The Washington Capitals moved quickly on Vincent Desharnais, locking up the former Canuck on a four-year deal worth $4.2 million per season. The contract carries a total value of $16.8 million for the big right-shot defender, who is listed at 6’7″ and 225 pounds.
Desharnais got his start with the Edmonton Oilers after going in the seventh round of the 2016 NHL Draft. Vancouver brought him in on a free-agent deal in 2024, then sent him to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the cap-dump trade that brought back Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor. The Canucks also gave up a first-round pick in that move.
Pittsburgh later dealt Desharnais to the San Jose Sharks for a 5th-round pick at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, and that stop seems to have helped his market. In 53 games with San Jose last season, he posted a career-high 18:11 in average ice time, and the Capitals are the club that cashed in on that rise.
Philadelphia also dipped into the Canucks’ recent past, signing ex-Vancouver prospect Danila Klimovich to a one-year deal with an NHL cap hit of $850,000. Vancouver chose not to qualify Klimovich’s contract this week, which sent him into unrestricted free agency.
Klimovich, 23, put up 18 goals and 16 assists in 63 games with the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks last season. He spent his entire pro career under Ryan Johnson as GM in Abbotsford, and the last two seasons with Manny Malhotra behind the bench.
The Canucks selected Klimovich 41st overall in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. He played 281 regular-season games for Abbotsford, but never got the chance to make his NHL debut with Vancouver.
In Other News...
Former Canucks Center Moves On With A Parting Shot That Stings
Teddy Blueger is on the move again after a productive but injury-affected season in Vancouver, landing back in a familiar kind of role as he looks to carve out a spot in a crowded center mix. The veteran pivot had helped the Canucks in a depth capacity before health issues interrupted his rhythm, and now he gets a fresh chance to settle into a bottom-six job elsewhere.
For Vancouver, his exit closes the book on a player the club had reason to keep around, especially after it could not find a trade partner at the deadline and had interest in bringing him back. Instead, Blueger heads into a new competition for minutes, while the Canucks are left to absorb the sting of a departure that might have been preventable. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Fans Wont Love What This Marcus Pettersson Move Suggests
Marcus Petterssons latest movement is the kind of update Canucks fans were always going to track closely, because it reaches back to a decision Vancouver made only months ago when it brought him in as part of the J.T. Miller return. Pettersson arrived as a long-term blue-line piece, and the fact that he is under contract through 2030-31 gave the move real weight for a team still trying to stabilize its defense and build around it.
Now the wrinkle is that Pettersson had to waive his no-movement clause to make the deal happen, which is a sign of how far this has progressed. The return is not expected to include NHL players, so for Vancouver the focus shifts less to who is coming back and more to what it says about the organizations plans for a player it had penciled in as part of the future. [Read more 🡒]