Hard-hitting forward Kiefer Sherwood finding home with Canucks

On Nov 7, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Watching him now, it’s arduous to consider that launching himself into opponents as a human projectile didn’t all the time come so naturally to Kiefer Sherwood.

Why wouldn’t it? Hitting hurts, even for the participant driving contact.

However for Sherwood, not taking part in within the Nationwide Hockey League damage extra.

“In Nashville, my first year … I thought that I finally was ready to be an everyday player in the NHL, and then I got sent down (to the minors) and kind of lost my way a little bit,” Sherwood, the Vancouver Canucks winger, mentioned Wednesday. “However that’s after I had to determine what id I wanted to deliver. That was a very powerful time, however I attempted to make use of it as extra gas for the fireplace.

“I really worked on just trying to understand how to be impactful and what kind of energy to bring that’s going to help the team. It’s not always about producing points. For a guy like me, I’m not going to be getting power-play or top-six minutes. So it’s about contributing … and finding a way that is impactful to help teams win games.”

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And so Sherwood, undrafted and at instances undesirable, reworked his sport and went from being an elite goal-scorer within the American Hockey League to a menace for opponents on the NHL degree.

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By 11 video games with the Canucks, his fourth NHL group, Sherwood leads the league with 72 hits. This places him on tempo to register 537 this season, which might obliterate the single-year report of 383 set final yr by former Nashville Predator teammate Jeremy Lauzon.

It was Sherwood’s bodily play that the Canucks observed throughout final spring’s first-round playoff sequence, which led ultimately to Vancouver focusing on the 29-year-old winger in free company and signing him to a two-year, $3 million contract on July 1.

Within the first month of that contract, Sherwood has given the group every part it hoped for and, actually, extra: three targets and 7 even-strength factors, which rank third on the Canucks, and unblemished penalty killing.

After two years in every of the Nashville, Colorado and Anaheim organizations, Sherwood has turn into a key contributor for the Canucks on an efficient third line that features Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen.

Regardless of clearing waivers 3 times within the NHL, Sherwood by no means misplaced his pure offensive contact at the same time as he has turn into one of the relentlessly bodily gamers within the league.

“He’s been a bright spot with our team because he just adds that juice,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet mentioned after the Canucks practised right here forward of Thursday’s sport in opposition to the Los Angeles Kings. “Even when our group’s a bit quiet, he’s chirping on the bench. He’s getting folks that often don’t discuss a lot on our bench, speaking. So it’s contagious. I talked to him in the summertime three or 4 instances, and he mentioned he had some offensive sport. And you’ll see that he has it.

“He’s got a chip on his shoulder. He’s kind of like Gars (teammate Conor Garland). They’ve got that (attitude): Every day prove everybody wrong. And I think if you have that chip on your shoulder … it makes you not comfortable. He doesn’t want to get comfortable. And I like that.”

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Requested initially of the season if anybody on the Canucks had stunned him, marquee newcomer Jake DeBrusk answered “Kiefer Sherwood.”

“To be honest, what I thought about him as a player was just an energy guy that could bang in 15 goals,” DeBrusk defined Wednesday. “You never really get a read on certain players when you play them once a year. But I think I noticed it pretty early on, even before training camp, just his playmaking ability. And obviously he’s got a laser of a shot. It was one of the first things I noticed, and I was surprised.”

Kevin Lankinen wasn’t stunned, however that’s as a result of the Canucks beginning goalie sat subsequent to Sherwood within the Predators’ dressing room all of final season.

“You could tell from his stats in the American League, he was tearing it up and putting up tons of goals,” Lankinen mentioned. “But I think one of the most impressive things about him is kind of the adjustment that he was willing to make to become a full-time NHLer. He realized that he might not be on the first line in the NHL … so you have to bring something else to the table. He realized that he has the energy, he has the legs, he has the tenacity, the attitude and the leadership to provide different kinds of things. The goal scoring has always been there for him … but it’s just been really cool to see his development.”

Now seven years into knowledgeable profession that started with a free-agent supply from the Anaheim Geese after taking part in three seasons on the College of Miami-Ohio, Sherwood has performed solely barely extra video games within the NHL (198) than the AHL (178).

In his final 109 video games within the minors over elements of three seasons between 2020 and 2023, Sherwood amassed 68 targets and 129 factors. That talent, mixed with his bodily affect, most likely means the six-foot forward from Columbus, Ohio, gained’t be leaving the NHL once more anytime quickly.

“I try to not focus too much on stats because it’s distracting,” he mentioned. “It’s extra in regards to the id that I must deliver. In order that’s what I’m centered on, truthfully.

“I do know the tip sport and the lengthy sport, and I all the time believed in myself. I’m a late developer. I used to be not prepared for the NHL draft (in 2013). I used to be nonetheless taking part in U18 (minor hockey). Wherever I’m at, I’ve simply tried to get higher. And ultimately, I really feel like for those who play the lengthy sport and proceed to develop, then you definitely’ll get an opportunity.

“Sometimes your brain, you want to feel sorry for yourself. That’s where you’ve got to kind of rewire it. Yeah, there were definitely some dark days. But if you try to look at it and use it as fuel, I think that’s the only approach that you can use to try to get better. And that’s what I try to do. For me, I just try to use every setback for reflection and more fuel to the fire. Eventually, things are going to crack.”

Currently, that sound has been opponents cracking the boards as Sherwood flies into them on the forecheck. He embraces his position, even because it seems to be more and more like merely a launch level for him within the NHL at age 29 slightly than a ultimate vacation spot.

“I’ve learned to love it now,” he smiled. “I want to be mean, I want to be a pest. Whatever it is, I want to get under guys’ skin. I think it helps our team and makes us harder to play against. I want the other team to feel that presence and feel uncomfortable. I love it. And I want to continue to grow that part of my game, and continue to have the people on the other team feel it.”

ICE CHIPS – Tocchet mentioned the group is being cautious with winger Dakota Joshua, who gained’t play Thursday as he continues to work his approach again from testicular most cancers … Canuck goalie Thatcher Demko, who stays out indefinitely with a popliteus muscle damage in his knee, participated for the primary time Wednesday in just a few group drills at apply … Lankinen will begin Thursday for the eighth time in 9 video games as Vancouver brings a five-game street profitable streak into Los Angeles … Tocchet introduced defenceman Derek Forbort is out “week to week” attributable to an injured leg.

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