Vancouver Canucks Season Player Evaluation: Luca Sbisa

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Luca Sbisa: The Simple Metrics

So how did Sbisa do on the boxscores this season?

Luca Sbisa 2015-16 Production
41 GP // 2 Goals // 6 Assists // 8 Points // Plus-5 // 26 PIM // 71 Hits // 58 Blocks

Sbisa, though not counted upon heavily to produce from the blueline, did not have a solid showing on the points department. Even accounting for his injuries, if Sbisa’s 41-game sample is expanded to a full 82-game slate, that would mean four goals and 16 points for the Swiss defender. That is not much at all.

However, on a depleted Canucks lineup that saw nearly its entire top-four decimated by injuries this season… Wait. That still is one of the worst point totals on the blueline, falling short of Ben Hutton (25 in 75), Alex Edler (20 in 52), Matt Bartkowski (18 in 80), Chris Tanev (18 in 69), and Dan Hamhuis (13 in 58).

But of course in Van City, defenders are asked to defend and not dazzle on the scoreboard. Especially when one is in a bottom-pairing role as Mr. Sandpaper, the point totals mean nothing to him, to Sbisa. The hits are the things that matter, like these:

Sbisa ended the year as one of team’s leading hitters, just behind Jake Virtanen, Alex Biega, and Derek Dorsett. Throw in Nikita Tryamkin if you must.

And do not just simply overlook his plus-minus rating. A plus-five is spectacular given that Sbisa was a minus-eight last season. In fact, this past season’s plus-five is a career-high for Sbisa.

Sometimes depended on to be the big shot from the point, Sbisa also had a career-best shooting percentage this past season. With the eye test, do we dare suppose that Sbisa will improve and grow into that physical top-four defenseman that Jim Benning thought he was getting with the Ryan Kesler deal?

Next: Luca Sbisa: The Advanced Analytics

Luca Sbisa: The Advanced Analytics

What do the numbers guys tell us about Sbisa?

Impact on Primary Linemates

A player’s impact on linemates is shown through WOWY (With Or Without You), courtesy of Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com. WOWY can show what kind of impact a player has on his teammate by comparing the teammate’s performance with or without the player in consideration.

Doing the WOWY analysis of Luca Sbisa shows that Ben Hutton and Matt Bartkowski were the two primary D-pairing for Sbisa. Be ready to be pleasantly surprised.

Ben Hutton, Sbisa’s primary linemate, fared extremely well with Sbisa. Although Hutton’s possession stats took a major blow when playing with Sbisa, everything else about Sbisa seems to have allowed Hutton to play with confidence. While the defending did not benefit, the scoring certainly did.

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The Goals For per 60 column saw a dramatic increase. For every three games Willie Desjardins play Sbisa with Hutton, the coach pretty much got one more goal for than he would have had he not played Sbisa with Hutton.

So what does this say about the effect of Sbisa on Hutton? Sbisa’s physicality allows Hutton to make better plays with the puck out of the zone. After all, if you play with Luca Sbisa, you are going to be the person passing or skating the puck out of the defensive zone about 80 percent of the time.

And when that person is named Ben Hutton, the offense is going to be pretty happy with the break out. Sure, Sbisa gets roughed around, but just as Brandon Prust and Derek Dorsett made the NHL a “safe playing environment” for a guy like Jared McCann, I am sure that Sbisa made Hutton’s life easier.

The Sbisa-Bartkowski pairing was the Canucks’ most physical pairing this year. Though Bartkowski had the skating that Sbisa did not, Bartkowski did not have the defensive acumen that Hutton did. This showed when Sbisa came and played with the two of them.

Similar to the effect that Sbisa had on Hutton, Sbisa’s effect on Bartkowski is one of greater goals for. Again, a Bartkowski with Sbisa meant that nearly 20 percent more of all goals were going in for the Canucks than when Bartkowski was not with Sbisa.

However, a Bartkowski-Sbisa pairing proved to be a defensive failure as the pairing saw their Goals Against per 60 column shoot up when Sbisa came to Bartkowski’s side.

Bartkowski simply did not have the ability that Hutton did that took advantage of the puck on his stick. Bartkowski could not handle the puck that Sbisa had dished off to him, unlike Hutton who quickly transitioned the play up the ice.

So what did Sbisa do? He was the catalyst to everything on the ice. More goals went in for the Canucks when his partner was capable of playing with the puck. A great trait to have as a top-six defenseman and not a top-pairing guy who needs to dominate the play by himself.

Next: The Verdict: What's for Next Season?

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The Verdict: What’s for Next Season?

Luca Sbisa finished the year on the outside looking in due to injuries. He also lost the spot as the team’s most physical defenseman when Russian giant Nikita Tryamkin brought his 21-year-old 6-foot-7 frame to Van City.

Sbisa, though, is still young. He is just 26 years old and next season should be a fantastic one considering how refreshed he should be after playing just half of the games this past season.

The bigger question, though, is not how well he will play, but whether he will play at all this coming season for the Canucks. Sbisa may be an expendable asset when Trade Jim’s hand reaches for the phone on draft day.

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A relatively young defenseman and a physical one, too, Sbisa may be undervalued by the fans in Vancouver. Would he be attractive enough to fetch the Canucks a pick in the first round of the Entry Draft? A trade up from the early second-round selection may be an option the Canucks explore.

And even if Sbisa stays, does Vancouver need Sbisa at all? As aforementioned, Sbisa’s physicality is nothing compared to what Tryamkin could bring to the table. Ironic how Tryamkin has stolen Sbisa’s spot to the right of Hutton to end the year.

With the possibility of a Dan Hamhuis return as well as the insertion of puck-moving Philip Larsen into the Canucks top-six as powerplay specialist, all point to Sbisa being out of the lineup. The only reason the Canucks have to play him would be the $3.6 million Sbisa will make next year regardless of whether he plays or not.

Provided Sbisa can play a regular role with the Canucks, though, the Swiss defenseman likely lands a puck-moving defenseman as his partner. A Larsen-Sbisa pairing may work similar to the Hutton-Sbisa pairing we saw this year.

Or does Hamhuis come back and provide Sbisa some cover? Time will tell.

And should Sbisa continue his growth while playing with a guy like Larsen, I would imagine Sbisa can put these numbers up next year:

Luca Sbisa 2016-17 Production
82 GP // 7 Goals // 18 Assists // 25 Pts // Plus-5 // 60 PIM // 140 Hits // 100 Blks

As for a season marked by injury yet with goodness when playing with a puck-mover like Hutton, here is the letter grade for Luca Sbisa’s 2015-16 season. I really hope that Sbisa turns out to be a successful part of the return the Canucks got for Mr. Kesler.

I think we can agree that Sbisa did well he was asked to do, to play physical defense, to shoot a few from the blueline, and to empower his D-partner with puck and possession. The question is whether Sbisa got the puck to his partner or if the partner picked up on Sbisa’s distress signal when a guy like Micheal Ferland was on Luca’s tail.

Next: 2015-16 REPORT CARD: Dan HAMHUIS

And that’s it for this look back at Sbisa’s storied season. Next up? Hutton’s favorite D-partner, none other than number six, Yannick Weber.

*stats courtesy of HockeyReference.com, Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com, visuals thanks to OwnThePuck.