VANCOUVER – At least in hair, Adam Gaudette’s long, curly locks already rival Vancouver Canucks wonder boy Brock Boeser golden mane.
“He doesn’t have to be Brock Boeser,” Canucks coach Travis Green said. “He just has to be himself.”
Green wasn’t talking about hair.
Gaudette, the leading scorer in U.S. college hockey this season and a Hobey Baker Award finalist, skated with the Canucks on Tuesday morning after signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the team the day before.
The centre from Northeastern University in Boston, Gaudette’s home town, will make his National Hockey League debut Thursday at Rogers Arena against the Edmonton Oilers.
Gaudette, too, hopes to be himself – tenacious as he is talented, and driven to succeed.
How driven?
On his last morning at university, after he had signed his NHL contract and booked travel to Vancouver, Gaudette went down the Matthews Arena, put on his Northeastern gear and talked associate coach Jerry Keefe into going on the ice so the 21-year-old could shoot pucks one last time as a Husky.
“We just kind of did our thing, and talked a little bit,” Gaudette said. “I always try to work on my game. Ever since I was a little kid, every chance I’d get to skate, I would be out there. It’s definitely special the last time skating there as a Husky. I just wanted to get something in before the flight. They had the ice open, so I hopped out there and worked on some stuff.”
Three years ago, Gaudette was a fifth-round pick out of the United States Hockey League, where he played against Boeser, the Canucks 2015 first-rounder who still leads the team in scoring as a rookie despite suffering a season-ending back injury three weeks ago.
Today, Gaudette is one the brightest prospects on a Canucks team that has never had so many high-scoring forwards in its talent pipeline. He had 30 goals and 30 assists in 38 games this season for Northeastern.
“The year I had before the draft wasn’t the most impressive year,” Gaudette said when asked about being selected 126 spots behind Boeser. “I had a solid year in the USHL with 30 points in 50 games. I was just a solid two-way guy out there. Obviously, I didn’t stand out as much as guys like Brock. But the (Canucks) saw something in me. I’ve always kind of been a late-bloomer. I don’t really look at it as fifth round, first round, whatever. As long as you can go out there and play, you can do that.
“It’s awesome to see how Brock did this year. I followed him all year. I played with Brock before we were both drafted. I played against him and we’ve been friends ever since then. It’s really cool to see somebody doing it (like Brock), especially coming out of the NCAA. It just goes to show I could have that impact and, hopefully, do the same thing.”
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Which may have been what prompted Green to caution that Gaudette doesn’t need to play like Boeser. Because few players can.
Gaudette possesses an element of grit in his game that should help him gain a foothold in the NHL, possibly as soon as next season. Everyone who tracked his three years at Northeastern talks about how hard Gaudette works each shift, how relentless he is without the puck.
He’s the kind of forward who, like Canucks No. 1 centre Bo Horvat did four years ago, might start in an energy role at the bottom of the lineup and work his way up.
Elias Pettersson, a fifth-overall draft pick who won the Swedish Hockey League scoring title this season as a 19-year-old, will challenge for a spot on the Canucks next fall. Western Hockey League power forward Kole Lind, a second-round pick, is another prospect-scorer who could play in Vancouver next season.
“I think he has an understanding and an appreciation of every area of the game,” Green said of Gaudette. “To make it as a young player … there’s very few players who rely just on scoring. By talking to him and listening to him, I can tell he has a good head on his shoulders. We’ll see where’s at. Obviously, people are excited in Vancouver. Rightfully so. And the organization is excited to get him in here.
“Everybody who talks about him talks about how driven he is to be a player. That’s really important for young guys.”
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