Former Edmonton Oiler Vincent Desharnais could be on the move soon.
The big, physical defender inked a two-year, $4 million contract with the Canucks back in July when free agency opened. Through his first two months in Vancouver, Desharnais has suited up in only 17 of the team’s 28 games and an has on-ice goal differential of 10-to-14.
In this week’s edition of 32 Thoughts, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Canucks are looking to find a better fit for Desharnais. Even with Filip Hronek on the Long-Term Injured Reserve, still appears to be behind Noah Juulen and Mark Friedman on the right side of Vancouver’s defence depth chart.
10. Vancouver is trying to find a better fit for Vincent Desharnais. It just hasn’t worked out as everyone hoped.11. Canucks are interesting. There’s a little bit of, “Let’s see what we look like now that Thatcher Demko and J.T. Miller are back.” But it’s in Jim Rutherford’s DNA to be on the trade prowl. Makes it tougher to predict what they are going to do. And they make calls.
As Friedman mentioned, Rutherford has been known throughout his career in the NHL as an avid trader. That hasn’t changed in Vancouver as the Canucks’ President of Hockey Operations and it’s something that’s been adopted by Patrik Allvin, the team’s general manager.
The Canucks pulled the trigger on a few trades during the 2023-24 season, highlighted by the addition of Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames in November and Elias Lindholm in January. Vancouver’s front office won’t be afraid to move on from somebody who isn’t getting the job done. They traded free-agent addition Daniel Sprong to the Seattle Kraken under one month into the 2024-25 season and Desharnais could be the next one out.
The Oilers selected Desharnais in the seventh round of the 2016 draft from Providence College. After four NCAA seasons, the 6-foot-7 defender inked a minor-league contract with the team that drafted him. He started his professional career with the Wichita Thunder in 2019-20 and emerged as a top defender on the Bakersfield Condors during the 2021-22 campaign.
That showing in the minors earned Desharnais a two-year, entry-level contract with the Oilers. After missing the first part of the 2022-23 season because of injury, the Laval, Quebec native was called up to the big-league club in January and gave Edmonton a much-needed shutdown defender for their third pairing.
Desharnais scored one goal and 16 points over 114 regular season games with the Oilers and became a fan favourite in Edmonton for his willingness to block shots and drop the gloves. Unfortunately, the big man’s lack of foot speed resulted in some glaring challenges against certain opponents. Head coach Kris Knoblauch opted to remove Desharnais from the lineup during the Western Conference Final in the spring and replaced him with the speedy Philip Broberg.
With Desharnais due for a raise, the Oilers opted to let him walk as an unrestricted free agent over the summer. He has one more year left on his contract with the Canucks at a salary cap hit of $2 million.
