When you think about it, Alain Vigneault's decision to pair Dan Hamhuis with Kevin Bieksa was bold and intelligent. Not only did he find a defenceman who could be the ying to Bieksa's yang, he also made sure Bieksa knew he was still an important piece of the team.
Let's be honest here, Bieksa was on the trading block this summer and in all likelihood would have been moved if Sami Salo didn't bust up his achilles tendon. Knowing Bieksa a bit, I'm guessing he probably wasn't too happy about the fact he was deemed expendable. Still, he came to camp prepared to work and prepared to play for his team-mates if nothing else.
Then we come to the final game of the pre-season and Coach V puts together the duo of Bieksa and Hamhuis. I mean Bieksa hadn't even been paired with Hamhuis in practice. That had to send a message to Bieksa that the club still felt he could perform at a high level no matter occure in the off-season. Vigneault let Bieksa know that he was still going to get a chance to have a big role in the real season.
Now as for the pairing, it has worked pretty well so far because Hamhuis's game compliments Bieksa's. Yeah, I know Hamhuis's game could compliment anyone's because he is so solid in all aspects of the game, but hear me out anyway.
We all know Bieksa is a risk/reward type of player. He likes to take chances and join the rush (probably a lot more than Coach V would like). Still, that's the exciting part of his game and you don't want to completely take Bieksa's offensive talents off the table. That beomg said, Bieksa on occasion makes the wrong read and gets caught. So who better to be back there than the Canucks' new shut down guy?
Will they be paired all season? Who knows. But for now, I'm thinking AV made the right call on picking Hamhuis's d-parnter.
