Confirmed with Link: Canucks sign RD Vincent Desharnais 2-Year, $2M AAV Contract

[kanucks25]

Does seem a little steep for a 6/7 but they must see some untapped potential. They obviously got a good look at him in the Oilers series.

A bit of a late bloomer, perhaps a Joshua type but on defense in terms of his development curve.

 

[F A N]

Does seem a little steep for a 6/7 but they must see some untapped potential. They obviously got a good look at him in the Oilers series.

A bit of a late bloomer, perhaps a Joshua type but on defense in terms of his development curve.

I don't think he is seen as a #7. He's a 3rd pairing RHD with size, PK ability, and upside. He's not expected to be a healthy scratch.

 

[kanucks25]

I don't think he is seen as a #7. He's a 3rd pairing RHD with size, PK ability, and upside. He's not expected to be a healthy scratch.

Which is why I said 6/7

At this point, he hasn't proven he's more than a #6 and the difference between a 6 and 6/7 isn't much.

Like, if he has a stretch of 4-5 shaky games, it won't be a surprise to see him get scratched for Juulsen.

But I do think he has the potential to solidify a spot on the bottom-pair and trust in the organization's evaluation of his potential.

 

[Soups On]

I've settled on this signing a bit - it is what it is and if management/coaching believes there's untapped potential, well they do get the benefit of the doubt with how they've operated.

Does Desharnais have a decent breakout pass? I think I read a few Oilers commenting on how it's surprisingly not that bad. If it isn't terrible - I do wonder if they want to through Desharnais with Hughes in order to split up Hronek and Hughes once in a while. Desharnais will obviously have to showcase his supposed untapped potential in order to play there.

 

[cc]

2 million is too much to gamble on a physical but low IQ defender

I wouldn't be surprised if adam foote wanted him. He seems like a potential pet project for him

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Like many, I'm not sure we need so many of the same type of D in Forbort, Desharnais, Juulsen. While they might be able to defend in-zone and can PK, which is fine and useful, they are going to get hemmed in their zone a lot. I also worry about how it would negatively affect our offense by having essentially half the Dmen not able to break the puck out efficiently, or how it would affect our cycle in the offensive zone. We throw the puck back to the D a lot when cycling, and if all they can do is to ring it back around the board, it would make our offense very predictable and easily defended. Basically when the Hughes/Hronek pairing isn't on the ice, ALL the offense will have to be created by the forwards alone.

This makes me wonder if they are planning to split up Hughes and Hronek. You can't have 2 D pairs that cannot move the puck out or create offensively.

Or maybe this is just a temporary D line-up, and they plan on adding a 2nd pairing puck moving D during the season? This is my hope. We still have some cap space left, let it accrual over the season and maybe we can add a big piece half way through the season.

 

[TruGr1t]

Drance:

Desharnais is viewed internally as a bit more of a project, a player their professional scouting staff and assistant coach Adam Foote specifically targeted, in the belief that they can get more out of him than what he showed in Edmonton across his season-and-a-half in the NHL.

 

[tradervik]

This is revisionist history. The tone of the last offseason's signings (including from me, and I am typically more critical than most), was largely positive and optimistic.

We'll agree to disagree on that. I will concede that it wasn't as bad as what I've been reading this off-season.

 

[ahmon]

Last year he looked like a big guy who can barely play, this year I thought he improved a lot.

He offers a lot of what Zadorov brings, and is a fraction of the cost. I don't mind this one.

The problem is Myers, if the canucks didnt sign Myers can added a good puck mover with Soucy. Suddenly rounding out the d with Forbort/Desharnais makes sense.

 

[F A N]

Which is why I said 6/7

At this point, he hasn't proven he's more than a #6 and the difference between a 6 and 6/7 isn't much.

Like, if he has a stretch of 4-5 shaky games, it won't be a surprise to see him get scratched for Juulsen.

But I do think he has the potential to solidify a spot on the bottom-pair and trust in the organization's evaluation of his potential.

That’s fair. I just have a different definition. A #6 Dman to me is a regular who doesn’t typically exit the lineup when healthy - a guy you wouldn’t mind playing 82 games. A 6th/7th is not exactly someone you want to play 82 games - a guy you expect to be out of the lineup when everyone is healthy and or will spend time as a healthy scratch (I.e a depth Dman)

I think the distinction is significant because we are paying him $2M a year. That’s not typically what you pay for a guy you expect to spend time as a healthy scratch and I think most here would be critical of the signing if he doesn’t manage to stay in the lineup on a regular basis absent having a deep defence which we don’t have right now.

 

[kanucks25]

That’s fair. I just have a different definition. A #6 Dman to me is a regular who doesn’t typically exit the lineup when healthy - a guy you wouldn’t mind playing 82 games. A 6th/7th is not exactly someone you want to play 82 games - a guy you expect to be out of the lineup when everyone is healthy and or will spend time as a healthy scratch (I.e a depth Dman)

I think the distinction is significant because we are paying him $2M a year. That’s not typically what you pay for a guy you expect to spend time as a healthy scratch and I think most here would be critical of the signing if he doesn’t manage to stay in the lineup on a regular basis absent having a deep defence which we don’t have right now.

Well he's had 1 full year in the NHL and was scratched for some playoff games. So I don't think he has enough of a track record yet to suggest he's a solidified regular.

People here are already critical of the signing. And if he does end up being more of a #7 they were right in being critical because 2M is too much for that kind of player.

 

[heatedskates]

Last year he looked like a big guy who can barely play, this year I thought he improved a lot.

He offers a lot of what Zadorov brings, and is a fraction of the cost. I don't mind this one.

The problem is Myers, if the canucks didnt sign Myers can added a good puck mover with Soucy. Suddenly rounding out the d with Forbort/Desharnais makes sense.

Who is that guy, and what was the price they were given to be that guy? Barrie?

 

[Tinhorn1]

2 million is too much to gamble on a physical but low IQ defender

I wouldn't be surprised if adam foote wanted him. He seems like a potential pet project for him

According to Drance this was exactly the case. Foote wanted him.

 

[ProviesGhost]

The pylon players always get 7-10 pages quickly on this forum

 

[F A N]

Well he's had 1 full year in the NHL and was scratched for some playoff games. So I don't think he has enough of a track record yet to suggest he's a solidified regular.

People here are already critical of the signing. And if he does end up being more of a #7 they were right in being critical because 2M is too much for that kind of player.

I don't think we are disagreeing here. I am saying that I think management views him as a #6 given the contract they gave him.

Right now the criticism stems from perceived ability as well as traits right? There's not much puck moving ability after Hughes and Hronek. Myers is actually the best out of the lot.

 

[Bertuzzzi44]

We should have a top 5 PK this year!

 

[VanJack]

If he wasn't a right-shot d-man, I doubt the Canucks take a flier on him. But her fits the pattern the Canucks are trying to build for blueline depth--size...size...size.

So their right-shot d-men are Hronek, Myers, Juulsen and Desharnais, Friedman, with Wilander in the wings. That really isn't bad. But even with their limited cap space, I still think the Canucks will be trollling the market or another depth defender.

Preferably it'll be somebody who might be able to play in Abbotsford but a guy you could call up as a credible injury replacement. They really didn't have anyone like that in the AHL last season.

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

I don’t see how you break up Soucy-Myers, they are legitimately pretty good together. Soucy-Hronek has been an absolute tire fire every time it was attempted.

Likewise, I don't see how you can break up Hronek and Hughes. Nobody else has any business anywhere near Hughes on the top pair.

 

[Bgav]

Sounds like Adam Foote wanted him

 

[geebster]

Always felt like a pretty uhhh thoughtless player. Watched a LOT of EDM this year and he is not the smartest. Not that their d group was full of smart players, but he stuck out with some of the positional and puck errors he made. Hopefully with a better system and goalie he will fit in.

 

[Baby Pettersson]

Never been much of a fan of his. That said with the results our coaches got out of Myers, Zadorov ect, I have a feeling we could unlock some untapped potential.

 

[TruGr1t]

Never been much of a fan of his. That said with the results our coaches got out of Myers, Zadorov ect, I have a feeling we could unlock some untapped potential.

Basically every defensemen these guys have had has outperformed baseline:

 

[bossram]

From my exchange with @TruGr1t in another thread. I think there is reason for optimism on Desharnais and really no reason to criticize this signing. Allvin did well to pick up a guy they think will fit their system, but not pay a premium for the player type that other teams did.

Given the premiums teams are placing on these guys, I think Allvin did well with the Forbort and Desharnais acquisitions. Are they actually worse than Edmundson and Boosh getting twice the pay? I don't think so.

And a guy like Desharnais actually has some plausible upside. Whereas Boosh or Edmundson, you're pretty much staring at a downhill slope in terms of performance, with essentially no chance of unexpected upside.

Yeah, they found guys similar to what other teams are paying a premium on, for a discount. And they likely think they can fit into their system well.

Re: the bolded, IIRC reading an article by one of the then-blogger-now-NHL-team-analysts that forwards have a higher relative impact on the team's overall performance than forwards (intuitively makes sense, there are more forwards on the ice at all times). The conclusion of the piece was that it was better to have a stronger overall forward group, even if at the expense of the blueline. At the time, the cup-winning Pens kinda embodied that.

You also see it with the Panthers system. Most of the neutral zone burden and forechecking is on the forwards to chase pucks hard, pressure the opposition, and then funnel them into their "surfing" Ds for breakups (most of their D being pretty large as well). This is pretty similar to what the Canucks are trying to accomplish in their NZ forecheck. On DZ exits, the Panthers also don't put much burden on their D to make clean possession exits. They let them flip/rim pucks out and have the forwards contest up-ice. Again, quite similar to the Canucks (and why the Canucks don't have much of a rush game). Allvin/Tocc probably don't see the puck-moving limitations of the new guys as much of a liability, considering their system doesn't ask them to do it a ton.

 

[Grantham]

Actually I don't mind this signing at all.

I though Desharnais made a huge leap from a defensive tire-fire the previous year, to a very steady suffocating defender this year. He was better than Nurse and Ceci defensively in my eyes. He is very limited with puck moving, but he is decent defensively, uses his size and reach well.

That progression in one year alone tells me that there is maybe more potential in him that can be untapped. Only 2 year deal so a slight overpayment is no big deal.

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

Sounds like Adam Foote wanted him