long ''because we have to keep giving him chances since he had 60 points in 2011-12''...

What scares me so far about Desharnais isn't his lack of production - in that regards, he was pretty damn useful against Washington, effectively screening Neuvirth on two goals.

The problem is messing up some really basic plays, like, catching passes along the board.

The good thing is that he'd never have gotten in the NHL if he had such a flaw in his game.

I dunno... MT started using more the Plekanec line, which is evidence that he actually noticed something was wrong with DD's line - because at this point, he's probably even not the worst player on his line. But some things are indeed pretty worrisome.

I think he's got a future on this team in one capacity or another and too early to make any judgements.

Your reading comprehension is out of this world.

I don't see any more slow starting than what Cole, Eller & Pacioretty have done in the first 3 games. Actually I find Desharnais is pretty much the best worker of the four right now. Cole seem to be getting tired of the situation tonight, but he still looks out of shape imho.

Eller played 1 game.

Yes, you're right. Tonight he's pretty invisible when he's not messing up however.

Desharnais indeed works, but what he does is at times a little counterproductive, and when he starts to "think" too much, he ends up with a serious case of OlegPetrovitite, which means, trying too much to outsmart everyone that you end up outsmarting your own linemates.

Yep I've seen that. It's not limited to just him though. Bourque also seems to be hovering between doing the simple plays well and doing too much. Might be just the team getting use to Therrien's system. It's only been 2 weeks after all.

LOL DD having a bad year? Who saw that one coming? I thought he was a superstar last year when he was piling on points against 4th liners as we lost game after game...

The funniest thing I heard here is that DD might be one of the 4 centers for team Canada in the next Olympics.

Not sure he ever repeats last years performance.

I remember that :-)