Capitals sign towering player in controversial move

The Washington Capitals added a physical presence to their blue line Wednesday, signing defenseman Vincent Desharnais to a four-year contract worth $16.8 million.

The deal carries an average annual value of $4.2 million, according to the team's official announcement.

Desharnais spent last season with the San Jose Sharks, appearing in 53 games and posting 1 goal, 6 assists and a plus-7 rating with 68 penalty minutes.

That plus-7 was actually his best full-season rating since turning pro. Bakersfield feels like a lifetime ago now.

The 30-year-old was a seventh-round pick, 183rd overall, by the Edmonton Oilers back in the 2016 draft. Nobody circles that pick expecting a four-year NHL contract seven years later.

Standing 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds, Desharnais brings size the Capitals simply did not have on their right side.

Over his NHL career, he's totaled 218 games with 2 goals, 24 assists and 198 penalty minutes across stops in Edmonton, Vancouver, Pittsburgh and San Jose.

Why Washington needed size on the back end

Washington enters this signing on a heater. The Capitals closed the season on a four-game winning streak and went 8-2-0 over their final 10 games.

Their last game was a 2-1 road win over Columbus. A defense corps that finished 43-30-9 and sits fourth in the Metro doesn't need a fix. It needs an upgrade at the margins.

Desharnais gives Spencer Carbery a shutdown-type body who can eat penalty kill minutes and clog the front of the net. He's not walking in as a top-four guy, and pretending otherwise would be dishonest.

Four years is a long runway for a depth defenseman who has bounced between four organizations in the past three seasons. That's the one piece of this deal Capitals fans are right to squint at.

GM Chris Patrick clearly values the frame and the physical identity Desharnais brings more than the offensive profile, which barely registers.

Career-wise, he's never topped 11 points in a single NHL season. This contract isn't about points. It's about bodies in front of the net and length on the wall.

Whether $4.2 million a year buys that kind of value on a seventh or eighth defenseman is the question Washington will be answering for the next four seasons.