The Vancouver Canucks defense, long a strength of the club, was something of an issue for the team this season.

We know all about the club’s team level defensive issues, and we all saw the club get tormented by Calgary Flames forecheckers in Vancouver’s first-round series loss last month. Canucks defenders also struggled offensively. As a group Vancouver’s blue liners combined for 135 total points this season, making them the 26th highest scoring defense corps.

Let’s break Vancouver’s blue line down to its individual components using Dominic Galamini’s HERO charts as an evaluative tool, and see what we can see.

The Horizontal Evaluative Rankings Optic (HERO) chart tool is a relatively recent addition to the on-line analysts’ arsenal. Created by Domenic Galamini (

who’s work can be found here

), an extraordinarily young and savvy Hamilton, On. based hockey fan, they breakdown and visualize an individual player based on ice time, on-ice defensive impact, on-ice offensive impact and offensive rate stats.

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A HERO chart doesn’t capture everything, obviously, but it does provide us with a snapshot of how a player is being used (based on ice time), how that player’s team is performing when he’s on the ice (based on the shot based metrics), and how that player is producing. It also serves to rate their performance in those four areas against other players at their position across the league.

Currently the two-and-a-half seasons since the 2012-13 NHL lockout are factored into the data.

One thing to note, before we proceed, is that rate stats have a habit of flattering capable players who are useful, but aren’t cut out for a top-of-the-lineup role. By that same token, they can under-rate credible but non-elite top-of-the-lineup pieces. That’s a key qualifier to keep in mind before we proceed.

Let’s take a minute now that we’re about to post a chart to instruct you on how to read it. The top portion of the chart is simply time on ice per game.

Below that you’ll find a player’s impact on the rate at which his team generates shot attempts for and unblocked shot attempt for. Basically it measures their influence on their club’s ability to generate shots. Under ‘Suppressing shots and unblocked shots’ you’ll find the inverse, a shorthand measurement of the player in question’s influence on their team’s ability to deny puck possession and shot attempts.

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Finally you’ll find their individual offensive stats, including their shot rate and the rate at which they’re generating points.

You’ll also notice some vertical colour coding from left to right. Each different colour represents a different performance tier, which is sorted based on how a player is performing relative to other NHL players at their position. Basically there’s 30 NHL teams and two top-pairing defenders per team, so if you’re in the top-60 by any category, your results qualify you as a ‘first-pairing’ defender based on that metric.

With that out of the way, let’s move on to Alexander Edler.

Alex Edler

This past season, Alexander Edler rebounded from his percentage driven nightmare of a 2013-14 campaign, and emerged as a bona fide #1 defenseman and arguably Vancouver’s best player (for my money, only Henrik Sedin was more important to the club’s success).

Since the NHL lockout, Edler has been used as a first pairing defender and has mostly performed like a first-pair quality defensman – with more offensive value than defensive value.

Edler isn’t quite a shutdown guy, which I think most people who’ve watched him know, but he’s credible enough in that role and certainly helps his team generate zone time and shots in the offensive end of the rink.

The most surprising thing about Edler’s chart is his offensive production (or lack thereof). Though Edler has a slick offensive skill set, his production has been relative meagre since the lockout. Basically while he’s managed an elite shot rate and has been a useful driver of offensive possession, he’s produced at the rate you’d expect from a third-pairing defender.

This is a good example of the limits of the HERO charts actually, in that they don’t factor in a variety of other variables like on-ice shooting percentage. Since the 2012-13 lockout 190 NHL defenseman have logged at least 1500 even-strength minutes. Of those 190 NHL defenseman, only two have managed a worse on-ice shooting percentage than Edler has, and both of those players (Rasmus Ristolainen and Tyson Strachan) spent time with the Buffalo Sabres.

Defenseman generally aren’t considered to have any lasting impact on their club’s on-ice shooting percentage, and yes, an individual player can be unlucky over multiple seasons. I’d suggest to you that Edler has.

Anyway, you should be wary of looking at that chart and concluding that Edler is an overrated offensive defenseman. The 29-year-old blue liner has a massive positive impact on the club’s ability to generate looks at 5-on-5, he’s managed an elite shot rate, and not only does he ably quarterback Vancouver’s power play through the neutral zone but he’s also the 5th most prolific power play goal scorer from the blue line since the lockout (behind on Shea Weber, Zdeno Chara, Sami Vatanen and Dustin Byfuglien).

Chris Tanev

Chris Tanev was always a fancy stats darling, although there was some concern about whether or not he’d be able to manage elite results against top-line competition.

Over the past couple of years he’s proven that he can, and was rewarded with a long-term contract extension this spring. That deal is an excellent one for the Canucks, and it’s a good bet to provide the club with excellent value going forward.

Tanev has only been used as a first-pairing defender for a year and a bit, which is reflected on the HERO chart. We can expect him to log first-pairing ice time going forward.

The rest of Tanev’s HERO charts tells you about what you’d expect. He’s an elite defensive defenseman, maybe among the very best in the world in his own end, but his offensive value is negligible.

In terms of helping the Canucks generate looks, Tanev has been about as helpful as a good fifth defenseman. His personal production matches that and his shot rate is almost non-existent.

Though Tanev’s lack of offensive abilities is outweighed by his high-end defensive value, it’s probably fair to say that he still takes a bit off the table offensively when he’s on the ice.

Dan Hamhuis

Dan Hamhuis is an Olympic Gold medalist for a reason.

Since signing in Vancouver as a free agent in the summer of 2010, Hamhuis has quietly been one of the league’s most reliable first-pairing defenders. Though he’s probably beginning to lose his fastball somewhat in his early 30s and it certainly looked like he’d lost a step this season, he remains an effective contributor.

Since the lockout Hamhuis has logged first pairing ice-time and has been a high-end defensive contributor. Though he’s not helping the club drive offensive zone time, he’s produced shots and points at a first pairing rate, which is probably somewhat surprising.

Some of this is just good fortune – since the lockout the Canucks have converted on nine percent of their even-strength shots with Hamhuis on, a conversion rate that’s 40 percent higher than they’ve managed with Edler on the ice – but Hamhuis is also a ridiculously effective puck mover.

Consider this: among all NHL defenseman who’ve logged at least 2000 5-on-5 minutes since the lockout, Hamhuis is ranks ninth in primary assist rate, roughly on par with players like Tyson Barrie and Alex Goligoski, and just ahead of Duncan Keith and Alex Pietrangelo.

Kevin Bieksa

We all know that Kevin Bieksa, 33, has seen his effectiveness fade with age. Turns out that playing a physically demanding style for close to 700 NHL games (including playoffs) can take its toll.

What, perhaps, we didn’t know was the extent to which BIeksa’s defensive game deteriorated.

I was astonished, frankly, to see that Bieksa’s shot suppression abilities have been at a replacement level since the NHL lockout. It was only in 2011-12 after all that Bieksa was logging 19 5-on-5 minutes per game for a Presidents’ Trophy winning team while holding down a Corsi For percentage near 55 and finishing second to Erik Karlsson in even strength points (Bieksa probably deserved Norris votes that season).

When you think about how Bieksa and Luca Sbisa made a Flames forward line that featured David Jones, Matt Stajan and Michael Ferland look like the best forecheckers in league history though, perhaps it makes sense.

Bieksa has remained a useful offensive contributor (despite a lack of individual production) even as his defensive game has apparently fallen off. When you combine his physical play with his offensive abilities, it’s obvious that Bieksa will play in the NHL for a while yet. What his HERO chart strongly suggests though is that his days being deployed as a top-four defenseman on a good team should probably be over.

Yannick Weber





Until the second half of this latest Canucks season Yannick Weber has never really received an extended shot at being an everyday NHL player. He’s not big and he’s not imposing and you can see why his decent enough defensive skills have gone unnoticed and underrated, but he’s probably been effective enough for long enough to have deserved a longer look prior to this past February.

Weber’s shot rate is, unsurprisingly, very good, but in all other areas he’s performed the way you’d expect from a well below average second pairing defender. On a good team he’s probably capable of being your fifth best defenseman.

Luca Sbisa

Well you knew this one would be fun!

Since the lockout, Luca Sbisa has struggled in every facet of the game save for earning ice time in perpetuity (likely because of his projectable speed and solid physical game).

There isn’t much we can add over what Rhys Jessop wrote back in March:

There’s really no sugar coating it: right now Sbisa is not good enough to be an NHL regular. He’s been terrible this season, and terrible for every other season of his NHL career. Since 2012, he has been one of the very worst defensemen to receive regular NHL minutes:

Ryan Stanton

Personally I thought Ryan Stanton took a step back this season. Even just in terms of his foot speed, he looked a bit off.

Still I think it’s pretty evident when you watch him play that he’s got a deceptively dangerous shot, and moves the puck well around the offensive zone when his team is set up on in-zone play.

On a good team Stanton probably isn’t much more than a depth defender with some offensive and physical value, not unless he can add a step or two.

Check out the HERO chart tool here, and follow Dominic Galamani on Twitter.





