Whatever Happened to ex-Habs & Oilers David Desharnais?
Every once in a while, a player comes along who’s just easy to cheer for. David Desharnais was one of those guys. A small center from Laurier-Station, Quebec, barely 5-foot-7 on skates, undrafted, overlooked, too small, too this, too that. Then suddenly, he’s in the NHL running a top line in Montreal and making Max Pacioretty rich. You couldn’t help but root for him.
Most fans remember him with Montreal, but he also played with Edmonton.
Most fans remember him as a Canadien, but he took a quick detour through Edmonton near the end. The Oilers brought him in at the 2017 trade deadline, looking for depth and maybe a spark in the playoffs. And to his credit, he provided one. He only played 18 regular-season games and put up modest numbers (2 goals, 2 assists). However, his overtime winner against the Sharks is still one of those sneaky little “oh right, that was Desharnais!” moments in Oilers playoff history. Small player, big goal.
After that run, he moved on. He signed with the New York Rangers in the summer of 2017, played a full season there, and actually had a decent year — 28 points in 71 games: nothing flashy, but classic Desharnais: steady, useful, competitive.
The Rangers were Desharnais’s last NHL stop.
That turned out to be his last stop in the NHL. He headed overseas after that, bouncing through the KHL for a bit — Omsk Avangard was the main stop — and then settled into the Swiss League. If you know anything about Swiss hockey, it’s a great league for guys who love the sport and want to keep playing without the grind of the NHL travel schedule. Desharnais fit right in and stayed there for several seasons, well into his thirties.
He also appeared for Team Canada at the 2022 Olympics, recording one assist in five games. Not bad for a guy who once had to scratch and claw his way into the league.
Three seasons ago, Desharnais’ hockey career came to an end.
By around 2023, he seemed to wind things down. His Swiss team got knocked out early, and word quietly spread that he was calling it a career. No big announcement, no farewell tour, just the kind of understated exit you’d expect from him.
These days, he keeps a pretty low profile: no coaching gig (that we know of), no front-office job, no splashy public life. Just a former NHLer who beat the odds, carved out 524 games, and made a real impact in two big markets. Not many undrafted 5-foot-7 centers can say that.
Desharnais has moved back home to Quebec.
From what I can find, he’s referred to as a resident of Laurier‑Station, Quebec, which is where he’s originally from and where he appears to be based since his retirement. While there’s no publicly published “job title” or organization tied to his post‑playing activities, the article suggests he’s staying connected to hockey there through community and mentorship work.
And honestly? That feels like the perfect David Desharnais ending — modest, hard-earned, and totally on his own terms.