Though Luca Sbisa’s injuries limited his efficacy and ability to showcase improvement with any degree of consistency, this season represents a massive step in the right direction.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Sbisa has rewarded the Canucks for their unconditional faith, so much as it means he might be a bona fide NHL defenceman. Viewed outside the lens of Sbisa’s hefty, if disproportionate contract, there appears to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Improvement is a relative term, though. We’re still talking about the 33rd worst defender by Corsi against per sixty, 2nd worst by scoring chances against per sixty, 13th worst by high-danger scoring chances against per sixty and 14th worst by Fenwick against per sixty. This season’s done wonders to convince me Sbisa might be an NHL defenceman, but mostly it’s reinforced the notion that he’s not a particularly good one.

If one can imagine some net positive contributions that Sbisa does offer the Canucks lineup, though, we’ll find them on the other side of the jump as we review the best of his first two seasons in Vancouver.

Hero Chart

Crunching Numbers

Boxcars:





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There’s often more signal than noise involved in gleaning counting stats – an axiom doubly true when parsing through defencemen, and triply so for those of the stay-at-home variety. Sbisa checks every box, so that’s worth keeping in mind. Now, that said, if you were to prorate Sbisa’s production over the course of an 82-game season, he’d be at 16 points. That would be the highest total since 2011-12 when Sbisa chipped in with 24 points.

Corsi:





Sbisa’s underlying metrics have never shone a bright light on his career and this year is much the same. For the eighth straight season, Sbisa was in the red by raw Corsi% and Corsi Rel.% alike. In fact, this season represents a step back by Corsi Rel. – a -4.0% this year, as opposed to last year’s -3.1%. Though I wonder how accurately this reflects Sbisa’s possession play this season, as his dCorsi impact was -24.9 this season, -111.9 last. Perhaps his minutes were especially grueling, though. dCorsi attempts to take linemates, competition, team effects etc. to draw a composite score of a player’s contributions to puck control relative to what one would expect from that player.

Goal based:

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Goal metrics have always been more amenable to Sbisa’s game than sister statistics based on shot attempts. That’s par for the course, though. Sbisa’s spent most of his career with the Anaheim Ducks and they’ve almost always been on that side of the equation. With that in mind, I’m still skeptical Sbisa is a 55% goals for player over the course of an 82 game season. His previous career high was 46.2%, so I might be onto something.

Scoring chances:

The Canucks collectively struggled to limit scoring chances and Sbisa did little to help the cause. Only Erik Johnson of the Colorado Avalanche was on the ice for more scoring chances on a per sixty basis.

Fenwick:





Fenwick, which many believe better reflects defensive play, doesn’t do Sbisa any favours. The Canucks are bleeding unblocked shot attempts with Sbisa on the ice, which is reflected in his -5.5% FF%Rel. His -3.4% FF%RelTeam indicates that he was a significant drag on most, if not all of his defensive partners in the process, too.

Conclusion

For better or worse, the Canucks are contractually tied to Sbisa for the next two seasons. Barring some set of unforeseen circumstances, or an expansion draft, that’s not likely to change anytime soon. There’s no denying that Sbisa brings an added element of physicality to a lineup otherwise absent. Sbisa also fits comfortably into the age group the Canucks are looking to build upon, at just 25 years old.

The question for the Canucks then is how much value they should apportion these traits and what type of deployments to allot him thereafter. And to their credit, it appears as though Sbisa’s ice-time is on the path to more accurately reflecting his value to the Canucks lineup.

If the Canucks can continue on this path, they can likely carve out a role wherein Sbisa’s deficiencies aren’t constantly setting them back. Assuming further development, which isn’t altogether unreasonable given the steps he took this season, Sbisa could develop into a high-end third pairing defender – if there ever was such a thing. Like I said, that’s a start.





