VANCOUVER — Erik Gudbranson can take care of himself. It’s Elias Pettersson the Vancouver Canucks need to look after.
Gudbranson, the team’s six-foot-five defenceman, has had five fights in 83 games over two-plus seasons in Vancouver. In the last three of them, Gudbranson was challenged by an opponent responding to a big hit by the Canuck. And in the most recent of these, Wednesday in his team’s 5-2 win against the Calgary Flames, Gudbranson broke Travis Hamonic’s jaw.
Hamonic was standing up for rookie teammate Dillon Dube, a 20-year-old who was eight seconds into his NHL career when he was flattened by Gudbranson, who mistimed his hit and was assessed an interference penalty.
Gudbranson praised Hamonic’s unselfishness and said he’d have done exactly the same thing as the Flames’ defenceman. Saturday night, in the rematch in Calgary, he may have to.
“In my eyes, I stood up for myself (against Hamonic),” Gudbranson said after Friday’s practice. “I even apologized to the kid and said, ‘That was a bad hit.’ But at the same time, they’ve got to do what they’ve got to do. I don’t want to say I’m OK with it, but if need be, it’s something I’ve dealt with before.”
The enduring memories from the Canucks’ opener will be Pettersson, the gifted, 19-year-old rookie, scoring on a brilliant shot in his NHL debut, and Gudbranson rocking Hamonic after toppling Dube. The Flames will remember these things, too.
Hamonic won’t play Saturday, but tough defenceman Dalton Prout, a healthy scratch in Vancouver, could be in the Calgary lineup.
“I think, in their own way, everyone has to stand up for each other,” Gudbranson said. “I must admit, if it was me on the wrong end of a bad hit, I would hope my teammates would come to my aid, too.
“You don’t want these young kids being fearful of going out on the ice and making plays. It’s a tough game. It is. Things happen.”
Gudbranson was trying to time his hit on Dube in anticipation of the Flame receiving a pass, and said “I knew I was in a bad spot” as the puck slid by.
“It’s hard to believe, but I tried to take as much weight off my front foot as I could in the moment,” he said. “But it was a bad hit, one I’m not proud of.”
Dube was not injured.
There will be lots of anticipation about the Flames’ response Saturday to Gudbranson and losing in Vancouver. What’s certain is that Pettersson, like all offensive players in the NHL, is going to discover on this six-game road trip what it’s like to be the focal point for the opposition.
Canuck coach Travis Green can’t protect Pettersson from line matchups, and the 172-pound Swede will have a lot of players trying to finish checks on him.
“It’s hockey — there’s physical play in it,” Green said. “Good players have other players try to be physical on them. I’m sure teams will try to be physical on (Pettersson) like they are on a lot of skilled guys in the league.
“It will be different on the road. But I’ve got a funny feeling he’ll be alright. He’s been alright so far.”
Pettersson, who rocketed a shot top-corner on Flames goalie Mike Smith to open the scoring nine minutes after Gudbranson dropped Hamonic, said he noticed the increase in physicality from the pre-season.
“Everybody wants to win more in the regular season,” the teenager said. “It’s hockey. Everybody wants the puck. And when I have the puck, five opponents want to take it from me. And if they can hit me, they’ll probably hit me. But I’m going to try to make a play and not get hit and come out first in the situation.”
Gudbranson said he has Pettersson’s back, the way Hamonic had Dube’s.
“Oh, yeah, for sure,” he said.
As the NHL organically moves away from fighting, and enforcers who used to play five minutes a night are nearly extinct, there is a premium for tough guys who can play.
Like Gudbranson.
After suffering serious wrist and shoulder injuries his first two seasons as a Canuck, Gudbranson elevated his off-season training and said he feels better physically than any time since his trade from the Florida Panthers two-and-a-half years ago.
His physical play, evident through the pre-season and again on Wednesday, is indicative of his renewed confidence. Against the Flames, he helped the Canucks kill seven Calgary power plays while logging 17:24 of ice time in a third-pairing role. Gudbranson was plus-three, had a positive shots-for ratio of 13-9, and even collected an assist on Brendan Leipsic’s goal.
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“I’m not going to lie, it was not exactly how I drew it up for how I was going to start my season,” Gudbranson said. “A few minutes after I got out of the penalty box, I started feeling the game a little bit, just keeping it simple and being me.
“I put a lot of work in this summer to get to this point. I’ll try to use tomorrow as another building block.”
He said he’ll be ready for whatever is coming.
• Antoine Roussel, the $12-million free agent who arrived at Canucks training camp with a concussion, practised with teammates Friday for the first time. He is going on the road trip, but neither he nor Green indicated when the abrasive winger might play. The Canucks are at the 23-player roster limit and, barring an injury, must re-assign someone to get Roussel off the injured list.
