Nah, DD is better than Paille, Gerbe and co. Besides last season, he is over 0.5 PPG in each of his last five seasons I think.
MTL basically used him as a top 6 center, even No 1 center for a while. As such, he was a huge disappointment of course. But he is very strong at getting the puck up ice, think he could work well with guys like Vesey and co. Great skater with good hands, works really hard. Of course very light, but can be a bit of a pain to play against.
Sure, if we manage to get a hold of a top guy and some kid steps up, I wouldn't rule out that he is lost in the shuffle like Jooris was, who was dumped despite playing decent hockey.
But the big upside with Desharnais -- and the reason I thought of and proposed him several times the last months -- is that he function very well as depth at center since he definitely is capable of fulfilling the raw requirements on all lines. Odds are that Zib, Hayes and Miller will miss a fair share of games this season. It creates a lot of issues if you like have to replace a Zibanejad with a Jooris, but for shorter stints DD can take those shifts without bringing down everyone around him.