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Vancouver Canucks Midseason Awards: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

By David Joun

Nov 21, 2015; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen (36) and defenseman Christopher Tanev (8) and defenseman Alexander Edler (23) and forward Daniel Sedin (22) celebrate a third period goal by Sedin in the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Arena. Vancouver won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 21, 2015; Vancouver, British Columbia, CAN; Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen (36) and defenseman Christopher Tanev (8) and defenseman Alexander Edler (23) and forward Daniel Sedin (22) celebrate a third period goal by Sedin in the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks at Rogers Arena. Vancouver won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 25, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Vancouver Canucks defenceman Alexander Edler (23) in the second period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports /

Best Defenceman: Alex Edler

Alex Edler is another player who is coming back to true form after the “Lost Season” under John Tortorella. He is just second to Chris Tanev in relative Fenwick For percentage, riding a career-high 5.3 percent. Achieving that while starting a career-high 55.9 percent of his shifts in the defensive zone? That is a true feat of beauty. He leads all Vancouver defencemen in that category this year.

He is having a career year in the shot-blocking department, and should he continue blocking shots at the first-half rate, he will have 180+ shots blocked, which eclipses his career-high of 145 blocks by a mile. Those 145 shots were blocked in the 2011-12 season, when the Canucks won the Presidents’ Trophy as the best regular season team.

His offensive abilities are coming back to life as well, as he is on pace for 400 shots this season — the highest since 2011-12 — and a dozen goals — another career high.

Most Promising Player: Sven Baertschi

Sven Baertschi is coming to life as we enter the second half, and his career is coming to life, too.

13 points in 33 games are both career-highs for Baertschi, who is showing chemistry with Bo Horvat. Baertschi has the fourth-highest relative Corsi percentage of all skaters not named Sedin or Vrbata, discounting Linden Vey‘s small sample.

Sven is showing signs of becoming a complete sniping playmaker (or a playmaking sniper, only time will tell) who is knocking off criticism on his physical game. Jim Benning‘s trade with Calgary continues to look better and better as the season rolls on.

Next: Who is the Worst of the Worst?

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