Martin Hanzal was the big prize for NHL teams looking for center help around the trade deadline. The Oilers were one of those teams looking for help, and according to reports were also one of the teams looking at the big pivot who plied his trade in Arizona for years.
The Minnesota Wild acquired Hanzal, but he was unable to help the team past the first round as St. Louis dispatched of the Wild early. Hanzal was a solid contributor, however, posting boxcars of 4-9-13 in 20 regular season games but floundered with just one goal in the postseason.
After another disappointing season in Minnesota and the Wild up against the cap, it is fair to assume that arguably the deadline’s biggest prize will be on the market again this July, only this time as a free agent.
Why Is He Out There?:
As mentioned above, the Wild acquired Hanzal at the deadline and were hoping he could help a team with Stanley Cup aspirations get one step closer to that goal. It didn’t happen, as the Wild fell in five games in the opening round of the playoffs.
With both expansion and money issues, it would be a complete shocker if the Wild were able to bring Hanzal back into the fold. As it stands, the club only has $11 million to re-sign players like Mikael Granlund, Erik Haula and Nino Niederreiter while also trying to upgrade the roster. It’s a tough task to complete even without Hanzal in the picture.
The Wild acquired this player seemingly as a rental, so it should come as no surprise that he is very likely to test the market and move on at this point.
What Does He Do Well?:
First off the obvious point: Martin Hanzal is a physical beast at 6’6” and 226 pounds. Now for the scouting report, which paints Hanzal in quite a good light. He’s described as a “sound two-way pivot” by The Hockey News and is credited with being able to take over the game in a number of ways.
Defensively, Hanzal is a very solid and aware player who can handle a shut-down role on a checking line perfectly. He’s got that heavy defensive conscience and positionally is a very sound player. His reach also helps in this area, as pointed out by THN scouting report.
Hanzal won’t burn the scoresheet up, but he can contribute offensively. This past season he posted boxcars of 20-19-39 in 71 games split between Arizona and Minnesota. As shown above, Hanzal was more productive (13 points in 20 games) in Minnesota than he was on a poor Arizona team.
Prior to this season, Hanzal had posted seasons of 41, 24 (37 games), 40 (65 games) and 23 (39 games) points dating back to the 2013 lockout shortened season.
Face-off wise, Hanzal finished 8th among NHL regulars this season with a 56.4% success rate on 1360 draws. He posted a 50.5 Corsi for % on the year and started only 42.5% of his shifts in the offensive zone as per hockey-reference.com.
We are looking at a very strong defensive center who can also contribute offensively.
Where Will He Play/Where Should He Play?:
At this point in his career, Martin Hanzal is likely a fringe second line center who is the perfect third line pivot on a Stanley Cup winning team. In Edmonton, he’d be the team’s third line center behind Connor McDavid and either Leon Draisaitl or Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. I would imagine that one of those centers, likely Draisaitl, plays a majority of their time on the wing if Hanzal were to sign in Edmonton.
What Will He Cost?:
Hanzal is coming off of a five-year deal that carried a cap hit of $3.1 million per season. Without a doubt, Hanzal will receive a raise on that this coming summer, likely of at least one million per season.
Would a four year deal at, say, $4.5 million per year get it done? I think it would, but also think that Edmonton would need to move out another contract to make it work. Could the team move Jordan Eberle and buyout Benoit Pouliot to sign Hanzal and acquire a defender? Likely a story for a different day.
Closing Argument:
The Edmonton Oilers need to add to their forward group this summer in someway, shape or form. Ideally, the team adds a center who can shift over and play the wing depending on what Leon Draisaitl is doing. While Hanzal doesn’t normally shift to the wing, he would still provide Edmonton with exceptional coverage at center.
He’d provide the team with another very strong defensive pivot who can contribute on offense. On top of that, Hanzal would instantly become Edmonton’s best center in the face-off circle and would give the team more cover on the penalty kill.
If Peter Chiarelli decides to go big game hunting for a forward this off-season, I’m not sure there is a better option than the big Czech pivot.
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