VANCOUVER -- In the wake of Kyle Beach’s extraordinary bravery and the heart-breaking story about how the NHL failed him and others, it was impossible not to see the humanness on display Monday in the Vancouver Canucks’ media room.
Defenceman Travis Hamonic and winger Tyler Motte both cracked with emotion when they spoke a few minutes apart about rejoining the Canucks and their teammates after navigating mental and physical obstacles during extended periods away.
The 26-year-old Motte, who has become a mental-health advocate after publicly revealing his own struggle with depression and anxiety, became emotional talking about emerging from last year’s pandemic season, which ended for him with spinal surgery in June that made him wonder about his future as a player.
The emotional strain endured by Hamonic, 31, was even more obvious to reporters, albeit more mysterious, too, because neither the veteran defenceman nor Canucks coach Travis Green volunteered much detail about the vaccination- and pandemic-related restrictions that caused him to miss training camp and all of October.
Their return to practice with teammates on Monday brought a lot of smiles and some affection. Winger Brock Boeser greeted Hamonic with a big hug.
“I think, on the outside, people don't always see how much we actually care for each other and how far that goes,” Hamonic told reporters in his first in-person media availability since joining the Canucks before last season. “So I wanted to come out and obviously speak and just publicly thank the organization because it’s made a world of difference in me and my family's life in the last couple of months.
“I will say that that I am vaccinated and I'm following all the protocols right now that are in place until that process is done. I'm here, I'm excited to be here. I'm proud to be a Canuck. This has been an extremely difficult time for me the last little while.
“I would say I'm just me. You know, I mean, me and family have been going through a lot. You can probably hear it in my voice right now; this isn't an easy thing for me to be doing, but I understand it needs to be done. Everyone thinks they know what someone is going through, and maybe we're all very quick as a society to judge people. I don't know, maybe we should look at it with the glass half full instead of half empty and try to see the good in people and what they're going through ... instead of trying to paint every single individual into one corner when no one even knows a remote percentage of what the full picture really looks like.”
The St. Malo, Man., native has spoken openly about the impact of losing his father when he was 10 and, a couple of years ago, the ordeal of his having his daughter, Charlie, hospitalized with a serious lung condition. That led Hamonic to opt-out of the Calgary Flames’ playoff bubble in the summer of 2020.
Hamonic was the Flames’ nominee for the King Clancy Trophy in 2018 for his charitable work, which includes advocacy and support for Indigenous people.
“I've been very forthcoming with a lot of aspects of my life, but this is something that's pretty personal,” he said of the last six weeks, later adding, “I'm just trying to do what's right for me and my family and get through this time, and I'm happy to be here. The hardest part about what I've been going through is that I haven't been around. Today was one of the best days I've had in a long time being on the ice with the guys and being back out there.”
Green said Hamonic will be “double-vaccinated soon.” Considering that statement and Hamonic’s assertion that he is vaccinated, it is probable that, as of Monday, he had either not received his second dose or at least had not passed the 14-day post-injection period to qualify as fully vaccinated.
Without two doses of COVID-19 vaccine, Hamonic can not cross the border to play games in the United States. But he is eligible to play in Canada, as he did on Saturday for the Canucks’ American League team in Abbotsford, B.C., and could be in Vancouver’s lineup as soon as Tuesday night’s game against the New York Rangers.
Green said it may still be a few games before Motte plays.
The emotions of the players’ return, plus their physical styles and ability to kill penalties, should help a Canucks team that has lost three straight home games by a single goal. Four games remain on Vancouver’s homestand before the team leaves for a three-game U.S. road trip that starts Nov. 11 in Denver.
Motte said surgery for a bulging disc in his upper spine was the result of “wear and tear” over several years. Former Canuck Derek Dorsett was forced to suddenly retire in 2018 after returning from back surgery.
“Unfortunately, your mind goes worst-case scenario sometimes, but I've been told that we're at no risk of that right now,” Motte said. “(I) should have no issues.
Motte hasn’t played since April 29. After joining the Canucks on a professional tryout before last season, Hamonic missed five weeks with a rib injury and has yet to play in front of “home fans” in Vancouver. His last game was May 19.
To make roster room for Hamonic, the Canucks re-assigned rookie defenceman Jack Rathbone to the AHL.
“Man, it's good to be back,” Motte said. “Just being a part of opening night and having the fans and everyone back, it brings a lot of life back to me in my daily routine in life. And hopefully we're able to bring a little bit of that back for everyone else.”
