Is it time for Vinnie Desharnais to come out of the lineup and for Troy Stecher to draw in?
Desharnais's play has taken a step back from the regular season to the playoffs. He's not the only one having issues, but as a bottom pairing defenceman, is one of the most replaceable players in the Oilers lineup.
There's no question we need more from Vinnie Desharnais, especially at evens. He hasn't been swiss cheese, but he also hasn't really been all that noticeable.
We know Desharnais is capable of more, because he was a lot more noticeable in the regular season. He showed he was capable of complementary offence, putting up 1-10-11 and a +3 in 78 games.
However, so far in the playoffs he has produced 0-0-0 in the eight games with a -2. The only silver lining is even despite this drop-off his coach trusts him more, as his TOI has gone up from the regular season, from 15:43 to 16:34.
One of his positives is Desharnais's PK abilities - and along with his total TOI that's also seen a slight uptick in the playoffs as well. During the regular season he was third on the team in PK TOI with 2:02, while in the playoffs he actually leads the team in PK TOI with 2:28. Although that might have something more to do with the occasional defensive hiccups that Cody Ceci and Darnell Nurse have been putting up rather than simply his own merit.
It's not inconceivable that a player with a mere 134 NHL games to his name might have some flaws to work on, since when someone is not yet at the 200 games played we don't know completely what you have in him. (114 in the regular season, 20 in the playoffs over the last two seasons.)
What's Desharnais doing right in the playoffs?
So Desharnais hasn't been as good at evens during the playoffs as he was in the regular season, but I believe there should be a balanced view of player performance so I'm going to go over what he is doing right as well.
I already mentioned his PK TOI has gone up - and it looks like it's had an effect on the Oilers overall numbers on the PK, since the Oilers are actually second in the league in postseason PK percentage with 85.7 percent. Only the Rangers have a better percentage on the PK with 91.2 percent and the Oilers were 100 percent against the Kings in the first round.
Desharnais has also upped his physical play in the playoffs. Since there is such a stark contrast in games played between the regular season and the playoffs, we'll look at average hits and blocked shots over 60, or per game, if you prefer.
Desharnais has actually led the team in both the regular season and playoffs in blocked shots, but in the regular season he had 5.96 BS/60, whereas in the playoffs this has gone up to 8.59. You better believe without guys like Desharnais blocking shots, the Oilers would have been blown out by the Canucks in all three games they've played against them so far in the series.
In hits the trend is similar - in the regular season he had 6.6 hits/60 (good enough for eighth on the team) while in the playoffs that has gone up to 8.14 hits/60 (also eighth on the team). This means that Desharnais not only has size but is using it, which is exactly what you need in the playoffs.
What would Stecher bring to the table in his place?
Troy Stecher is much more of a finesse player than Desharnais, and a defensively responsible player at that. He's made two trips to the playoffs in his career for a total of 21 games, a slight edge in playoff experience over Desharnais.
Both times Stecher did, well, if not knocking your socks off, certainly better than Desharnais has done boxcars wise in the playoffs. In 2019-20 while suiting up for the Canucks, he put up 2-1-3 with a +9 in 17 games with the Canucks, and in 2021-22 with the LA Kings - against the Oilers, no less - he put up 2-2-4 in four games with a +4 - and that was after putting up only a single assist in 13 games for the Kings in the regular season - talk about elevating your game when it matters most.
I'll use his data from his playoffs with the Canucks and Kings to see what patterns we can see in terms of physical play:
2019-20 - 3.9 hits/60 in the regular season, 5.18 hits/60 in the playoffs. 3.96 BS/60 in the regular season, 4.96 BS/60 in the playoffs
2021-22 - 3.48 hits/60 in the regular season, 4.41 hits/60 in the playoffs. 5.22 BS/60 in the regular season, 5.3 BS/60 in the playoffs.
So we have a much smaller player - Stecher is 5'10" and 184 lbs - so it's not surprising he isn't as physical as Desharnais. However, he still understands the need to elevate his game in the playoffs when he's done just that for two teams at two different times.
Would I make this change if I was Kris Knoblauch?
Provided the rest of the team could pick up the slack physically and there was another guy who could reasonably replace Desharnais on the PK - assistant coach Mark Stuart (who runs the PK) I'd be looking in your direction - I'd make this change, at least for one game anyway. We could see how it goes and determine from there if it becomes more permanent for the rest of the playoffs.
Stecher might be smaller but he would bring more offence and defence at even strength to the team, which right now is exactly what they need. It would also help to create more offence with the bottom six forwards. as you have more of a puck mover at the bottom of the roster to feed them the puck.
It would also give Desharnais a different perspective from the pressbox, where he would have a different view of the game. In addition, it would give the video coaches and assistant coaches a chance to work with Desharnais improving his game, so that when he comes back into the lineup - whether that's after one game or longer - he's ready.
It would also put the rest of the team on alert that the coaching staff will rearrange the lineup if you're under-performing, and send the message that this is the playoffs, so your leash is much shorter than in the regular season.
Next. Zadorov just lost the series for the Canucks ... with his mouth. Zadorov just lost the series for the Canucks ... with his mouth. dark
Who would replace Desharnais on the PK?
Although Stecher didn't really spend a lot of time on the Oilers PK in the regular season - only averaging 13 seconds TOI per game - I found this little number from Canucks Army from his days with the Canucks, which means that he does have some PK prowess for sure.
If Stuart doesn't think it's enough to replace Desharnais, he could always double shift Ceci, who plays the same position on the first unit PK, or give the minutes to Even Bouchard, who spent on average 20 seconds a game on the PK. Although with the amount of ice time they're giving him on the PP and at evens, I wouldn't do it lest you tire him out within a couple of games. Maybe he tries a forward there, I don't know, I'm not a tactician, but he does certainly have options if Desharnais comes out of the lineup.