Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin

A familiar face returns to the Vancouver Canucks lineup tonight, as Jannik Hansen’s set to join the club for his first game since a mid-December tilt with the Winnipeg Jets.

Hansen last played with the Canucks during a December 22nd home game, skating for the first two periods of a 1-4 loss. The knee injury that Hansen’s nursed this last month-plus was suffered on a questionable Matthieu Perrault hit which spawned something of a melee between the two clubs in its immediate aftermath.

The NHL never visited discipline on Perrault, who walked away from the incident with a paltry two penalty minutes to show for his transgression. For the Canucks part, they all made perfectly clear after the game how dirty they felt the hit was.

For the Canucks, a team that’s struggled to score goals, surely Hansen’s addition is a relief. The schedule gets extremely difficult down the stretch and if they’re to make a playoff push, they’re going to need their offence firing on all cylinders.

Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins said after the morning skate that he aims to play Hansen on the Canucks second line, alongside Brandon Sutter and Markus Granlund. It sounds like he’ll be used sparingly on the penalty kill, too.

The Canucks play the Minnesota Wild tonight at 7 PM on Hockey Night in Canada. I’ll see you after the game for more on this.