When the Vancouver Canucks signed Dan Hamhuis to a big-money, multiyear free-agent contract last summer, little did the hockey team know that it was really getting two players for the price of one. Not only did the Canucks get the guy they coveted but they also got Kevin Bieksa in the exchange.

Because with Hamhuis as his trusty sidekick, Bieksa delivered the best, most consistent season of his National Hockey League career, and that has carried over into the playoffs, where the 29-year-old Grimsby, Ontario, native may just have been the best Canuck not named Ryan Kesler.

At this time a year ago, Bieksa’s future in Vancouver seemed uncertain, at best. He was entering the final year of his contract, his play had been spotty, and Canucks management made it clear it planned to address deficiencies on the back end in the off-season. Hamhuis was signed and the Canucks added Keith Ballard in a trade, and suddenly it seemed there might not be a spot on the crowded Vancouver blueline for Bieksa.

But despite the many rumours and the constant speculation that he was going to be moved, Bieksa stayed and played the best hockey of his life. And that has continued into the playoffs, where the former fifth-round draft pick has been a workhorse, averaging almost 26 minutes a game and, along with Hamhuis, has formed the Canucks top defensive pairing, which draws the nightly assignment of shutting down the opponent’s best players.

Now into the Western Conference final for the first time in his six years in Vancouver, Bieksa is having the time of his life and has put whatever turmoil and uncertainty existed a year ago far behind him.

“To still be playing hockey at this time of year, when it starts to get nice and sunny and the weather is turning in Vancouver and people are getting outside again, usually this is the feeling associated with being done for the summer,” Bieksa said after a recent practice as the Canucks readied for the San Jose Sharks. “But we’re still going. It’s a great feeling. Every day we go to the rink and we’re having fun. To me, it’s never been about proving anything to anybody. As far as I was concerned, I was always coming back here for the whole year. I didn’t really think about the rumours and stuff like that. I’ve been playing as hard as I can since day one and I’ve had a fun year, and all that other stuff hasn’t really affected me that much.”

Bieksa provides much of the physical element on the Canucks defence, and through hard work and attention to detail he has removed the recklessness from his game. Where before there was both risk and reward where Bieksa was concerned, he’s learned to make higher-percentage plays with and without the puck.

He made a terrific read in the series opener with San Jose on May 15, picking the right time to jump into the rush, and he scored a huge third-period goal that erased a 2-1 Sharks lead and propelled the Canucks to a 3-2 victory.

Bieksa has the ability to be a force at both ends of the rink, although at this time of the season he’s more concerned with preventing goals than scoring them. He just wants to keep his performance at a consistently high level, and he credits the season he’s had to the fact he’s been in a groove since training camp.

“For the most part, I’ve been healthy this year,” he explains, after missing large portions of two of the past three seasons after suffering separate serious skate cuts to the back of his legs. “I had the one injury [a cracked foot bone in February], but I only missed three or four weeks with it. So being healthy and being in rhythm and the timing has helped. And I’ve been with Dan most of the year—we’ve got chemistry there—and we’ve just continued that on into the playoffs. I want to win in the playoffs as much as anybody. I don’t know if that helps the consistency, but you’re just going out every game and leaving it all on the line.”

As a veteran and big part of the Canucks leadership group, Bieksa has suffered the disappointments of playoffs past. And he’s well aware of just how badly the hockey fans here want the Stanley Cup drought to end. It comes with the territory in a Canadian hockey market, and Bieksa says the Canucks are trying to feed off the energy in this city and deliver the ultimate prize. And he knows with each victory now they are one step closer.

“Going into the season, there were high expectations, but we felt in this room we were a pretty good team on paper,” he explains. “We’ve always been pretty confident in our game and thought we had something special here. To fulfil those expectations, though, gives us a lot of confidence. To have the regular season we did when everyone thought we were going to be up there and then to win the first two rounds just builds our confidence. Going through what we did and then winning game seven against Chicago just shows we can deal with anything. We’re really confident right now in any situation.”

And that is showing with the way the Canucks are playing. They eliminated Chicago and then knocked off Nashville, and now they’ve got their sights set on sending San Jose packing. Through it all, Bieksa has been a tower of strength.

Many figured Bieksa’s days in Vancouver were done. Now it’s hard to imagine where the Canucks would be without him.

Jeff Paterson is a talk-show host on Vancouver’s all-sports radio Team 1040. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/patersonjeff.