Roussel eager to help new teammates
Skating with top line in practice, winger appears set to make his Canucks debut
SUNRISE, FLA. There was no doubting the excitement and relief Brock Boeser felt when he scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
The sophomore winger roared after rocketing the puck past Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, putting the Canucks ahead 2-1 at 12:17 of the third period, 70 seconds after teammate Elias Pettersson had tied the game.
He wasn’t alone in his excitement. His teammates were all thrilled. Boeser had family in attendance too, so you knew they were overjoyed when the goal triggered an offensive outburst in a 4-1 Vancouver victory.
But one person may have been just as excited about the goal as Boeser: Antoine Roussel.
Seated in the press box with the other Canucks scratches, there was no mistaking his cheer after Boeser’s first goal of the season.
“You always want your teammates to perform. He’s a guy who has put a lot of pressure on himself. You can tell,” Roussel said Friday after the Canucks practised at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., ahead of today’s game against the Florida Panthers.
He hasn’t played a game yet for his new team, but Roussel couldn’t deny the enthusiasm he felt after his teammate finally potted a goal, particularly in such dramatic fashion.
“He just wants to help the team. For him it’s scoring, but he does so many things,” Roussel said about Boeser. “You’ve just got to focus on playing well ... don’t hold weight on your shoulder.”
Since making his debut for the Dallas Stars in the 2012-13 season, the 28-year-old Roussel has averaged about two minutes in penalties per game, but he’s also scored 64 times in that span.
Even if he’s not paid to score at the rate Boeser does, he knows what it means to go through a scoring slump.
“It sucks,” he said flatly. “It’s not fun. When the ball gets rolling, you’ve got to stop it pretty quick, or sometimes your mind gets on it and it’s just not fun ... don’t try to get too emotional about (a scoring drought), just play your game, everything falls in order.”
At Friday ’s practice, he skated on a line with Boeser and Bo Horvat.
He said he wasn’t sure when he’d make his season debut, but the signs are there it could come as soon as today.
“It’s getting closer for sure. It’s nice to get another good practice with the guys, with full reps.”
The fact he was skating with the team’s No. 1 centre and No. 1 winger — apologies to Elias Pettersson, who has four goals in four games, but he’s still trailing Horvat and Brandon Sutter in centre ice time — was a big tell about where his coach thinks he may fit in when the time comes.
He was just about blown away after getting to skate with the two young stars.
“Are you kidding me? Those are two great players, but I don’t make the lines, I just go out there and have fun,” he said, again with a big smile.
Roussel was effective as a thirdor fourth-line winger in Dallas. His team got more shots on the other team’s net when he was on the ice than when he was off, always a good sign.
And his scoring rate in those minutes suggested he actually could be a solid second-line contributor.
So you can see why coach Travis Green was taking a look at him in such a position. Still, the Canucks’ bench boss played coy about his plans, replying “we’ll see” when asked if Roussel might play today.
“Definitely feeling good and getting close,” Green said about how Roussel looked.
“Head injuries are hard. You just don’t know. You want to be very careful with them. You understand what a difficult injury that is.”
Roussel started the year on injured reserve, and when he dresses, the Canucks will have to make a roster decision.
It’s most likely one of forwards Tyler Motte or Brendan Leipsic or defenceman Alex Biega will be placed on waivers to open up a spot for Roussel.