Flashback Friday: Canucks sign Dan Hamhuis and Manny Malhotra

Free agency has rarely been kind to the Vancouver Canucks, but then general manager Mike Gillis hit the jackpot twice in 2010.

More often than not, the Vancouver Canucks have failed to receive good value out of lucrative free agent signings.

From Mark Messier to Jason Garrison to Loui Eriksson, the Canucks, like most NHL teams, have learned the hard way: You can’t just buy solutions to your problems in free agency. Most expensive signings simply don’t pan out these days.

But 2010 was quite the exception. That year, general manager Mike Gillis was looking to upgrade his blue line while adding more toughness and physicality, following a second straight playoff elimination to the superior Chicago Blackhawks — who bullied their way through the Canucks.

At the draft, Gillis made a blockbuster trade for Florida Panthers defenceman Keith Ballard, but that was only the start. When free agency opened less than a week later, Gillis made two impactful signings that immediately changed the franchise.

Gillis signed faceoff specialist and shutdown centre Manny Malhotra to a three-year contract worth $7.5 million. Malhotra was coming off a 14-goal, 33-point season with the San Jose Sharks, and it was a reasonable deal for a third line centre.

But Gillis wasn’t done there. He also came away with one of the biggest prizes of 2010 free agency in Smithers, British Columbia native and blueliner Dan Hamhuis on a six-year pact worth $27 million.

Just like that, the Canucks were deeper, tougher and more physical. Gillis cleared up the few remaining roster weaknesses by landing two renowned leaders and veterans on a pair of bargain contracts.

Malhotra and Hamhuis earned every penny of their respective deals. The former contributed some timely offence in the bottom-six, recording 11 goals and 30 points in 72 games to go along with a superb 61.7 faceoff win percentage.

Malhotra suffered a gruesome left eye injury late in the regular season that was supposed to end his campaign. However, he returned for the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins — averaging 11:50 of ice time in six contests.

Hamhuis added more juice to an already deep blue line that included Kevin Bieksa, Sami Salo, Christian Ehrhoff and Alexander Edler. He brought plenty of leadership, a physical edge and some decent offence — six goals and 27 points — in 64 games.

The veteran blueliner played an instrumental role in helping Vancouver reach the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. Unfortunately, he suffered a sports a hernia after delivering a hip check to Milan Lucic in Game 1. Hamhuis was out for the remainder of the series, and Vancouver’s defence fell apart without him.

That led to one of the biggest “What ifs” in Canucks history. If Hamhuis was healthy for the entire series, perhaps he would have helped Vancouver get past Boston to win the Stanley Cup.

At any rate, these two ended up being two of the greatest free agent signings of the entire 2010s decade. Malhotra and Hamhuis finished out their contracts with Vancouver, and though they fell just short of winning the Cup, one can believe that the Canucks wouldn’t have gotten that far without these two in the first place.