Jannik Hansen Officially Placed on LTIR

Ah, the simpler days when Jannik Hansen could lift both of his arms. (Image via Darryl Dyck)

We’ve yet to see the Vancouver Canucks enjoy the luxury of a full lineup thus far in the 2013-14 season, and it looks like that’ll continue for the forseeable future. First it was the Zack Kassian suspension, then the Alex Burrows injury, and now it’s Jannik Hansen, who has been officially placed on the Long Term Injury Reserve by the team. 

This comes after a nasty fall into the endboards that he took in the 1st period of Tuesday afternoon’s game against the New York Islanders. He was sent home from the trip to be further evaluated, and apparently the prognosis isn’t all that positive. 

Read on past the jump for more on the injury.

The #Canucks have placed Jannik Hansen on LTIR, so he’s gone at least 10 games. Still not disclosing injury, but think it’s shoulder-related

— Brad Ziemer (@BradZiemer) October 24, 2013

By my count, that means that the earliest return date for Hansen will be November 17th against the Dallas Stars, but who knows if he’ll actually be ready by then? We still don’t have an official word on what the injury actually is, but at the time I thought it looked like a separated shoulder and I’m sticking to it.

Hansen only had 2 goals and 4 points in 10+ games before the injury, but he was driving play in some tough minutes (+7.4 Corsi Relative, 44.2% offensive zone start rate). Beyond that, he had also proven to be very effective in entering the offensive zone with controlled possession. With the Burrows injury (and David Booth being in John Tortorella’s doghouse) he had been relied upon in a 2nd line role, and had done a fine job in plugging the hole.

I’m sure we’ll learn more about the specifics in the coming days, but one thing is certain: the Canucks will miss his presence in the lineup. As for Hansen himself, I’m sure this isn’t the way he envisioned his season going after he had a career season in the lockout shortened 2012-13 campaign that earned him a 4-year extension.

As is always the case with injuries though, one man’s loss is another man’s gain, and this could provide Zack Kassian with an opportunity to stick in the top-6. His play recently has certainly warranted it, but as is always the case with Kassian, we’ll have to wait to see whether he’ll be able to keep it up consistently.