When a team suffers injuries to as many key players as the Vancouver Canucks have, one has to start looking for silver linings.
Filip Hronek was the latest Canuck to go down, with the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-filip-hronek-out-eight-weeks-after-procedure-lower-body-injury">latest word from GM Patrik Allvin suggesting that he’ll be out for the next eight weeks</a>. The loss of a player as good as Hronek would be impactful to just about any team, but especially so for the Canucks, who have relied perhaps too heavily on their top pairing of Hronek and Quinn Hughes in the early going.
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Aside from Hughes, many assumed that Hronek was the player they could least stand to see join his teammates on the sidelines.
And yet…
Minus Hronek, the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/statsies-carson-soucy-noah-juulsen-leads-vancouver-canucks-expected-goals-loss-minnesota-wild">Canucks went 2-0-1 to finish out their road trip</a>, with that -1 being an overtime loss to the current best team in the league. That perseverance alone is a silver lining.
So too has been the necessity of returning to a pairing that had some success in the early running, and is now continuing that success. We’re talking about the ‘odd couple’ pairing that is Erik Brännström and Vinny Desharnais.
Really, you won’t find two more different defenders on this roster. Brännström was traded for, in part, to compensate for the team’s potential overreliance on size and snarliness on their back-end. Desharnais, meanwhile, is the size and snarl, having been signed as a still-fairly-raw free agent after just one-and-a-half NHL seasons, primarily because of his size, snarl, and the belief that the coaching staff could turn him into someone who can use those things effectively.
Brännström has been a bit of a revelation for the Canucks, putting points on the board and slowly but surely earning the trust of Rick Tocchet and Co. as he goes.
Desharnais, on the other hand, has struggled at times, and found himself in and out of the lineup.
But Brännström and Desharnais together? That’s starting to look like something with some staying power.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="98"> </td>
<td width="87">5v5 TOI</td>
<td width="88">Goals For/ Against</td>
<td width="88">Expected Goals</td>
<td width="87">Corsi</td>
<td width="88">Shot Control</td>
<td width="88">Scoring Chances</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="98">Brännström and Desharnais</td>
<td width="87">126:58</td>
<td width="88">7-4</td>
<td width="88">61.19%</td>
<td width="87">50.21%</td>
<td width="88">53.10%</td>
<td width="88">55.81%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
From NaturalStatTrick
Any way you slice it, that’s a nice statline, and it’s also a large enough sample size to start drawing some meaningful conclusions from.
Brännström and Desharnais appear to control the play quite well when on the ice together, as evidence by a set of possession stats all well over even.
And by that most important of measures, goals for and against, Brännström and Desharnais have done better than breaking even, thus far being out there for seven goals for and just four against.
Best of all, their expected goals rate is right in line with their actual goals rate, which suggests they’re not just getting lucky or anything like that. They would appear to be genuinely succeeding in the minutes they are given.
More on that in a moment.
But first, some context. Given the relative success Brännström himself has been since arriving in Vancouver, one might suggest that this is a case of him lifting Desharnais up, as opposed to the pairing truly working well together. And when we look at the ‘with or without you’ stats, there’s some sand to that line of thought…
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="89"> </td>
<td width="89">5v5 TOI</td>
<td width="89">Goals For/ Against</td>
<td width="89">Expected Goals</td>
<td width="89">Corsi</td>
<td width="89">Shot Control</td>
<td width="89">Scoring Chances</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="89">Brännström without Desharnais</td>
<td width="89">156:46</td>
<td width="89">7-8</td>
<td width="89">48.00%</td>
<td width="89">55.11%</td>
<td width="89">52.76%</td>
<td width="89">47.20%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
From NaturalStatTrick
Brännström does have a slightly higher Corsi rating without Desharnais in a slightly larger sample size. But that’s it. All his other numbers are down when paired with anyone else, and that goals for/against measure has swung way in the other direction.
Brännström, without Desharnais, might be as good at controlling the play, but he’s not as good at keeping pucks out of the net.
Then again…
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="89"> </td>
<td width="89">5v5 TOI</td>
<td width="89">Goals For/ Against</td>
<td width="89">Expected Goals</td>
<td width="89">Corsi</td>
<td width="89">Shot Control</td>
<td width="89">Scoring Chances</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="89">Desharnais without Brännström</td>
<td width="89">55:31</td>
<td width="89">1-8</td>
<td width="89">35.74%</td>
<td width="89">35.42%</td>
<td width="89">40.0%</td>
<td width="89">32.56%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
From NaturalStatTrick
Desharnais without Brännström has been an unmitigated disaster. These are some of the lowest numbers on the team, period, and that 1-8 record of goals for and against is simply atrocious. So, whereas Brännström has kind of worked well enough anywhere, Desharnais really hasn’t.
Both benefit from playing with the other. Sure, Desharnais would seem to be the larger beneficiary, but if the results are there, then who really cares? If it works, it works.
And the results are there. Let’s get back to deployment. Plenty will look at the Brännström+Desharnais statline and suggest that it’s a result of the two playing sheltered minutes when paired together. It is true that they’re not exactly being employed in a shutdown role. But ‘sheltered’ is probably taking it too far, especially in the wake of the Hronek injury.
Against the Sabres last week, Brännström and Desharnais had the bulk of their 5-on-5 matchups split between Buffalo’s middle-six of Zach Benson, Dylan Cozens, Jason Zucker, Peyton Krebs, Jiri Kulich, and Jack Quinn.
Sure, they were mostly kept away from Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson. But that’s to be expected.
Against Minnesota on Tuesday, the Brännström-Desharnais pairing were matched very directly against the Wild’s second line of Marco Rossi, Ryan Hartman, and Marcus Johansson. They broke entirely even in the matchup.
Playing against second lines isn’t sheltered deployment. It might even be a slightly-above-average difficulty of competition for a supposed bottom pairing to face.
In any case, it’s a deployment that Brännström and Desharnais are currently handling, and handling well. That, in turn, bodes well for both the Canucks making it through this Hronek-less phase of the season, and also for the Brännström-Desharnais pairing sticking around together in the longer-term.
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When a team suffers injuries to as many key players as the Vancouver Canucks have, one has to start looking for silver linings.

Filip Hronek was the latest Canuck to go down, with the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/vancouver-canucks-filip-hronek-out-eight-weeks-after-procedure-lower-body-injury">latest word from GM Patrik Allvin suggesting that he’ll be out for the next eight weeks</a>. The loss of a player as good as Hronek would be impactful to just about any team, but especially so for the Canucks, who have relied perhaps too heavily on their top pairing of Hronek and Quinn Hughes in the early going.
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&nbsp;

Aside from Hughes, many assumed that Hronek was the player they could least stand to see join his teammates on the sidelines.

And yet…

Minus Hronek, the <a href="https://canucksarmy.com/news/statsies-carson-soucy-noah-juulsen-leads-vancouver-canucks-expected-goals-loss-minnesota-wild">Canucks went 2-0-1 to finish out their road trip</a>, with that -1 being an overtime loss to the current best team in the league. That perseverance alone is a silver lining.

So too has been the necessity of returning to a pairing that had some success in the early running, and is now continuing that success. We’re talking about the ‘odd couple’ pairing that is Erik Brännström and Vinny Desharnais.

Really, you won’t find two more different defenders on this roster. Brännström was traded for, in part, to compensate for the team’s potential overreliance on size and snarliness on their back-end. Desharnais, meanwhile, is the size and snarl, having been signed as a still-fairly-raw free agent after just one-and-a-half NHL seasons, primarily because of his size, snarl, and the belief that the coaching staff could turn him into someone who can use those things effectively.

Brännström has been a bit of a revelation for the Canucks, putting points on the board and slowly but surely earning the trust of Rick Tocchet and Co. as he goes.

Desharnais, on the other hand, has struggled at times, and found himself in and out of the lineup.

But Brännström and Desharnais together? That’s starting to look like something with some staying power.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="98"> </td>
<td width="87">5v5 TOI</td>
<td width="88">Goals For/ Against</td>
<td width="88">Expected Goals</td>
<td width="87">Corsi</td>
<td width="88">Shot Control</td>
<td width="88">Scoring Chances</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="98">Brännström and Desharnais</td>
<td width="87">126:58</td>
<td width="88">7-4</td>
<td width="88">61.19%</td>
<td width="87">50.21%</td>
<td width="88">53.10%</td>
<td width="88">55.81%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
From NaturalStatTrick

Any way you slice it, that’s a nice statline, and it’s also a large enough sample size to start drawing some meaningful conclusions from.

Brännström and Desharnais appear to control the play quite well when on the ice together, as evidence by a set of possession stats all well over even.

And by that most important of measures, goals for and against, Brännström and Desharnais have done better than breaking even, thus far being out there for seven goals for and just four against.

Best of all, their expected goals rate is right in line with their actual goals rate, which suggests they’re not just getting lucky or anything like that. They would appear to be genuinely succeeding in the minutes they are given.

More on that in a moment.

But first, some context. Given the relative success Brännström himself has been since arriving in Vancouver, one might suggest that this is a case of him lifting Desharnais up, as opposed to the pairing truly working well together. And when we look at the ‘with or without you’ stats, there’s some sand to that line of thought…
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="89"> </td>
<td width="89">5v5 TOI</td>
<td width="89">Goals For/ Against</td>
<td width="89">Expected Goals</td>
<td width="89">Corsi</td>
<td width="89">Shot Control</td>
<td width="89">Scoring Chances</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="89">Brännström without Desharnais</td>
<td width="89">156:46</td>
<td width="89">7-8</td>
<td width="89">48.00%</td>
<td width="89">55.11%</td>
<td width="89">52.76%</td>
<td width="89">47.20%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
From NaturalStatTrick

Brännström does have a slightly higher Corsi rating without Desharnais in a slightly larger sample size. But that’s it. All his other numbers are down when paired with anyone else, and that goals for/against measure has swung way in the other direction.

Brännström, without Desharnais, might be as good at controlling the play, but he’s not as good at keeping pucks out of the net.

Then again…
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="89"> </td>
<td width="89">5v5 TOI</td>
<td width="89">Goals For/ Against</td>
<td width="89">Expected Goals</td>
<td width="89">Corsi</td>
<td width="89">Shot Control</td>
<td width="89">Scoring Chances</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="89">Desharnais without Brännström</td>
<td width="89">55:31</td>
<td width="89">1-8</td>
<td width="89">35.74%</td>
<td width="89">35.42%</td>
<td width="89">40.0%</td>
<td width="89">32.56%</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
From NaturalStatTrick

Desharnais without Brännström has been an unmitigated disaster. These are some of the lowest numbers on the team, period, and that 1-8 record of goals for and against is simply atrocious. So, whereas Brännström has kind of worked well enough anywhere, Desharnais really hasn’t.

Both benefit from playing with the other. Sure, Desharnais would seem to be the larger beneficiary, but if the results are there, then who really cares? If it works, it works.

And the results are there. Let’s get back to deployment. Plenty will look at the Brännström+Desharnais statline and suggest that it’s a result of the two playing sheltered minutes when paired together. It is true that they’re not exactly being employed in a shutdown role. But ‘sheltered’ is probably taking it too far, especially in the wake of the Hronek injury.

Against the Sabres last week, Brännström and Desharnais had the bulk of their 5-on-5 matchups split between Buffalo’s middle-six of Zach Benson, Dylan Cozens, Jason Zucker, Peyton Krebs, Jiri Kulich, and Jack Quinn.

Sure, they were mostly kept away from Alex Tuch and Tage Thompson. But that’s to be expected.

Against Minnesota on Tuesday, the Brännström-Desharnais pairing were matched very directly against the Wild’s second line of Marco Rossi, Ryan Hartman, and Marcus Johansson. They broke entirely even in the matchup.

Playing against second lines isn’t sheltered deployment. It might even be a slightly-above-average difficulty of competition for a supposed bottom pairing to face.

In any case, it’s a deployment that Brännström and Desharnais are currently handling, and handling well. That, in turn, bodes well for both the Canucks making it through this Hronek-less phase of the season, and also for the Brännström-Desharnais pairing sticking around together in the longer-term.

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The Canucks’ pairing of Erik Brännström and Vinny Desharnais works surprisingly well together

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