It took less than two full months, but trade rumours involving Vancouver Canucks defenceman Vincent Desharnais have officially started.
On Thursday’s episode of Donnie and Dhali — The Team, Rick Dhaliwal said the following:
“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. They signed him in the summer, great size, great potential, but he’s having a hell of a time being a regular defenceman. And what this regime has told us in the past, when something doesn’t work out for these guys, whether in a trade or July, 1, they rectify. They rectify it. So, let’s go down the list of guys they made a decision on quickly. Curtis Lazar, three year deal. July 1, they get rid of them after a year, gone. Daniel Sprong — nine games, gone.
“It’s just something a couple of people told me, that they’ve heard Desharnais’ name out there. Wouldn’t surprise me, because the history we just talked about with this regime. Sometimes they make mistakes and they rectify them. It wouldn’t surprise me. The other thing is, it’s going to be tough to move him. And why is it going to be tough to move him? Well, he hasn’t played that well. He hasn’t played that well, but he’s got term [as well]. If it was less than two years, yeah, okay. If it was a one year deal, and you’re trying to move them, it’s a lot easier. But when you add term to a guy, that makes it tougher. So we’ll see what happens out there. Well, we’ll see what happens
there.”
The Canucks signed Desharnais to a two-year deal with an annual average value of $2 million per year this past offseason. Desharnais’ first season in Vancouver has been a disappointment, as he’s been at the forefront of the bottom four defence group’s well-documented struggles. Desharnais has been a healthy scratch at multiple points already this season, and with Derek Forbort’s imminent return — combined with what the Canucks have gotten from players like Noah Juulsen and Erik Brännström — Desharnais’ spot in the lineup is likely in jeopardy.
Trading him won’t be an easy task to execute, but as Dhaliwal said, we’ve seen this management group show an ability to fail quickly, as they’ve managed to get creative in order to trade seemingly unmovable players like Ilya Mikheyev, Andrei Kuzmenko, Jason Dickinson, Riley Stillman, and more.
Do you think Desharnais will finish this season as a Canuck? Let us know in the comments section below!
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