Waisake Naholo, who had a rollercoaster of a test at Eden Park last Saturday, will start in the No 11 jersey as the All Blacks look to tie up a series which is rapidly going sour for Wales after their humiliation at the hands of a second-string Chiefs side in Hamilton on Tuesday.
It is a deserved recall for Dagg, outstanding for the Crusaders after a late start to the season due to a shoulder injury. Left out of the World Cup squad, he credits his renaissance to a new-found love of the game, and his skill under the high ball is likely to be a big part of Hansen's reasoning behind his selection.
Significantly, it will be the 28-year-old's 50th test cap. His last test was in July last year - the victory over the Springboks in Johannesburg.
Attention, however, will probably focus on where this leaves Savea, who has had issues with his form and weight for the Hurricanes this year, and was replaced by Beauden Barrett after only 43 minutes at Eden Park last weekend after missing several first-half tackles.
Hansen left Savea out of the Samoa test and first two games of the Rugby Championship last year following the Hurricanes' run to the Super Rugby final because of a lack of fitness, a constant work-on for a player who tips the scales at 110kg.
The powerful 25-year-old, who has scored 39 tries from 42 tests, including a five-pointer last weekend, has generally responded well from being left out and Hansen will back him to do so again.
He burst on to the scene in 2012 by scoring a hat-trick of tries against Ireland at Eden Park, had a quiet game in the next test in Christchurch where the All Blacks scraped home 22-19, and was left out of the third test in Hamilton where the All Blacks ran up 60 points.
Despite his incredible strike-rate of tries per tests - including three in the quarterfinal thrashing of France at last year's World Cup in Cardiff, Savea, one of the most damaging wings in world rugby, has always needed careful managing.
It will be a balancing act, however, because if the back three play well at the Cake Tin, it would be difficult to separate them for the third test under the roof in Dunedin, the home of Highlanders Ben Smith and Naholo.
The only other change to the team is the return from a hamstring strain of Sam Whitelock, who replaces Luke Romano as a starting lock alongside Brodie Retallick.
The reserves bench has been kept as is, which means Romano drops out of the match-day squad completely. There were hints by the coaching staff that back-up halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow might have been close to a return from a hand injury, but Hurricane TJ Perenara retains his spot on his home territory.
Wales, who travelled by charter flight to Wellington straight after their 40-7 thrashing by the Chiefs on Tuesday, have delayed naming their team from 7am today until 11am.
All Blacks to play Wales at Westpac Stadium, on Saturday, kick-off 7.35pm:
15. Israel Dagg
14. Waisake Naholo
13. Malakai Fekitoa
12. Ryan Crotty
11. Ben Smith
10. Aaron Cruden
9. Aaron Smith
8. Kieran Read (c)
7. Sam Cane
6. Jerome Kaino
5. Brodie Retallick
4. Sam Whitelock
3. Owen Franks
2. Dane Coles
1. Joe Moody
Reserves: Nathan Harris, Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett, Seta Tamanivalu.
