2024-03-15 04:00:00
Richard Martel managed David Desharnais for almost his entire junior career, with the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. In 2007, however, he came very close to trading his 20-year-old star player to his biggest rivals, the Quebec Remparts.
• Read also: David Desharnais immortalized by the Sags: “no one could have suspected that he would have success like that among the pros”
The Remparts had just won the Memorial Cup in Moncton in 2006 and, from the following draft, Patrick Roy had made Martel aware of his great interest in Desharnais and that he would be ready to pay top dollar to obtain him.
Quebec was once again aiming for top honors as some important players from the 2006 champion edition returned, including Brent Aubin, Angelo Esposito, Félix Petit and Maxime Lacroix. The team also got their hands on brothers Ruslan and Roman Bashkirov, about whom a lot of good things were said.
“He was missing a guy like David Desharnais and I think that, if we sent him, other trades would have been concluded. He started talking to us about it at the draft and gave it a big boost during the holidays,” Martel told us.
Not an attractive enough offer
For their part, the Sags were at a crossroads. Maxime Boisclair, Stanislav Lascek, Marek Zagrapan and company had left and the team now had to prepare for the next generation.
There is no doubt that Desharnais would have allowed the organization to obtain an interesting jackpot for the future.
“It’s been hot. It was taking a lot out of me if I was to trade David, but I felt like what Patrick was giving me wasn’t enough. He had done everything. For my part, I knew that, if I sent it to Quebec, they were going to win the President’s Cup. So I had to be convinced that what he was going to give me was going to be worth that.”
David Desharnais, celebrating a goal scored against the Quebec Remparts on November 24, 2006. He was far from suspecting that the Remparts were trying by all means to acquire him. Archive photo Stevens Leblanc
After numerous attempts, Martel finally decided not to trade Desharnais not only to Quebec, but anywhere else, and to deprive himself of the return he could have brought.
“There were some who were angry with me for not having exchanged him for the reconstruction,” he admits. Looking back, I am very happy to know that David Desharnais will have his jersey retired as a 100% member of the Saguenéens. That’s what great players do: they start and finish at home. My only regret is not having won with him in the lineup.”
Few movements
The Remparts were ultimately not very active during the holiday trading period, their largest transaction being the acquisition of 20-year-old defenseman Billy Bezeau from the Victoriaville Tigres in exchange for a fifth round pick. Quebec finished 10th in the general rankings and lost in five games in the first round to the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
The Sags also suffered a quick setback in the first round, in just four games against the eventual finalists, the Val-d’Or Foreurs.
“He doesn’t know how good he’s been to the organization.”
Photo d’archives
David Desharnais marked the history of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens and it is not for nothing that the organization will make it its 13e immortal, Friday evening. Everyone around him knows that, except him.
At least that’s what emerged from our conversations with those who knew him at one point or another during his journey in the QMJHL. Despite all the success he has experienced, Desharnais has remained as humble as possible about his accomplishments.
“He doesn’t know how good he was for the Saguenéens organization, but also how much he helped people in hockey. We filled the Georges-Vézina Center repeatedly in his time and even the Colisée Pepsi when we went to Quebec,” recalls the head recruiter of the Sags at the time, Jérôme Mésonéro.
His line partner, who scored 70 goals in 70 games alongside him in 2005-2006, Maxime Boisclair, couldn’t agree more.
“He’s such a humble guy who doesn’t like to talk about himself too much. He probably doesn’t realize the impact he’s had. If I had one word to sum it up, it would be value. He’s a guy who was an example for everyone in the way he behaved both on and off the ice and he showed the path to the young people who followed. Beyond the statistics, that’s where he left his mark.”
An underestimated player despite everything
For his coach at the time, Richard Martel, Desharnais was probably never really aware of the talent he possessed.
“He is very humble. I don’t know if he knew he was that good. I remember very well that he believed that without Boisclair and Lascek, he was a less good player. I’m not sure he knew its true value. David played in the NHL! Many jumped when he got there. When he played junior, we always talked about Maxime Talbot or Sidney Crosby and those guys took a bit of umbrage to David, but he wasn’t far from them.
Still so humble
A few days before the event, Desharnais was still struggling to fully realize the extent of what he accomplished with the Sags as well as what the tribute that will be paid to him represents, when The newspaper spoke with him.
Newly retired, he is just beginning to recap his improbable career. And, despite everything, he remains, once again, very humble.
“When you play, you are focused and you have to perform and always be 100%. You don’t have time to think about the past and what you’ve accomplished. Then you stop, and you start playing in leagues and you realize that you have no worse qualities on the ice compared to some people and that they are impressed. When you play, you take it for granted.
“We don’t do it for that, but so much the better if I was able to make an impact on an organization and a generation.”
And it seems that is the case.
David Desharnais with the Saguenéens in numbers
Season by season
2003-2004 70 games, 23 goals, 28 assists, 51 points
2004-2005 68 games, 32 goals, 65 assists, 97 points
2005-2006 63 games, 33 goals, 85 assists, 118 points
2006-2007 61 games, 38 goals, 70 assists, 108 points
Total
126 goals 12th in Saguenéens history
248 assists 5th in Saguenéens history
374 points 7th in Saguenéens history
* He is the only player in history to have won the Frank-J.-Selke Trophy (most gentlemanly player) three times in a row.
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