Hansen could fill first-line vacancy
Versatile Danish right winger might be best fit to skate with the Sedins
There are certainties in the NHL free-agent marketplace.
Prized players are older and bolder with what they can command in salary and contract length. It’s enough to send those kicking the tires into sticker shock, and that’s where Jannik Hansen may provide some level of relief for Jim Benning in an off-season of ongoing transition.
The Vancouver Canucks general manager wants to — and needs to — add free-agent right-wingers to supplant the loss of Radim Vrbata to unrestricted free agency, and possibly of Alex Burrows to a youth movement. Benning hopes Anton Rodin can fill a void, but doesn’t know if restricted free agent Emerson Etem is part of the equation or whether RFA Alex Grenier can take his game to the National Hockey League level.
He does know what he has in Hansen, and it’s the same summation offered by Willie Desjardins.
Speed, symmetry, affordability and accountability are changing the conversation of what the Canucks could and should do with Hansen. They could have moved him at the trade deadline — two more seasons at a US$2.5-million annual salary cap hit for the versatile winger would have attracted several suitors — but with a career-high 20 goals, can the 30-year-old Dane be a long-term fit with Henrik and Daniel Sedin?
“He was a long-term fit this year,” Desjardins said Sunday. “The line was better when he was there and when he came back from injury (after missing 11 games last month with a rib ailment), we were just a better team. He has great attributes that fit him on that line. He has speed to back guys off and he plays with energy.
“He has probably exceeded my expectations.”
And this is where it gets interesting. Maintaining a level of competitiveness next season is of paramount importance. That concern goes up the ladder from the hockey operations department to ownership, and the pursuit of Milan Lucic at the draft was an example of an effort to attract size, grit and production.
You can also understand why any interest in UFA winger Loui Eriksson, 30, makes sense because he has played on the Swedish national team with the Sedins, has 28 goals this season and hasn’t re-signed with Boston.
But Eriksson is going to get a big raise on his expiring $4.25-million cap hit and command a longterm deal, which could be a problem here.
Brock Boeser is on the NHL fast track after a stellar record-breaking rookie season at North Dakota and, if the Canucks pick second or third in the draft lottery to have a shot at big Finnish wingers Jesse Puljujarvi or Patrick Laine, the youth movement is going to be accelerated in a hurry. Or not.
Which gets us back to Hansen. Is there 30-goal potential if he plays a full season on the top line and everybody stays healthy? Is that too much to hope for? Is he the right fit?
“That’s not in my paygrade—who’s coming and going — but being able to play with them (Sedins) for some time, gives them some comfortability,” said Hansen. “If they (management) don’t find what they’re looking for, they know they have someone who can play with them.”
Desjardins rolled the first-line dice on Hansen on Nov. 10 in Columbus. The line combined for 11 points — Hansen had a goal and three assists, and was a plus-5 in a 5-3 win — and the experiment may mirror what happened when Burrows joined the Sedins in a February 2009 experiment in St. Louis. He used it as a springboard for a career-high 35 goals the next season.
“Jannik knew that, to getto the NHL, he had to be a checker and develop that part of his game, and he can be good at it,” added Desjardins in another comparison to Burrows.
“He can adapt and change his game, depending the line he’s on.”
Playing on the first line is harder that it looks, especially when you don’t get power play time and have to generate even-strength points to keep your place. That’s the challenge for Hansen, because Vrbata got all the looks last season to hit 31 goals with the twins. But there is pressure.
“That’s one of biggest things,” stressed Hansen. “You’re not seeing the third (defence) pairing, you’re seeing checkers and guys who make sure they don’t get scored on, and with them (Sedins), there’s been a rotation based on production. Pure and simple.”
What drives Hansen is being part of the future here. Road wins last week in San Jose and Anaheim — especially with an injury-riddled team forced to play too many rookies — spoke of a collective will to start the long climb back to consistency next season.
“You can bow out and we have every reason to say, ‘We’ll have fun and enjoy it now and just play out the string,’ ” said Hansen. “If you do that, you’re entering very dangerous territory, where it becomes OK to go through the motions and lose games. We are where we are, but we can prepare ourselves the best possible way for next year with whoever is back.
“It would be nice if this was the bottom and we can see it go in the right direction. This is the first year where we’re really retooling, or rebuilding, or call it what you want. We need the core and to form pieces around it.”