Hansen

[MikeyD]

If he had hands, I would love to see him on that first line. His speed and grit help that line tremendously but the only reason I don't like him is just due to his finishing ability. However, as a third or fourth line player he is elite. Not many players in the NHL have his speed and forechecking ability and he's a large reason why when he was on the third or fourth line this year that those lines were producing. He turns pucks over, gets to pucks he shouldn't get and really adds intangibles.

And one thing I like on that first line is that finally the Sedin line play a north/south game instead of an east/west which is going quite unnoticed and leads to them being far less effective off the rush.

[abbyroadkill]

boo

Hansen kicks ass

[spook007]

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

Thanks SID.

Don't know why you bother... You shown time and time again that he belongs in this team.

3 different managers believes he deserves to be in this team (each one of them bringing the team early season success in different ways) yet the boo brigade continues to think they know better than all the coaches of the club...

Fun fact - WD sets the team, not Hansen, who plays any position he has been allocated without any issue, something a few other could learn a lot from...

Until Hansen gets dropped/traded/injured I suggest people supports the player no matter the position he plays.

Alternatively support Soilers, who has an abundance of flash players in top 6... and who knows what losing is all about..

[VegasCanuck]

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!

I still find it insane, how much people want to beat on this guy when he's playing incredible and doing EXACTLY what the team is asking him to do!

- He's a strong, fast skater

- He isn't afraid to hit

- He will fight when necessary

- He back checks and is defensively responsible

- He creates offensive opportunities with his speed (he's not a great finisher, so put him out with one and let them pickup rebounds)

- He has good size

- He can play a top 6 role and not embarrass himself

- He has a nice, reasonable 2.5 million cap hit!

- He will get you a nice safe 10 - 14 minutes a night and will create chances for the guys around him!

Thought he looked pretty good the last couple of games, filling in on top line. Didn't seem to have a negative effect on Daniel and Henrik. That line dominated Ottawa, every time it stepped on the ice the other night! They were aggressive, they controlled the puck and they entered the offensive zone with authority and used Hansen's speed to disrupt Ottawa's defense!

What he's not:

- He's not Pavel Bure! He does not handle the puck at full speed the way Bure did! But, name 10 guys in the NHL right now who can do it all at full speed! He's also not paid like Bure or like Crosby or like Kessel or like (Insert Other Top 6 Forward from any top 10 team here)

What we can't do:

- This is a cap based NHL. We do not have the budget to acquire and ice 9, top 3 guys! That is the reality for ALL TEAMS!

- If this wasn't a cap based NHL, you would see NY Rangers running a 150 million player budget right now and buying every player who showed potential and burying the mistakes in the AHL on a regular basis!

Really glad he's on the team, he's a solid cap spend and really don't want to see him leaving anytime soon unless it involves a significant upgrade somewhere!

So, stop bitching and complaining about what's not broken!

[Amish Rake Fighter]

I'll weigh in

that's as far as I got

[VegasCanuck]

Thanks SID.

Don't know why you bother... You shown time and time again that he belongs in this team.

3 different managers believes he deserves to be in this team (each one of them bringing the team early season success in different ways) yet the boo brigade continues to think they know better than all the coaches of the club...

Fun fact - WD sets the team, not Hansen, who plays any position he has been allocated without any issue, something a few other could learn a lot from...

Until Hansen gets dropped/traded/injured I suggest people supports the player no matter the position he plays.

Alternatively support Soilers, who has an abundance of flash players in top 6... and who knows what losing is all about..

I think its safe to say, that Benning knows a lot more about building a winning team, than ANYONE on this board, and that includes me!

Really impressed by the way this whole team is performing so far! Linden, Benning and Willie have done an incredible job of restoring energy and optimism to the teams future!

Did people already forget how bleak it was the last 2 seasons?

These guys are having fun out there! Maybe we should try just enjoying that again???

[spook007]

I still find it insane, how much people want to beat on this guy when he's playing incredible and doing EXACTLY what the team is asking him to do!

- He's a strong, fast skater

- He isn't afraid to hit

- He will fight when necessary

- He back checks and is defensively responsible

- He creates offensive opportunities with his speed (he's not a great finisher, so put him out with one and let them pickup rebounds)

- He has good size

- He can play a top 6 role and not embarrass himself

- He has a nice, reasonable 2.5 million cap hit!

- He will get you a nice safe 10 - 14 minutes a night and will create chances for the guys around him!

Thought he looked pretty good the last couple of games, filling in on top line. Didn't seem to have a negative effect on Daniel and Henrik. That line dominated Ottawa, every time it stepped on the ice the other night! They were aggressive, they controlled the puck and they entered the offensive zone with authority and used Hansen's speed to disrupt Ottawa's defense!

What he's not:

- He's not Pavel Bure! He does not handle the puck at full speed the way Bure did! But, name 10 guys in the NHL right now who can do it all at full speed! He's also not paid like Bure or like Crosby or like Kessel or like (Insert Other Top 6 Forward from any top 10 team here)

What we can't do:

- This is a cap based NHL. We do not have the budget to acquire and ice 9, top 3 guys! That is the reality for ALL TEAMS!

- If this wasn't a cap based NHL, you would see NY Rangers running a 150 million player budget right now and buying every player who showed potential and burying the mistakes in the AHL on a regular basis!

Really glad he's on the team, he's a solid cap spend and really don't want to see him leaving anytime soon unless it involves a significant upgrade somewhere!

So, stop bitching and complaining about what's not broken!

This is so spot on.... Could not have said it any better +1

[higgyfan]

And the Sedins like him as a linemate. They think he compliments their style

“I've always said Jannik is very under-rated as an offensive player,” said Henrik. “He can make things happen out there. He's got a great shot and he's a good skater."

It also doesn't hurt that he's a right handed shot.

[VegasCanuck]

This is so spot on.... Could not have said it any better +1

Thanks. Drives me nuts watching all these posts from people who can't seem to figure out that not ever player you're going to have on your team is going to be a natural goal scorer. It doesn't mean that they aren't effective and contributing in other ways!

[StarGirl]

He received the unsung hero award for us before, so I believe he has gotten many fans since that year. However, I'll admit that I feel a bit frustrated sometimes when I see him play nowadays...Many players could slump in points of their career, so I believe this is somewhat happening to him in this case. I can see he's still very hardworking though, but yeah, not all his efforts had granted us something.

[Fakename70]

THIS!!!

My only serious gripe with the guy is that he's now the proud owner of a No-Trade clause. Thanks, GM Mike Gillis

[The Bookie]

PITB:

There’s nothing wrong with Jannik Hansen playing with the Sedins

• 
  

No seriously, Henrik, I’m not joking.

Radim Vrbata has recovered from his injury and will play tonight against his former team, the Arizona Coyotes of Phoenix in Glendale. He’ll be back on the top line with Daniel and Henrik Sedin, looking to improve upon his near point-per-game numbers this season.

This will come as a relief to both the Canucks and their fans, as Vrbata helps make the Sedins a more dangerous line and should also provide a boost to the Canucks’ suddenly ailing power play that hasn’t scored in the last three games.

Vrbata’s return also means that Jannik Hansen won’t be playing with the Sedins, which is an even bigger source of relief for some than Vrbata’s return. The amount of vitriol I saw aimed at Hansen over the last two games was astonishing, amd it wasn’t just the fans. Jason Botchford and Tony Gallagher were nearly apoplectic about Hansen getting top line duty.

To a certain extent, it’s understandable why: Hansen is not a natural finisher, with a career-high of just 16 goals, so the Sedins’ pretty playmaking is sometimes all for naught, dying on Hansen’s stick. Visually, Hansen’s play is unappealing, full of missed chances, sloppy skating, and awkward falls. He just doesn’t pass the eye test.

What he does pass, however, is the numbers test. Despite appearances, Hansen has been one of the Sedins most effective linemates.

Before getting into the numbers, it’s important to point out that Wille Desjardins had limited options when it came to the top line with Vrbata out. Since he wanted to keep Burrows on the second line, where he’s been very effective with Nick Bonino and Chris Higgins, and Zack Kassian was also out of the lineup, Hansen was the best choice.

An argument could be made for Nicklas Jensen, who had some success last season with Henrik and Burrows, but it’s understandable that Desjardins would be hesitant about using a rookie that he’s largely unfamiliar with on the top line. Jensen is certainly worth trying in that role in the future, but Desjardins likely wants to see him a bit more from him before moving him up the lineup.

Desjardins also tried Linden Vey with the Sedins against the Ducks, after it became clear that Ryan Kesler was shutting down the Sedins, but Vey was ineffective, regularly getting outmuscled along the boards, where the Sedins do a lot of their best work.

Let’s get into the numbers. I took a look at all of the Sedins’ linemates from 2007-2014, usingHockey Analysis‘s WOWY (With or Without You) functionality. I used Henrik as a proxy for both Sedins and looked solely at even-strength statistics to weed out the power play.

I then sorted them by Goals For Percentage to see which of the Sedins’ linemates were most effective at outscoring their opposition and set a cut-off at 300 minutes played to avoid small samples, but included them at the bottom of the chart, also including Radim Vrbata’s statistics with the Sedins so far this season.

Why yes, that is Jannik Hansen at the top of the chart, ahead of both Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler.

That means that the Sedins were more effective at out-scoring their opponents with Hansen on the ice than with any of their other linemates, at least those that they played with for at least 300 minutes. Both Pavol Demitra and Zack Kassian posted higher GF% than Hansen, but in far fewer minutes.

Vrbata, for his part, is near Mason Raymond levels when it comes to GF% at even-strength, with most of his production coming on the power play. There’s reason to believe that will change as the season progresses, however, as his possession numbers with the Sedins are very strong, comparable to how the Sedins did with Kesler, as measured by Corsi%.

This doesn’t mean that Hansen is the Sedin’s ideal linemate. We can’t fully discount the eye test and, if you believe the thing the Sedins need most is a finisher, he’s simply not that player. The numbers actually back this up as well: when it comes purely to producing offence, Hansen’s Goals For Per 20 minutes (GF20) is lower than Kesler, Burrows, and Mikael Samuelsson, though better than Taylor Pyatt and Markus Naslund.

With that in mind, however, his GF20 is better than the small sample sizes of Zack Kassian, Nicklas Jensen, and Radim Vrbata, so using that to dismiss the idea of Hansen playing on the top line just doesn’t make much sense.

The biggest reason the Sedins outscore their opponents with Hansen on the ice is his defensive ability, however. His Goals Against Per 20 minutes (GA20) is the lowest among players that have played over 300 minutes with the Sedins, with Burrows close behind. That is reflected in his Corsi% with the Sedins as well, as he’s just a tick below Burrows, Kesler, Samuelsson, and Naslund.

There are some who argue that Hansen has become a less effective player over the years, so using cumulative statistics from multiple years is misleading, but even last season Hansen was one of the Sedins’ more effective linemates, posting a GF% and GF20 just slightly below Ryan Kesler.

The issue with Hansen is that his very visible flaws have a tendency to obscure his strengths.

Something that a lot of people seem to miss is how oftem the Sedins lose the puck. So many of their seemingly impossible passes connect that it’s easy to forget about all of the passes that don’t. The Sedins make it particularly easy to forget those botched passes by being remarkably good at getting the puck back, whether it’s just knowing where to go on the ice to pick up a missed pass, their underrated physical game to win board battles, or their stick work that gets them so many hooking penalties.

This is a big reason why Burrows has been so effective with the Sedins, because he is also so good at regaining the puck and it’s also a big reason why Hansen works with them as well. We can bemoan Hansen’s missed chances that come out of a beautiful Sedin cycle, but it’s his dogged determination to get the puck back in all three zones that allows them to go green and re-cycle.

Hansen is a very good defensive winger and is strong on the forecheck, making him very good at regaining the puck after he’s lost it, but you could argue that he brings this defensive ability to whatever line he’s on. Putting him with the Sedins removes his defensive strengths from another line.

But Hansen isn’t just a checker; he also has underrated vision and playmaking ability. That makes him helpful on the cycle, as he and the Sedins so aptly demonstrated against the Senators. While he’s not a finisher, Daniel Sedin is, and there’s an argument to be made that Daniel needs a little more finish to his game. At least, his brother thinks so.

While Hansen isn’t the ideal winger for the Sedins, he’s plenty suitable for spot duty on the top line, particularly as a safe option that is unlikely to give up many goals. In the NHL, it’s often the case that safe is death (ironically John Tortorella’s motto when he was a coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning), but Hansen doesn’t hinder the Sedins’ offence as much as people think.

[RonMexico]

I wish he would score on some of the numerous breakaways he seems to get.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

4 pts -6 18 gp keep it up

[Hairy Kneel]

5 goals in 58 playoff games

[Lui's Knob]

He must be showcased when he plays with the Sedins as a package for a Dman...

[Amish Rake Fighter]

5 goals in 58 playoff games

sounds like Pavel Datsyuk's first 58 playoff games

[CanuckleHorse]

I say put him on waivers if he don't want to wave if he clears well that will tell those who love him how much he is worth.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

Sucks that vey gets benched currently 9 pts -4

and hansen has -6 5pts hmmmmmm lol at this point all I can do is wonder. Wont be surprised we see hansen on the 1st unit tonight trying to score a goal on the pp.

[GreyHatnDart]

I personally like what Hansen brings to the table. When he's on his game he's gritty, blocks shots, and plays responsible defensively. However I don't think he had any business being on the top line when we have far more offensively gifted guys for that. He's a 3rd/4th liner and a very good one at that. He's proven time after time he has little offensive upside. Which is fine, a team is composed of many different cogs.

I've really like what Desjardins has brought this team so far this season. I definitely wasn't expecting to be playing so well, especially early on. However, I have questioned some of his goaltending starts, such as Miller tonight. I suppose Lack stood on his head last game against Anaheim and maybe he's thinking the same will happen tomorrow as he'll assumedly get the start in Van. Either way, let's get this EDM game out of the way so we can jet home and prepare for Kesler and the Ducks.