Canucks Sign… Who The Hell Is Bobby Sanguinetti?

After Jim Benning landed his guy, he went off the board with his second ever free agent acquisition, picking up former Carolina Hurricanes D Bobby Sanguinetti for a basically insignificant amount of money. Just who the hell is Bobby Sanguinetti? Is this at all a meaningful signing? Will he even play in the NHL?

Everything you ever needed to know about Bobby Sanguinetti is after the jump.

Sanguinetti is a former New York Rangers 1st round pick in the 2006 entry draft. He was dealt to the Hurricanes in 2010, but has spent the vast majority of his pro career in the AHL. There, he was a top-end offensive defenseman, finishing 3rd in D scoring in 2011-12. Here’s his HockeyDB page, and stats on ExtraSkater. Since then, he’s had a cup of coffee with the Hurricanes and gone to the KHL where he spent last season.

With the Hurricanes in 2012-2013, he was played in pretty sheltered minutes (with terrible teammates too), but he easily crushed them, posting a staggering 57.3% Corsi%. His FenwickFor/20 was also through the roof, as his team generated shots at a higher rate than any team other player in the league when he was on the ice. His FF% was comparable to Drew Doughty, and he generated shots at a higher rate than offensive dynamo Erik Karlsson, albeit in hugely different (and probably not comparable) circumstances. His Player Usage Chart from 2012-13 with the Hurricanes:

Sanguinetti didn’t see much powerplay time though, and his on-ice shooting% was fairly poor, leading to very pedestrian boxcars (2-4-6 in 37 GP). He’s also relatively unproven Still, at just 26 year old and a short-term $600,000 commitment, this strikes me as a great bet to make. If it works out, the Canucks find a still-young, bottom pairing, second unit PP, right-handed shooting, big-bodied two-way defenseman for basically no money. If not, well, he slides into Utica ahead of Frank Corrado and instantly improves the Comets.

I mentioned yesterday that I’d like to target Brett Bellemore and Zach Redmond as potential low-cost NHL guys, and Sanguinetti is right up there in terms of promising young-ish UFA D worth rolling the dice on. Yeah, he’s unproven, but why not roll the dice on unproven guys who have done good things in the past. If you do anything at a comparable level to Erik Karlsson, you’re worth a look at the very least.