Hansen making all the right moves so far

After the final on-ice sessions at Bear Mountain Arena in Victoria, how impressed was Vancouver Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault with the performance of Jannik Hansen? Just count the number of times Vigneault said “really” when asked to assess the speedy 21-year-old Danish winger to date.

“He’s really impressed me,” Vigneault said. “He’s really strong on the puck, and I see a lot of skill there. He’s doing really well so far here. When we threw him in last year during the playoffs in a pressure situation, I thought he did really well. I’m really anxious to see what he does during the pre-season.”

Vigneault epitomizes the tough-but-fair NHL coach, and clearly, last year’s Jack Adams Trophy winner isn’t just trying to make Hansen feel good about himself. During the drills, Vigneault couldn’t have overlooked it when Hansen, a right-handed shot, raced down the right side and beat goalie Drew MacIntyre high stick side. That’s a tough place to score even if you’re shooting on a cardboard cutout goalie.

Although still glowing with the pleasure of playing alongside Daniel Sedin on Saturday morning when he spoke with HockeyAdventure.com, Hansen isn’t about to get ahead of himself. By no means does the 6-0, 176-pounder assume that a strong showing in the prospects camp or versus the veterans in practice is enough for him to nail down Vancouver’s second-line vacancy on right wing. Even making his NHL debut last spring with 10 playoff games and one assist doesn’t guarantee him a big-league spot.

“It’s hard to see where you are during the practices,” Hansen admitted. “It’s tomorrow, during the intra-squad game, and in the pre-season games where you get to show off your game a little bit more. Here, it’s more about getting into the systems and knowing what different guys do out there.”

Hansen, a ninth-round selection in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, is competing for a roster spot with, among others, two similar players close to his age. Mason Raymond, a fleet-footed Calgary-born winger who had 46 points with the University of Minnesota-Duluth last season, and Michael Grabner, an Austrian sniper chosen 14th overall in 2006 who has regularly recorded more goals than assists (similar to Peter Bondra’s pattern) with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. Raymond and Grabner both briefly suited up in 2006-07 for the Manitoba Moose, with whom Hansen played 76 regular season games.

“They’re both good,” said Hansen. “Raymond’s really speedy, has a great shot, and knows how to handle the puck. And Michael’s similar. He knows how to put the puck in the net and has tremendous speed. So they’re definitely two good guys.”

To build up his own speed and stamina, Hansen trained during the summer with his former Danish League club, Rødovre IK.

“I just tagged along with them, as I’ve been doing for the past however many years now. It’s an all-around conditioning program that covers strength, flexibility, and everything else.”

Denmark, which has competed at the top level of the IIHF World Championship since 2003, applied to host the 2012 tournament, but that was awarded to Finland instead. Hansen would like to see the world’s top 16 hockey nations competing for medals in his homeland someday, but there’s a pre-requisite.

“I think first we’d need to build some rinks that [are big enough to] hold the crowds for the World Championship,” said Hansen. “But that would be a big step for Danish hockey if it happened. They did host the World Championship for the B Pool a few years ago, and it was pretty big too.”

In the meantime, Hansen is trying to draw on what he learned in post-season action versus Dallas and Anaheim in the spring to give himself a shot at NHL success.

“Being around the guys in the locker room and in games where it matters, that gives you a little bit of an edge coming into this camp here. You feel a little more relaxed, and you’re not so nervous. You feel like you can just go and play your game. You don’t have to wonder about, ‘Whoa, what’s going to come tomorrow?’ It’s my third year now [in North America], so I pretty much know what’s coming.”

If Jannik Hansen’s confident disposition manifests itself on the ice right through the end of the exhibition slate (September 29 at Edmonton), this blonde Dane might still be the coach’s fair-haired boy when the regular season kicks off.