Canucks reward Brisebois for perseverance with two-year extension

VANCOUVER — From the ashes of another unpopular trade by the Vancouver Canucks, Guillaume Brisebois survived, then ascended to the National Hockey League. It took only eight years.

A third-round 2015 draft pick who has spent most of his six professional seasons in the minors, the defenceman from Montreal is finally earning regular ice time with the Canucks at age 25.

The team announced Tuesday that it had signed Brisebois to a two-year extension, which becomes a full one-way deal in the second season and is the player’s first multi-year pact since his entry-level contract.

“It's really satisfying,” Brisebois said before the Canucks, on a 6-2-1 run that began about the time he and fellow blue-liner Christian Wolanin were recalled last month from the American Hockey League, rested Friday ahead of Saturday’s game against the Ottawa Senators. “It's not like the easy things are done; I still have to prove myself to be a regular NHLer next year. But at least I got the security of mind where I'm under contract for two years and I can now think about something else.

“Sometimes when you're extended (a year at a time), you're just trying to play safe and you're being really careful about what you do. Now that I can play without that contract pressure, it's really good.”

The Canucks selected Brisebois 66th with the third-round pick former general manager Jim Benning acquired at the 2015 draft in Florida in a wildly unpopular trade that sent goalie Eddie Lack to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Lack was a fan favourite. For years, Brisebois was a relative nobody.

Perseverance stories in sports are great. For every Elias Pettersson or Quinn Hughes, who were elite Canucks draft picks gifted enough to start near the top without ever setting foot in the minors, there are 20 guys like Brisebois — or maybe 100 of them — desperately scrabbling through lower leagues hoping to one day get a chance to be an NHL player.

Another Canucks’ depth defenceman, Kyle Burroughs, became an NHL regular last season at age 26. Like Brisebois, the 25-year-old Wolanin is still trying to establish himself. But Wolanin is with his fourth NHL organization. Burroughs made it with his third.

Brisebois, remarkably, is still with his first. The contract he signed this week is his sixth with the Canucks. He was a rookie with the Utica Comets in 2017-18. Only goalie Thatcher Demko and winger Brock Boeser have been playing professionally for the Canucks longer than Brisebois.

“I still feel young,” Brisebois said. “But, of course, I see that and it makes me feel old.”

How did he survive all those years in the minors with one organization? Why would he even want to?

“I think I'm a very loyal guy,” he said. “And they saw it in me, too. But since the beginning when I turned pro, Ryan Johnson was my GM in Utica and before that he was my player development guy. We built a good relationship throughout the years and I think he never lost trust and confidence in me. He kept putting my name out there.

“Like even last year, with the new management [of Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin], I don't think they knew me very well because I was hurt the whole year. I came up for one game in San Jose and got hurt for two months and went back to the minors. But RJ and Trent Cull, my ex-coach in Utica and Abbotsford, they were awesome. They always believed in me. I'm really, really grateful for the people that stuck with me.”

“The game was always there for him — big body, smart, skates,” Johnson, the Canucks’ minor-league GM and head of player development, said Friday. “I think for Brise, especially early in his career... he really lacked confidence. He needed a lot of support and encouragement

“In Utica, he'd have a fantastic game and he'd make one little pass for a turnover, and the next day he was, like: 'RJ, can we talk about last night?' And I was: ‘No, we can't. You had a heck of a game.’ Now he sees the positives and what he can bring to a game every night and doesn't expect himself to be perfect. He has gotten out of his own way and it has really allowed himself to flourish as a player and a person.”

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet has dressed Brisebois for seven straight games. His experience in the minors is evident in his mature, detailed play. The left-side defenceman isn’t flashy, but he moves fluidly and maintains a tight gap on opposing forwards. Brisebois can make a pass and, apparently, he can kill penalties.

Including a three-game injury call-up in October, Brisebois has logged 10 games for the Canucks this season, registering a single assist while averaging 16:39 of ice time on the third pairing. The Canucks have outscored opponents 6-5 at even-strength with Brisebois, and his expected-goals-for is a whopping 57.8 per cent over the small sample.

And on a team that may post the worst penalty-killing in the NHL’s recorded history, Brisebois has logged 21 shorthanded minutes and been scored against once.

“This year, to be able to (stay healthy) and stick games together in the American League, really put 30 games together, it was really good for me,” Brisebois said. “I think it was working on the defensive zone, being harder on sticks and just boxing out and all that stuff. When you're young and you come from juniors, you're used to being the offensive guy. But when you come up in pro, there's always that guy and you've got to find a different way to make yourself useful.”

Brisebois lost most of his development time in the last two seasons due to the pandemic schedule (with taxi squads) in 2021 and injuries last year. He said he tried not to think negatively despite playing only 41 times in two years.

Everything he does between now and the end of the season is groundwork to try making the Canucks in training camp next fall. He turns 26 in July.

“It was a journey for him,” Johnson said. “The amount of conversations in season and off-season that he and I have had about many different things in life and hockey... at the end of last year, we kind of hit a crossroads, like, 'What should we do here? What's in the best interest of Guillaume Brisebois?' At that point, it was really personal for us. But look where it ended up. I give full credit to the kid and his perseverance.

“The journeys and the paths... there isn't one avenue. I continue to learn from these players who find different paths. When they do, it's such a great tool to use as guidance for others. And his story is one of those. It's a completely different path, but he has figured it out.”