Vancouver Canucks Season Player Evaluation: Luca Sbisa
By David Joun
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