GAUDETTE RETURNS
Canuck ready for ‘dirty work’
PITTSBURGH Only five games into his rookie season and we already know that there’s just no replacing Elias Pettersson.
With the young centre now out of the lineup, recovering from a concussion sustained on Saturday in Florida, Canucks coach Travis Green has tapped another young centre, Adam Gaudette, to at least fill the lineup hole left behind by Pettersson.
Gaudette, who won the Hobey Baker Award last season as the best player in U.S. collegiate hockey, is a skilled forward in his own right. But he’s also a clearly different player from Pettersson.
While Pettersson’s shown great skill and an incredible shot that’s both accurate and powerful — and then there’s his well-noted backchecking efforts — Gaudette is a big centre who uses his size to win puck battles and maintain possession, as well as the owner of a powerful shot in his own right. He’s known for having more of a straight-ahead game.
Green slotted Gaudette on the Canucks’ second scoring line, taking over for Pettersson between wingers Loui Eriksson and Nikolay Goldobin.
“It’s exciting playing with two skill guys like them,” Gaudette said.
“I just gotta create space for them and myself and get in the corners and do some dirty work and then get open for a scoring chance.”
The former Northeastern University star played five games for the Canucks to close last season and looked comfortable. But when the Canucks signed veteran centre Jay Beagle in the summer, it became clear that Gaudette was likely destined to start the season with the American Hockey League’s Utica Comets.
Green said he liked what he saw of Gaudette last season, but also felt his training camp performance was pretty ho-hum
“I thought his pre-season was ... I don’t know if he played as well (as last season’s short stint). I thought he might have been a little nervous,” he said.
Gaudette skated with the Canucks for the first time this season on Monday in Pittsburgh. It was just a quick look, but Green said he thought Gaudette seemed more confident.
“I want to see him here. He’s played well down there. He’s a young guy that we’re going to start to work on. That’s the direction that we need to go,” Green said.
Gaudette said knowing most of the players on the NHL roster already meant he was feeling more relaxed than he did last year when he joined the team to close the 2017-18 season. He played four games with the Comets to open the season, scoring twice and adding two assists. In his first game he got a number of scoring chances, but couldn’t find the back of the net. He got his first professional goal in his third game of the season, last Friday at home against the Charlotte Checkers. “It was good to get a goal and get that weight off,” he said.
The next day, in Toronto against the Marlies, he scored again and set up two more in a dominant 7-4 win for the Comets.
For his part, Eriksson said he’s looking forward to working with Gaudette.
“I think he’s excited,” Eriksson said of the latest young centre to be placed with him. “He had a few games down there now and he had a few games here last year so he knows what it’s about ... we’re going to miss (Pettersson), but now (Gaudette) has a chance. He’s ready to go.”