Eric Desjardins was selected 38th overall in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens after playing two seasons with the Granby Bisons of the QMJHL. As an 18-year-old in 1987, he played in 62 games, scoring 18 goals and 49 assists. Many of his assists came on goals by junior teammate and future NHLer Pierre Turgeon. One year later, he made his NHL debut against the Minnesota North Stars. He played 36 games that season on the Canadiens blueline as the team won the Adams Division season title. In the playoffs, Desjardins played 14 games en route to winning the Prince of Wales Trophy in the Wales Conference finals before losing to the Flames in the Stanley Cup finals. By the 1991-92, Desjardins was the Canadiens' top offensive defenseman, scoring 38 points. That year, he played in his first mid-season NHL All-Star Game.



The 1992-93 season still stands out in the mind of Eric Desjardins as the Canadiens surprised most hockey pundits by winning another Stanley Cup, this time a five-game finals victory over the Los Angeles Kings. Desjardins was a major offensive contributor to the championship, scoring 14 points in 20 games.
Individually, game five of that series stands out as the best memory of his career as he scored all three Montreal goals in a 3-2 overtime win. In the shortened 1994-95 season, Desjardins was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers and went on to win the Flyers' Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team's most outstanding defenceman. The 1996-97 playoffs saw Desjardins play in his second Stanley Cup final, but this time he and the Flyers would come out as the runners-up, being swept in four-straignt games by the Detroit Red Wings. In 1998 Desjardins was one of seven defenceman chosen to wear Canada's colors at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. After playing his 1,000th NHL game in 2002-03, Desjardins missed the better part of the following season due to injury. Aside from his Olympic experience, Desjardins represented his country at the World Junior Championships (1988-1989), the Canada Cup (1991) and the World Cup of Hockey (1996).