via @Capitals
Here’s long-time Rink writer Luke with his take on what one of the Caps’ newest additions brings to the club…
The Washington Capitals made their big (no pun intended) splash on defense in free agency, signing 30-year-old (May 29th birthday), 6’7”, 225-pound right shot Vincent Desharnais. It was a hefty contract coming in at four years and $4.25M per season, a bit more than what was expected (which was two years $2M per year, according to AFP contract projections). But it’s worth noting that free agency this year was unhinged (look at what San Jose spent on Jacob Trouba), with just about every contract going way more than people thought, so if you wanted a player you probably had to overpay to get them. And when you have a guy you like, you go get him. According to Greg Wyshynski, Desharnais was on the Caps radar for awhile and they even tried to trade for him at the deadline.
Let’s start with what Desharnais brings to the table. As you’ll be able to see from the graphs that I’ll show you, that Desharnais is an elite defensive force. He uses his long stick, big body, positioning and physicality to completely shut down scoring chances against. It doesn’t hurt that with his 6’7” body he’s in the 70th percentile in speed among NHL skates according to NHL Edge. On top of that, he’s top tier on the penalty kill, which the Caps could use as their penalty kill faltered (though picked up towards the end of the season) last season.
On the flip side, you can also see he is a near black hold offensively. He has scored a total of two goals and 24 assists in 218 NHL games! That averages less than 10 points a season, which is fine but $4.25M is a lot of money for someone who is only putting up a point every eight games. But the Caps didn’t get him for the points. They got him to limit scoring chances against and it now gives each pair a defensive minded player: Matt Roy, Martin Fehervary and now Desharnais.
A lot of people are probably looking at that money and thinking “wow that’s a lot for a defensive bottom pairing guy” but I don’t think the Caps necessarily see him as just a bottom pairing guy. Hell, they are paying him more than Timothy Liljegren’s $3.25M. I think they see him more as a bottom four defensive defensemen. Yes he’s played mainly bottom pairing minutes throughout his career but when he’s put up against great players he has stood strong. He had very strong defensive impacts when he played with the top four left handers Dmitry Orlov (+1.86xGF%Rel) and Mario Ferraro (+3.16xGF%Rel) according to Natural Stat Trick. As you can see below via HockeyViz tool, San Jose’s defense fell apart when he wasn’t on the ice (23 point swing). Their offense technically improved but wasn’t very drastic (9 point swing).
The site PuckIQ has a stat called DFF, which stands for Dangerous Fenwick For, essentially dangerous shots. There is a stat called DFF%RC, which is Dangerous Fenwick ratio relative to team mates for specific levels of competition. If you look at all NHL defensemen that have played at least 300 minutes against elite competition the last two seasons, among the 192 defensemen that fit that description, Desharnais ranks 28th with a +3.39DFF%. That’s top 14%! Even better is he had the 15th lowest ozone% starts with 33.5% against elite talent, meaning he got buried in the defensive zone a lot against great players and still came out positive against thwm over the last two seasons. That’s a great sign, meaning the Caps might give him more minutes in the top four if they need.
Mike Vogel made the point in his NHL article that Desharnais’ partner he spent the most time with last season in San Jose was youngster 19 year old Sam Dickinson (now 20) for his rookie season. So Desharnais already has that experience carrying a skilled youngster on the ice. That makes him a perfect fit for Cole Huston. Hutson, as we know, has a knack to move the puck up ice with his skating and passing ability. Desharnais' job is going to be to retrieve the puck with his size, physicality and speed, then get the puck to Hutson as quickly as possible. And the quicker Hutson can get the puck on his stick and into the offensive zone, the better it will be for everyone.
The real question is, even if Desharnais does what he does best by suppressing scoring chances against and getting the puck up the ice, what will happen when he has the puck on his stick in the offensive zone? He has zero offensive skills with the puck, so what’s the point of getting the puck up the ice if he can’t help get the puck in the back of the net? This will be a coaching challenge for Spencer Carbery, he’s going to have to work around that deficiency to make sure the offense isn’t just neutered with Desharnais on the ice. He does not need to turn Desharnais into an offensive defensemen, but he needs to do something to at least keep the offense alive at an average level. The Caps stacked roster and can do the rest.
Like the forward group, the Caps will have the ability to really mix and match their defensive pairs to fit the situation. For instance, if the game is tied or Caps are losing, Desharnais can be matched with Hutson or Jakob Chychrun, but say the Caps have the lead late, you can pair Desharnais with Martin Fehervary and create a devastating shut down pair that will make it hell for teams to try to score. Carbery will be able to do a lot of mix and matching on both ends of the ice to cater to what the Caps need.
Another great aspect to Desharnais' game is his toughness. He’ll be able to take some heat off of Tom Wilson with the fighting duties. It’s way more important for Wilson to stay on the ice than sitting in the box or injured from a fight, but knowing Wilson, as he’s about to take over the captaincy, he won’t let someone else fight his battles for him. But Desharnais should still be able to help some there. Also, the Caps let in a lot of tip in goals last season, Desharnais will be able to clear the crease effectively, lowering the chances of tip in goals.
It’s important to remember that Desharnais has never really played on a good team. His first two seasons were spent in Edmonton, and yes I know they were “good” but that was mainly due to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl dragging that team into relevance. Then for the 2024-2025 season he played on three different teams: 26 games with the 18th ranked Vancouver Canucks; 10 games with the 24th ranked Pittsburgh Penguins; and then played seven games with the last place ranked San Jose Sharks; none of them made the playoffs. Then last year was his best year, playing a full season with the 24th ranked Sharks. Among defensemen on the Sharks he ranked third in xGF%Rel, SCF%Rel, and HDCF%. I have to imagine he’s probably delighted to stick with a team for four years, let alone a very good team like the Caps for four years. I have a feeling he has his best hockey in front of him. He is 30 but he’s only played 218 NHL games so he probably has a bit more tread on his tires than most 30 year olds.
This signing isn’t a steal (or at least we don’t know just yet), it could certainly not age well. What if Desharnais just becomes a meh or replaceable bottom pairing guy? Then this signing will be bad, but it would be the first bad one Caps have signed in a long time. Analytics head department Tim Barnes and the CapFriendly guys that the Caps purchased have been great at identifying good players and signing them either to their worth or under their worth. I know the price was a sticker shock moment but I think the front office is owed some grace and time because more than likely, a year from now, we’ll look at this Desharnais signing as either right on the dot or possibly say it was a homerun.