Photo Credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin – USA TODAY Sports

The Vancouver Canucks have the quintessential trade deadline add on their roster in Jannik Hansen. He’s a cost-certain right winger that can move up and down the lineup and contribute on the penalty kill for a song. And they almost have to trade him. The sharks are circling.

According to this report from TSN 1040 AM’s Matt Sekeres, two such teams have emerged in these earliest proceedings. The Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild have some level of ‘trade interest’ in Hansen. That’s not terribly striking given both clubs status among the best in the West. If they’re serious about making a Stanley Cup run — and why wouldn’t they be? — Hansen should be firmly in their crosshairs.

Part of the reason Hansen is so valuable isn’t just the ease with which most teams can fit him into their salary structure for this season, but the fact that he’s under contract for another season beyond this one at $2.5-million. By that same token, it also means Hansen needs protecting. Depending on how highly the team that acquires Hansen thinks of him, it might mean exposing another player they’re not especially keen on losing.

That reality hits home for both the Ducks and Wild alike. They’ve far more quality forwards and defencemen than they’ve spots with which to protect them. Throwing Hansen into the mix doesn’t necessarily aid matters.

By that same token, adding Hansen might offset a loss that was otherwise unavoidable anyways. Or shield a good, young player that they’d otherwise lose to expansion. There’s another side to this coin, and I tend to think we don’t consider enough the value of Hansen as a shield or supplemental part of their expansion draft plan.

For a team like the Ducks, for example, if they choose to protect four defencemen, which is a distinct possibility given the wealth of talent they hold at that position, that means they’ll expose Jakob Silfverberg or Rickard Rackell. That’s without adding any expansion eligible additions at the deadline. Throw Hansen into that mix and they’ve at least some level of contingency in place for the impending, unavoidable loss.

At the absolute worst, teams can’t view Hansen as any different from the multitude rentals they’ve acquired like clockwork at every deadline prior. Whether contending teams would lose a deadline add in the off-season or not never seemed to matter before, so why now?

Both teams have the capital necessary to fit Hansen within their salary structure. Certainly, they do for this season. It could prove more difficult for Anaheim, as virtually the entirety of their cushion is made up with Long Term Injured Reserve, but I don’t see that as a roadblock.

Whether the Ducks and Wild have interest in Hansen or not, I’m sure there are countless other teams lined up right behind them, whether that information is publicly available yet or otherwise.

And whether teams have interest or not, Hansen has the final say in where he goes. Hansen has a limited no-trade clause, wherein he can provide (and has provided) a list of eight teams he’d willing to report to if a trade came together. He doesn’t sound terribly interested in a move either.