The writing is on the wall for Vincent Desharnais and the Vancouver Canucks.

When Rick Dhaliwal said on Thursday of this week that “A couple of people have told me they’ve heard Desharnais’ name out there…some think his name is out there in the trade market,” it sounded pretty definitive, being already attached to multiple supposed sources.

Then Elliotte Friedman echoed the sentiment on Friday with a short and sweet statement in 32 Thoughts that “Vancouver is trying to find a better fit for Vincent Desharnais. It just hasn’t worked out as everyone hoped.” And that basically sealed it. Friedman loves to speculate, but when he does, he couches his language in plenty of ‘I wonders’ and ‘would make senses.’ When he states something so outright, it’s because it is concrete.

Which means that it’s true that the Canucks are trying to move Desharnais. And, given GM Patrik Allvin and Co.’s reputation for getting deals done, it probably also means that Desharnais’ days with the Canucks are definitively numbered.

But trading a defender who you just signed to a two-year, $2 million AAV contract the past summer – and who has struggled to keep a spot in the lineup thereafter – is easier said than done. Is there even a market for this kind of player?

Thankfully, Desharnais has a few things going for him that no one can take away. He’s a large human being at 6’7” and 226 pounds. He’s right-handed and plays defence, which right there makes him one of the rarest commodities in the sport.

And he played a semi-consistent role on an Edmonton Oilers team that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season.

All of that explains why there was enough of a market for Desharnais this past summer to command the contract he did from the Canucks. It also helps define what the market might be for Desharnais in the present moment – namely, teams short on size on their back-end, or right-handers in general. That’s where our search for potential new homes for him will begin.

He’s also made a reputation as a fine penalty killer, and so some teams with general PK woes will also hit our list.

We all know that the Canucks could probably pay a number of different, non-competitive teams to take on Desharnais’ contract. It’s not so over-the-top or so lengthy as to be too much of a stumbling block. But we also know that Allvin and Co. will first try to trade Desharnais without having to give up any sort of sweetener, and for that, they’ll need a team that still sees at least some positive value in what Desharnais might bring.

These, we think, are those teams.

The Sabres are seemingly always looking to establish or re-establish their identity as a team. Right now, they’ve got plenty of talented players but seem unable to put it all together. One perceived reason for that is a lack of toughness in what is a rather rough-and-tumble division.

They’ve rolled the likes of Dennis Gilbert out there on their blueline for the express purpose of adding truculence this year, and Desharnais probably offers both more of that directly and a higher quality of hockey overall, despite his troubles in Vancouver. He’s also insulation if the Sabres move on from any of their current RHD, like Henri Jokiharju, as has been rumoured.

With the fifth-lowest payroll in the NHL, fitting in Desharnais’ salary is hardly an issue.

Suggesting that a team as well-built as the Avalanche would have interest in Desharnais might sound strange. But minus Josh Manson, as they currently are, their right side is actually a little weak, with Sam Malinski and Calvin de Haan holding down spots in the regular rotation as of this moment.

On top of that, the Avalanche have the eighth-worst penalty kill in the NHL at just 74.4%. Desharnais replaces a bit of what Manson brought there, and a bit of Manson’s sandpaper. And with all that money on LTIR still, the Avalanche can afford not to be especially frugal with their acquisitions.

The trading of David Jiricek and a long-term injury to Erik Gudbranson, and suddenly the Blue Jackets are short on RHD again. They’re starting to slip out of the playoff race, as was expected, but there’s still an element of pride in Columbus’ performance this year, and they’re not likely to do much giving up.

Right now, their penalty kill is fifth-worst in the NHL at 71.7%. We can imagine them seeing Desharnais as a bit of a poor man’s Gudbranson – what a concept – and thinking that he can at least stem the bleeding of goals against on the PK.

They’ve also got cap space for days.

Remember that Desharnais went all the way to the Finals last year with the Oilers. They would have probably liked to keep him around, had Vancouver not offered him such a lucrative deal. Cap would also be the biggest barrier to any inkling they might have to reacquire him.

The Oilers have been trotting out a right side behind Evan Bouchard of Ty Emberson, Troy Stecher, and the recently-claimed Alex Regula. That’s simply not good enough for a team with aspirations of being competitive.

We won’t pretend that Desharnais moves the needle much. But he has at least worked well in that system before in the very recent past. And they do currently have the sixth-worst PK in the league, another thing that’s not good enough.

Chalk the Oilers up as a team that would actually love to bring Desharnais back into the fold, but who may not be able to afford him, money-wise.

No, we’re not just saying this because Desharnais is Quebecois. But it’s absolutely a factor!

The Canadiens are a ways off from contending, but they’ve been trying to build up a big and mean blueline all the same. Desharnais would join a collection that already contains the likes of Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble.

Desharnais would offer the Canadiens a bit more of what they already have, and he’d also provide coverage for them to A) keep some of their young talent in the AHL to develop longer and B) trade some of their existing veterans off for profit, like David Savard.

With Carey Price still on LTIR, they’ve got plenty of cap space to play around with.

The Predators are going nowhere fast. They might be the most disappointing team in the entire league this season. But they’ve invested too much in the current roster to outright give up right now.

Currently, the Predators are rolling out the likes of Nick Blankenburg and Adam Wilsby on their right side due to injuries and an overall lack of depth. Desharnais fits in fine enough with that crowd, and maybe provides coverage for the eventual trade of a piece, like Alex Carrier.

One thing the Predators don’t need is help on the PK. Despite their struggles, they’ve still got the number one penalty kill in the league at 87.2%.

Is Desharnais any sort of Jacob Trouba replacement? No, not even close. But he could fit in on the right side of the Rangers right now all the same. They’re currently dressing rookie Victor Mancini there, who has played well enough, but who was drafted in the fifth round just two years ago and who almost certainly needs more seasoning.

Desharnais offers a stop-gap while giving back a little of the toughness and penalty killing that Trouba once did. Speaking of Trouba, with him out the door, the Rangers actually have an abundance of cap space to spend.

The Senators are currently sending out one Travis Hamonic as their top-pairing RHD. Do we really need to say anything more than that?

This is a team still clinging to playoff hopes, but that struggles with identity, penalty killing (ninth-worst in the league), and suffers from a lack of depth. Bringing in a sizeable, rough-housing, PKing RHD who, at the very least, isn’t much worse than their regular vets sounds like a reasonable move.

Even before his name officially hit the block, Desharnais was mentioned as someone who could go back to the Penguins as cap ballast in a theoretical Marcus Pettersson trade. With Pettersson and perhaps other veterans out the door soon, the Penguins will need someone to play on their blueline for the rest of the season. Kyle Dubas has always liked his big blueline projects, and that’s what Desharnais was initially pitched as in Vancouver.

The Penguins don’t strike us as a team that would seek out Desharnais, but instead one that might be fine with him slipping into any ongoing trade talks they’re already having.

The Lightning are really starting to come around. At the same time, with Erik Cernak out long-term, they’re dressing a right side of Nick Perbix, Darren Raddysh, and Steven Santini. Those aren’t exactly household names.

The Lightning have shown interest in sizeable reclamation projects before, like Philippe Myers and Zach Bogosian. Taking a shot at Desharnais wouldn’t be entirely out of character, and John Cooper’s strong system might be one in which Desharnais could actually thrive.