Winter Hawks Danish Forward Signs NHL Contract

Photos courtesy: Portland Winterhawks

PORTLAND - Portland Winter Hawks' forward Jannik (YANN-ick) Hansen from Denmark signed a National Hockey League contract today with the Vancouver Canucks.

Hansen, 20, appeared in his first season in the WHL in 2005-06 where he scored 24 goals and 40 assists for 64 points and 67 penalty minutes in 53 games with the Hawks. The first player from Denmark to ever play in the Western Hockey League since the league started in 1966-67, Hansen finished second in team scoring and 19th overall in scoring in the WHL.

He also finished second on the Winter Hawks in team scoring in 12 post-season games where he collected 7 goals and 6 assists for 13 points and 16 penalty minutes. Hansen was Vancouver's ninth round choice, 287th overall, in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. The Hawks are not expecting to get Hansen back for another season since he is a 20-year-old signed player.

Hansen will attempt to crack the Canucks' NHL line-up this year at their training camp, but is most likely headed for some seasoning with the Canucks' top minor league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League, which plays in Winnipeg.

Portland still has three Europeans on its 2006-07 roster. Stanislav Balan, 20, also a rookie with the Hawks last season, is considering playing professional hockey in his home country of the Czech Republic. But, playing another season in the WHL with the Hawks is still a possible scenario that may be influenced by the Nashville Predators, who drafted him in the 7th round of the 2004 NHL draft.

The Hawks also drafted 18-year-old Swedish winger Viktor Sjodin (SHOW-deen), Nashville's 7th round pick in the 2006 NHL draft, and 19-year-old German defenseman Stefan Langwieder, in last month's CHL Import Draft. The Hawks are allowed to keep only two European players once the season starts.

The WHL Western Conference scheduling meetings are set for later this week and the Hawks expect to announce their 2006-07 schedule in early August. The team is still finalizing arrangements for its training camp, scheduled to begin the last week of August.

The Winter Hawks will start their 31st season in Portland this fall. Since the franchise moved to Portland from Edmonton in 1976-77, a total of 105 Winter Hawks have been drafted by NHL teams in the 30-year history of the franchise. A total of 94 ex-Winter Hawks have played in the National Hockey League, including 22 ex-Hawks who played on NHL rosters during the 2005-06 season and 9 ex-Hawks who were a part of the recently completed Stanley Cup playoffs.

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