Ahead of training camp with the San Jose Sharks, defenseman Vincent Desharnais opened up about facing mental health struggles over the last two seasons. The mental grind of being an everyday player in the NHL is one that has been more well documented over the last couple of years as players speak out. The NHL recently set up the Player Assistance Program to help players seek help for various mental health and substance problems. This afternoon, former Oiler and Canuck Vincent Desharnais shared his story about his own journey with mental health struggles over the last two seasons. <h3>Vincent Desharnais Discusses Recent Struggles With Mental Health</h3> In the interview, Desharnais first reflected on his time with the Edmonton Oilers where he was in the lineup throughout the regular season and much of the playoffs but pushed aside and scratched in the Stanley Cup Finals. Going back to Edmonton, I was playing the whole season, playing most of the playoffs, and at the end in the Stanley Cup Finals you're not in, you start to question yourself. From there, Desharnais was traded to the Vancouver Canucks hoping for a fresh start but things only seemed to get worse. His time in Vancouver would last just 34 games before being sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins and then traded again just a few games later to the San Jose Sharks. You change teams, things are not going away. Get traded, get traded again. At some point, your confidence is kind of taking a hit. You begin questioning yourself. This whirlwind of a season would be a lot to deal with for anyone especially after reaching such impressive heights just a year earlier. After the season ended, Desharnais admits he took a step back to get his mind right and find his confidence again. When I got home at the end of the season, I was not in a great head space. There was a lot of negative and I was kind of trying to get out of it. I faced everything that happened and asked myself what needs to change? In addition, Desharnais credits his new mental coach for helping him to find the tools to get his mind right. I started working with a new mental health coach and that helped a lot. I went to the woods and going fishing and just kind of turning it off, doing something else, and just being a normal human. Being like okay, this life is okay, we're all good. <div align='center' class='pl20 pr20'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/real_max_miller/status/1969499441855152299'><div style='border:1px solid #CCCCCC;border-radius:10px;padding:20px;width:300px;'>Loading from Twitter ...</div></a></blockquote></div> Now, entering his first full season with the San Jose Sharks, Desharnais is looking to have a fresh start and get back to the player that he and many others around the league know he can be.