Sharks’ Desharnais out day-to-day with upper-body injury; Lund to make NHL debut Thursday

San Jose Sharks head coach Ryan Warsofsky announced that defenseman Vincent Desharnais is currently day-to-day with an upper-body injury.

It’s unclear what caused the injury for Desharnais, as he played the entirety of Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins. It’s likely that he sustained the injury at some point during the game, but played through it to the game’s conclusion.

With Desharnais currently labeled as day-to-day, he’s only considered questionable for Thursday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, and may still possibly play. With Jan Rutta and Henry Thrun out on a week-to-week basis, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic still day-to-day, the Sharks will likely need to recall a defenseman if Desharnais is unable to play on Thursday.

Desharnais has been well-travelled this season, starting the season with the Vancouver Canucks and playing a good chunk of his season there before being dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the return for Marcus Pettersson, only to be flipped to the Sharks for a fifth-round pick a month later. He has 3 assists in 50 games this season between the three teams, and has been held pointless through 6 games with the Sharks.

Desharnais is currently in the first year of a two-year contract with a $2 million cap hit.

Additionally, Warsofsky confirmed that center Cam Lund will be making his NHL debut on Thursday against the Maple Leafs. The Sharks’ 2022 second-round pick had spent the year with Northeastern University, where he had 18 goals and 22 assists for 40 points in 37 games.

The Sharks currently sit in last place in the league with a 19-42-9 record, and were mathematically eliminated from playoff contention more than a week ago. They’ll look to build off of their win over the Bruins when they host the Maple Leafs on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. PST.