Canucks will be giving major promotion to former Oiler next year

According to some projected lineups, the Canucks will be deploying Desharnais in their regular second pair.

Desharnais was drafted in the 7th round by the Oilers in 2016, and after years of developing in the ECHL and AHL, finally cracked the Oilers roster at nearly 27 years old. After 114 games with the Oilers, the Canucks signed Desharnais to a 2 year contract for $2M each season.

The Canucks did sign him to a low-risk deal, but penciling in Desharnais to the second pair could be a mistake. Oilers fans have seen Desharnais struggle at times to move the puck up the ice, and be exposed for poor skating. For the later half of the playoffs, Desharnais lost his spot in the lineup entirely as the Oilers decided to lean on Philip Broberg more. If the Canucks have him in the top four, they may be expecting more from Desharnais than he can deliver.

That said, the Edmonton Oilers may need to address their own holes on defence as well. Simply put, an upgrade on the Nurse and Ceci pair is required if the team truly expects to win a Stanley Cup. The rest of the team nearly dragged them there before, but too many times the Oilers weakest defence pairing was exploited by the opposition. It's very likely the Oilers will make a trade during the season to make an improvement on defence, and it looks like the Canucks might have to as well.