Hansen

[one-x]

I think Hansen's been given a top line role because he knows how the twins play and has had some experience with them in the past. Even though he doesn't score he can definitely help the Sedin's sustain pressure in the offensive zone, although this isn't as valuable as scoring it's still something that helps the team.

If Willie's looking for familiarity, why not Burrows?

[hockeyking]

If Willie's looking for familiarity, why not Burrows?

because the second line is playing really well and doesn't want to break it up..

[aqua59]

What is the deal with Hansen and why does everyone like him so much?

I am so sick and tired of watching this plug get one of the best chances for the Canucks every night only to have him bobble it or misplay it and it accumulates to nothing.

Why does he get a shot with the Sedins tonight in Anaheim? He is terrible and he will get a glorious chance and screw it up tonight for sure! Why would we not put a kid on the line with some hands for the night? Why doesn't Vey or Jensen get a chance, at least they got hands??? Also, burrows?

No Hands Hansen.

or

No Hands son.

Tire of this plug in our lineup and getting grade A chances, only to screw it up.

Just my 2 cents, flame away.

I have been on this since Torts used the guy too much on a top line. He's build for lower lines and nothing more. There is no debate this guy has no finish when it comes to a great pass or a goal. I get this feeling of failure every time he has a break away.

I know WD isn't tampering with his other lines for good reason.

Vribata will come back but I think Jim B has seen what we have. Hansen has to be improved upon, he's topped out. That's all you'll get.

Hansen drives me nuts.

[cupwillcome]

Hi everyone. Long time canucks fan, recently cdc reader, first time poster here. This thread inspired me to create a profile, because I am a Hansen fan and don't really understand why anyone is hating on him.

First of all, with the departures of Weise, Kesler, Raymond and Ballard over the last few years our team's overall speed has gone down. Take Hansen out of the mix and we are one of the slowest teams in the league. Defensively he is the best natural winger we have. He has spent a lot of his career starting more face-offs in the defensive zone than the offensive zone and playing on a shutdown line against other teams top lines--and he is still a career plus player!!!

Some people have alluded to his production being in decline since 2011.

07-08 5 games 0 points 0+/-

08-09 55 games 21 points +5

09-10 47 games 15 points -5

10-11 82 games 29 points +13

11-12 82 games 39 points +18

12-13 47 games 27 points +12

13-14 71 games 20 points -9

He actually increased his points after 2011. And last year was so bad for everyone not named Chris Higgins i don't even think it should count. Torts stripped him of his confidence and stalled the development of a player who up until that point had improved every year since he started.

He is obviously more suited to a bottom six role than a top six one. However, he only gets bumped up to the top six when injuries occur. With Vrbata out he is playing with the Sedins. He won't get as many goals as Burrows or possibly Jensen would playing there, but he makes the Sedins better defensively, allows WD to keep the second line intact, Jensen/another prospect wont get more minutes than they should at this stage in their careers, and his speed/forechecking/grit/workrate free up space and time for the Sedins to work their magic.

2.5 Mil cap-hit is by no means an expensive player and if the cap continues to rise he is gonna look more and more like a steal of a player. Every team in the league would take Hansen in a heartbeat. Seriously, whats not to like?

[Hairy Kneel]

5 goals in 58... in 58 Playoff Games... on 95 shots. many many breakaways..we need to look forward he's had his chances

we've been thru this with schroeder raymond booth malholtra and wellwood (well maybe not wellwood so much) ect time to make the shift to bigger hitterier scorier

-maybe drops the mitts occasionally even or

even gretzky had to move on

[Mad Cow Disease]

I disagree .. it IS fair to criticize him if he is put in a top-6 role and fails to perform to that standard .. he is an ideal 4th liner/PK specialist .. 3rd line with injuries .. any higher and he takes away more offensive opportunities than he helps create .. 5 Sedin passes and then a perfect pass onto Hansen's stick .. and .. he deftly tucks it into the corner .. of the rink!

Wouldn't that be on the coach for putting him in a top-6 role when he's not a top-6 player? Is he supposed to just become a better shooter?

He's great at getting scoring opportunities, but his finishing is garbage.

[philtbc829]

Hansen is great 3 or 4th liner and even though he doesn't have the finish required to be on the first line he does provide space and time for the TWINS and is a good skater and defensively sound.....

[Townsend16]

He is definitely not a finisher but does have some intangibles to his game. He works hard and can skate but I agree, not a fit with Hank and Dank nor is he a first line player.

[Sedintwinpowersactivate]

Hansen has been a great third or fourth line player... if he can contribute defence and 30 points offensively. He has speed and can penalty kill. I think it would be nice if he had more size to bang and crash, however that seems to be Matthias, Kassian and Richardson's role. This year has been slow for Hansen offensively (17 games 3-1-4) with 4 points. He needs to chip in more or could be on the block. If the Sedins don't get him scoring than see ya later!

[duc_evo]

Hansen NEEDS to learn how to undress a goalie on breakaways.

1. Deke, backhand five hole.

2. Deke, Sudin backhand over the blocker

3. Oshie slow down rip

4, Daystuk fake deke and out wait the goalie move

Hansen could be one of the deadliest Canucks if he could finish breakaways.

[Brewmaster12]

At that speed its twice or trice as difficult to stick handle for sure. But those breakaways are sure gifts from above yet are wasted easilt

[Slegr]

I'll weigh in, since I had a dislike for Hansen even before it was popular.

It disgusts me that he is rewarded with first line minutes. It also intrigues me that Burrows does not get a sniff on the first line while Vrbata remains injured. "Oh, but the second line is doing so well," people argue. Still, isn't it more important that your first line is working? It's almost as if Willie Desjardins wants to purposely avoid any type of potential controversy that could result with a successful reuniting of the Sedins / Burrows. It's a formula that I'm sure he knows has worked well in the past.

At the very least, they need to keep Hansen off the power play.

It's good to see that despite Hansen's neutralizing qualities as a line mate, he still hasn't completely nullified the production of the Sedins. Please, please come back soon Vrbata!

[shinker]

whens the last time you've seen the sedins score a garbage goal from a rebound?....

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

All you Hansen bashers are bunch of tools . Did anyone actually watch when Anaheim tried to crush the man every shift but he bounced off every hit. He skates like the wind and tries his ass off. So he had a few bad bounces off his stick I would like to see any of you arm chair GM's last a shift skating as hard as he does. Frakken pathetic in here

[Mr.DirtyDangles]

I'll weigh in, since I had a dislike for Hansen even before it was popular.

It disgusts me that he is rewarded with first line minutes. It also intrigues me that Burrows does not get a sniff on the first line while Vrbata remains injured. "Oh, but the second line is doing so well," people argue. Still, isn't it more important that your first line is working? It's almost as if Willie Desjardins wants to purposely avoid any type of potential controversy that could result with a successful reuniting of the Sedins / Burrows. It's a formula that I'm sure he knows has worked well in the past.

At the very least, they need to keep Hansen off the power play.

It's good to see that despite Hansen's neutralizing qualities as a line mate, he still hasn't completely nullified the production of the Sedins. Please, please come back soon Vrbata!

It's called injuries man. Open your mind up FFS ! Willie juggled we won and lost what the F..k is the problem here ? We are second over all and the freaks come out to bitch and complain about Hansen ?

With fans like these who needs enemies ?

[nuck nit]

It has come to me that perhaps Hansen is being given first line minutes in the hopes for additional points production in the event that the brain trust may have to sacrifice him in a potential trade.

Denigrating a career,hard working and honest Canuck like Hansen smacks of attributes one should not be aspiring towards.

[I.Am.Ironman]

We will need Hansen come playoffs. He is a 4th liner on a contender and that is where he should be with us. We lack speed throughout the lineup and our other options at this point do not have blazing speed like Hansen.

Does he have hands of stone.. yes but you don't need to be scoring 20 goals a year to be effective. He is great on the PK and the forecheck.

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

I'll weigh in, since I had a dislike for Hansen even before it was popular.

It disgusts me that he is rewarded with first line minutes. It also intrigues me that Burrows does not get a sniff on the first line while Vrbata remains injured. "Oh, but the second line is doing so well," people argue. Still, isn't it more important that your first line is working? It's almost as if Willie Desjardins wants to purposely avoid any type of potential controversy that could result with a successful reuniting of the Sedins / Burrows. It's a formula that I'm sure he knows has worked well in the past.

At the very least, they need to keep Hansen off the power play.

It's good to see that despite Hansen's neutralizing qualities as a line mate, he still hasn't completely nullified the production of the Sedins. Please, please come back soon Vrbata!

Far from "nullifying" the Sedins, Hansen's presence on the first line has, in fact, roughly doubled its production at 5v5.

Here's what Henrik's done this season:

0.767 goals-for per 20:00 5v5TOI (GF20--on-ice team production)

0.682 goals-against per 20:00 5v5TOI (GA20)

52.9 GF% (goals-for percentage of total 5v5 on-ice scoring, for and against)

18.32 Corsi events-for per 20:00 5v5TOI (CF20)

14.66 Corsi events-against per 20:00 5v5TOI (CA20)

55.6 CF% (Corsi events-for percentage of total on-ice Corsi, for and against)

Here's Henrik with Vrbata (WOWY):

0.774 GF20

0.663 GA20

53.8 GF%

18.36 CF20

14.60 CA20

55.7 CF%

And here's Henrik with Hansen:

1.502 GF20 (twice the scoring rate the twins have produced with Vrbata this season)

0.751 GA20

66.7 GF% (elite numbers)

22.53 CF20 (over four more shots on goal attempted per 20 minutes, compared to with Vrbata)

9.76 CA20 (almost five fewer attempts against per 20 minutes)

69.8 CF% (elite numbers)

So let's just get things straight. Hansen hasn't hurt the twins. They've played some of their best 5v5 of this season with him on their right wing. And nearly every on-ice team metric is better with Sedin-Sedin-Hansen than with Sedin-Sedin-Vrbata.

Now I'm not arguing for Hansen to stay on the first line when the lineup is healthy. I want Vrbata back as soon as possible. But to suggest that Hansen's been anything short of excellent while filling in with the twins is ridiculous IMHO. All his presence has done is doubled scoring and tilted possession toward ludicrous rates of dominance.

Of course, these are small samples and probably not sustainable but if we're talking about the last few games, which is what it seems like people are focusing on, we should all be grateful that Hansen was available to take that 1st line RW slot during the recent rash of injuries.

And if there's a next time Vrbata misses some games, Hansen should be first in line to play with the Sedins, based on the strength of his performance and the overall offensive success the twins have had with him.

NOTE: all numbers were sourced from stats.hockeyanalysis.com

EDIT: typos

[alfstonker]

I've been curious about why he's on the 1st line in Vrbata's absence as well. It strikes me that perhaps the best two passers on the team are playing with a defensive forward with little finishing ability. Offensively, Jensen would have seemed a better fit, given WD's apparent decision to keep the 2nd line intact for now.

Do the twins need a speedy defensive player on the RW?

I'm not a Hansen hater at all and like what he brings to a 3rd or 4th line, but am having trouble understanding the lineup. I have enough respect for WD to assume that he's got reasons. Can someone tell me what I'm missing?

Thanks.

It seems to me having watched Vbrata his defence has been underestimated and so because Hansen has good defensive and recovery skills they are prepared to play him and take a hit on "finish"

That said you might have thought all that and more is supplied by Burr. Obviously they don't want to take the chance on disrupting the 2nd line.

[Baggins]

Wait, some are upset Hansen is with the Sedins instead of Burrows? In these two games the Sedins have two points each on the top line and Burrows has scored two goals on the second line. Where's the problem?