Perseverance pays off for Canucks' Brisebois with roster spot

VANCOUVER — Eleven years since he was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks, and after a series of serious injuries and seven contracts with the organization, 29-year-old defenceman Guillaume Brisebois will finally start a National Hockey League season with the team.

The Canucks’ only weekend roster move was waiving minor-league goalie Nikita Tolopilo, which left 23 players, including Brisebois, on their roster for Tuesday’s season-opening game in Edmonton against the Oilers.

Canucks general manager Ryan Johnson was still combing the waiver wire late Sunday but the team is expected to confirm this afternoon that the 23 healthy players left after Saturday’s final preseason game will be their opening-night roster.

Besides Brisebois, it is expected to include 22-year-old first-rounder Jonathan Lekkerimaki, defenceman Victor Mancini and winger Arshdeep Bains, an undrafted 25-year-old from Surrey, B.C. who cleared waivers in Vancouver last season.

Goalie Leevi Merilainen, claimed on waivers from the Ottawa Senators on Friday, dislodged Tolopilo as Kevin Lankinen’s backup.

Brisebois’ journey to the NHL is about perseverance, conviction and his relationship with Johnson, who convinced the defenceman from Longueuill, Que., to keep re-signing two-way contracts with the Canucks on the promise there was still a future for him with the organization.

Brisebois missed nearly all of last season after undergoing hip surgery in September. The previous season was spent in the American Hockey League, recovering and rebuilding his game after missing most of 2023-24 due to what appeared to be a career-threatening concussion.

Brisebois had been told by the Canucks during training camp in 2023 that he would make the NHL team that year, but the 2015 third-round pick was injured in the final pre-season game on an unpenalized hit from behind by Brandon Tanev.

“If I didn’t think I was capable of this, I don’t think I’d still be here,” Brisebois told Sportsnet last week after surviving the Canucks’ initial rounds of cuts. “I still believe I can be that guy, but I need to be healthy first.

“I’m still very hungry. It’s just about finding a rhythm — practices and games — because I still feel like I have a lot left in the tank. I’ve been through this a few times. But I see the age; like I'm 29 now. The window could be closing soon.”

But not yet.

Former Canuck general manager Jim Benning selected Brisebois 66^th in the 2015 draft in Florida with the pick Vancouver acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes for goalie Eddie Lack.

That was the same draft the Canucks used their first-round pick on Brock Boeser, who has played 629 games for the team and is now one of its leaders. Among current Canucks, only injured goalie Thatcher Demko, drafted in the second round in 2014, has been in the organization longer.

Brisebois made his debut for the Canucks on Feb. 14, 2019 but has played only 29 NHL games in seven years since then, the last of them during a three-game stint two seasons ago.

Johnson, the Canucks’ new GM, was Brisebois’ development coach after he was drafted, then became his minor-league GM in both Utica, N.Y., and Abbotsford, B.C.

Johnson is a key reason Brisebois kept re-signing with the Canucks instead of looking for a better chance to play somewhere else.

“There’s a lot to be thankful for (having) R.J.,” Brisebois said. “We kind of grew up a little bit together, and we’ve always had a really good relationship. He’s really good with the human side of it; we can actually just talk the truth. If it’s not going well, he’s going to tell me. And if it is going well, he’ll tell me that also.”

Brisebois said he’s still building back his game after playing only nine times in the minors last season following surgery.

“I try to be positive,” he said. “I believe I can play in this league, and I've shown it when I've had a couple of stints. Like, I'm trying everything. I’m coming back from a year-long injury, and I feel like I'm doing well. I'm feeling better (physically). So whether it’s now or maybe they want me to go play games (in the AHL) and get into a rhythm and then come back, I don't know. But whatever that is, I'm ready.”

The Canucks practise this morning at the University of B.C. before their roster is officially announced. They fly to Edmonton this afternoon.

Canucks projected roster

Forwards
Bains — Pettersson — Lekkerimaki
Ohgren — Rossi — Boeser
O’Connor — Sasson — Karlsson
Cotter — Raty — Gallagher

Defencemen
Buium — Hronek
Oleksiak — Willander
Pettersson — Schenn
Brisebois — Mancini

Goalies
Lankinen
Merilainen
Driedger