Cody Hodgson celebrates his game winning goal from Saturday. (Darryl Dyck - AP)

48 games in to the Vancouver Canucks 2011-12 season, it’s becoming quite clear that the organization has a very special young player on its roster in Cody Hodgson. CoHo has fought an uphill (or should that be upstream?) battle over the past couple of seasons, dealing with both serious injuries and negative coverage in the Vancouver press. Finally healthy and being put in situations to succeed, Cody is making the most of it.

Unless you suddenly decided to go walkabout this weekend, you’ve probably heard that Hodgson scored 2 goals — including the game winner — in Saturday’s matinee against the San Jose Sharks. In a big game against a big Western Conference rival, Hodgson brought it. There was a bit of a lucky bounce on his game winner, but I tend to think that if you put yourself in the right position, luck will follow, and that’s exactly what Hodgson has been doing all season.

This wasn’t the first time Hodgson has shown up to play for a big Saturday afternoon game against a bitter rival. Not even the first time this month. There was a game back on January 7 — you may remember it — against the Boston Bruins, a game which also ended 4-3 and also saw Hodgson score the game winning goal, a rocket off the wing and over the shoulder of Tim Thomas.

(I’ll use any excuse to post this goal, my favourite of the season so far given the circumstance.)

It’s an encouraging trend for the Canucks that in three of the marquee match-ups so far this season — Detroit on Dec 21, Boston on Jan 7, and San Jose Jan 21 — Hodgson has been a star. There is much of this season’s storyline still left to be written, but his blast past Jimmy Howard in the Detroit game could be pinpointed as the moment Cody Hodgson “arrived” in Vancouver. It was a beautiful goal, a goal that no one on the Canucks’ 3rd line last year could have scored. Hodgson has almost single-handedly added a new dimension to the Canucks attack, not only with his consistent offense, but with the effect his presence has on the other forward lines and his ability to anchor the 2nd PowerPlay unit.

That last point is an important one. Hodgson (and Dan Hamhuis deserves a lot of credit for this as well) has legitimized Vancouver’s 2nd PowerPlay unit. For the past couple weeks, it has even been more effective than the top unit. At no point last year was this even fathomable. I don’t think this can be understated; a big reason the Canucks lost in the Stanley Cup Finals last year was because their PP was silenced. Kesler had no hip, Ehrhoff and Edler could barely shoot, and the Sedins had Chara and Seidenberg on their backs. With a reliable 2nd unit, things could have been a lot different.

It’s not just the PowerPlay, though. The acquisition of David Booth coupled with Hodgson’s emergence means the Canucks can essentially roll three lines that can score, and leave the tough defensive zone minutes to a 4th line featuring stalwarts like Max Lapierre and Manny Malhotra. We all know that the Sedins get the plum offensive zone shifts, and that’s not going to change. Looking at shift charts, it appears AV is more often than not matching up Kesler’s line with the opponent’s top line 5-on-5. The fourth line of Malhotra – Lapierre – Weise almost always start their shifts in the defensive zone. This should free up Raymond – Hodgson – Hansen to play softer minutes in the offensive zone, and in the three games that they’ve been together since Booth’s return from injury, the trio has indeed started more shifts in the offensive end.* The Canucks reaped the benefits of this on Saturday, as all four lines were rolling 5-on-5, and Hodgson’s line contributed two huge goals.

Almost every team that has won the Cup in the past several seasons has had a legitimate offensive threat stashed away somewhere in their bottom six. The Hawks had a ridiculous 3rd line featuring Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglien. The Bruins last season had Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly. These depth players are so important, as they usually avoid the tough match-ups and can catch the opposition off guard. In many ways they’re like the boxer’s left hook; almost impossible to prepare for and still capable of delivering that knockout blow. Cody Hodgson gives the Canucks that tertiary attack that they just did not have last year. Clearly, he’s become a player that can help this team win now, as well as in the future.

* All zone start data from timeonice.com