Canucks Player Autopsy : Jannik Hansen

Who is this guy?

Jannik Hansen

He nickname history is long and convoluted, but from the time we heard him speak, he was Beaker to a large number of Canuck fans. Also was and is called the Great Dane, Jank, and , once we heard it was what his teammates call him, Honey Badger. He is at his best when he plays like he "just don't give a ______" .

Position: RW

Shoots: Right

Height: 6'1"

Weight: 195 lbs.

Born: March 15, 1986 in Herlev, Denmark

Hensen was drafted 287th, in the now non existent 9th round ( 4th from last ) in 2004

What did he do?

He played most of the season running up and down the lineup to lesser and greater impact, but found his niche on an at times dominant third line with Samuel Pahlsson and Chris Higgins. Oh yeah, he also set career highs in goals, assists, and points (16 / 23 / 39 ) , all the while maintaining a shooting % that went from 8 last year, to 11.7%.

More after the break...

Was he any good?

Any good? He's the Honey Badger, what do you think?

Apart from showing the continual improvement with more ice time and opportunity, as one of the fastest Canucks, he used his attributes and desire to "get after it" to become a first option penalty killer, as well as becoming more of an option for AV up and down the lineup.

All but 2 goals, and 5 assists ( a shorty set up and a goal amongst them ) were against the West. Now, he did play all 82 games ( 18 East, 64 West ), so he showed himself to be durable. But that shows a point a game average of .50 versus the home conference compared to a .38 against the East. In addition, his production is over about 22 shifts a game, with an average of about 14:53 TOI. With over 2 minutes of that ( 2:08 ) being shorthanded, his production is pretty solid for a third liner.

His skills seem to improve every year as well. Add to the above more numbers - 118 total hits, 24 blocks, and 39 takeaways compared to 23 giveaways over the season, and its getting easier to see in the numbers why coaches love the Honey Badger as much as the fans seem to.

In can't be all sunshine and lollypops, right?

It's hard to give him too much stick, when you see the guy improve every year. If I had to pick what I would like to see Beaker do more, its have more confidence in his ability to see the play and just do it. Holding the puck that second too long, or shooting high and wide, or being that place where a rush goes to die, some of that is the God given abilities and whatnot.

But it is also a learned skill. I love the way the guy plays, and want to see more of the team follow his lead for "give a shit". But if we can see more of the guy that all his teammates call the "best guy in practice on the team" during games, that would be something I'd like to see him work on.

What now?

Well, I don't do the Fenwick and Corsi thingie, though I do pay attention to it, and you can find it here at the always excellent Behind The Net.

I do know that PDO is supposed to be pretty cool at predicting a player being able to maintain a high level of play. Jannik's PDO for this year was 1033, which pretty well led the team ( Hamhuis had a 1032, and Alberts a 1035 ) for guys that played a lot ( for instance, Mike Duco was a 1075 in his limited ice time last year. Impressive, but a pretty small sample ).

When you look at his career, since he played enough to really qualify, he was a 1016 in 55 GP in 08/09. He then came back in the playoffs in 09/10 with a 1032, to bounce back from his worst regular season PDO in that same year. From there he took off, with a 1025 regular season ( 82 games ) and a 1039 PDO in the playoffs last year. The only other time he was under 1000 in that stat was this year's playoffs, with a 989.

Mind you, everyone probably does not look good numbers wise for those 5 games. The thing is, against increasingly stiff competition from year to year, while getting more and more responsibility, penalty kill time, on a stat that is almost expected to have regression and suckage from time to time, Beaker has always been well over the Mason Dixon line, and has shown to be able to sustain his growth.

I have absolutely no problem with the Honey Badger. Jannik Hansen is usually one of the hardest workers on the team. With the consistency and confidence that comes from experience, I see continued quality of play, more production, and his current deal for 1.35 mil until 2014 being a bargain by then.

Just keep playing hard Jannik.

A few moments with Jannik Hansen...

Pretty obvious his teammates love him, and listen close at about the 27 second mark for the shot at Cody Franchise...

Along those same lines

Can play too...

1/ All his goals from last year

2/ I love that he is a Kiss Fan!

3/ My fave goal he scored this year. Big game, and he starts it off right. Nice to see it from the fan POV too, if you can handle the camera shake!

4/ Honey Badger truly does not give a f#$%

5/ Lastly, an oldie but a goodie, and a reminder of how you should act to protect the goalie... old Honey Badger looks like he plays the same way as the 2012 version!