How would Travis Hamonic fit in if the Canucks signed him?

Travis Hamonic had a down season last year, but there are reasons to expect a bounce-back in performance if he were to be signed by the Vancouver Canucks.

In my previous article, I talked about what a potential Travis Hamonic deal might look like if he and the Vancouver Canucks have a mutual interest in each other.

Now, it’s time to dive deeper into the type of impact Hamonic could have on the team should they come to an agreement, and how the veteran could fit into the lineup.

There’s no denying that the defenseman had a down year last season, especially when it comes to his play at even strength.

Using tracking data from HockeyViz, we can see that the Calgary Flames allowed an egregious three expected goals against per 60 minutes when Hamonic was on the ice at five on five while only giving up 2.46 with him on the bench:

Those numbers are obviously alarming, but it’s worth noting that his role will likely change if he were to sign with the Canucks. According to PuckIQ, Hamonic spent 37.4% of his time playing against mediocre competition last year, which made up the bulk of his ice time.

However, the defenseman would likely be deployed on the bottom pairing if Vancouver manages to sign him, as the top four spots will be occupied by Quinn Hughes, Tyler Myers, Alex Edler and new acquisition Nate Schmidt.

This means that Hamonic will be able to spend the majority of his time playing against depth players, which is what he should be doing at this juncture of his career. Playing against weaker competition will allow him to dictate play better and experience a resurgence season.

More importantly, he can replace Chris Tanev on the Canucks’ penalty kill. Unlike his play at even strength, Hamonic was instrumental in helping Calgary give up an average amount of chances shorthanded, and the Flames fell apart with him off the ice:

It seems likely that Hamonic will help the Canucks improve on their average (ranked 16th in 2019-20) penalty kill as well, since Vancouver was actually a lot better shorthanded without Tanev than they were with him:

On the other hand, the veteran doesn’t provide much value offensively, as he hasn’t broken the 20 point barrier in five seasons. Fortunately, this shouldn’t be too much of a concern for the Canucks, since Schmidt and Hughes are both elite at driving play and creating scoring chances.

With a rookie defenseman likely to make the team, Hamonic will also be able to provide a stable presence on the bottom pair and clean up any mistakes that his partner makes. This will allow Jordie Benn to become the seventh option on the backend as well.

The blueline won’t elite by any means, but it will be an upgrade over last season’s defence due to the depth that Hamonic provides and the puck-moving abilities of Schmidt.

Overall, it will be prudent for the Canucks to try and sign Hamonic to a cheap short term deal. The veteran isn’t the top four fixture he once was, but the added depth that he’ll provide will allow Vancouver to have a stabilizing presence beside a rookie and give the team an insurance option if a member of the top four gets injured, which seems likely to happen given the truncated schedule next season.