Great news!

In classic Gillis "working to a deadline" style – the Canucks have avoided arbitration and come to an agreement with Danish winger Jannik Hansen (according to Nick Kypreos) on a three year contract. According to Chris Johnston – Hansen’s three year deal is worth 4.05 million dollars with an annual cap-hit of 1.35 million. The contract will pay Hansen 1.6 million in the first year, 1.35 in 2012/13 and 1.1 million in 2013/2014. Here’s the official press release from Canucks.com.

Jannik Hansen has evolved into a fan favorite as a result of his fantastic defensive play, and his ability to be something of a tasmanian devil on the forecheck. Over the course of this season, he developed into a pretty good playmaker as well. Remy Greer covered Hansen’s second line potential in a must-read post earlier this week that seems especially relevant now.

Last season Hansen dressed in every regular season game accumulating nine goals and twenty assists, he added nine points in twenty-five playoff games. Along the way he lined up with Malhotra and Torres (and then Lapierre and Torres in the postseason) and was a major contributor to one of the leagues most effective checking lines. Hansen’s underlying numbers are fantastic (third best adjusted-fenwick per game on the Canucks behind Malhotra and Kesler), and his hands and hitting ability have improved dramatically. Needless to say – I’m ecstatic that the Canucks have locked up a player of Hansen’s caliber for the next three seasons, and I am convinced that he has "breakout potential."