The Oilers have recalled Vincent Desharnais from the AHL

Vincent Desharnais is back with the Edmonton Oilers.

He had been sent to the Bakersfield Condors along with Dylan Holloway last week in order for the Oilers to open enough salary cap room to activate Kailer Yamamoto from the Long-Term Injured Reserve.

The Oilers are able to add Desharnais to their active roster as an “Emergency Exception” because the team has fewer than 20 healthy players available. According to Puck Pedia, “if a team is short of 20 players and does not have the cap space for a recall, they are permitted to call up a player with a cap hit of $850K or less, after playing short for one game. This player does not carry a cap hit while recalled.”

Edmonton played shorthanded against the New York Rangers on Friday as Klim Kostin was unavailable due to an illness and they were able to call up Devin Shore on an emergency basis afterward. They again played with 17 skaters against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday as Kostin was still out because of the illness and Evander Kane was dealing with an upper-body injury. Desharnais is the emergency recall for Kane being unavailable.

Desharnais being sent down to the Condors was just a paper transaction for the sake of the salary cap and he didn’t suit up for the team. He’s also been dealing with an illness recently and last suited up for the Oilers during their loss to the Canadiens in Montreal a couple of weeks ago.

Desharnais made his NHL debut with the Oilers in January and has been a nice addition to the team’s blueline since. He’s played in 12 games, is averaging 12:09 per game, and has a sparkling 7-to-2 on-ice goal differential at even strength.