Kiefer Sherwood's Proving to the Nashville Predators Why They Should've Signed Him When They Had the Chance

«He's been a bright spot with our team because he just adds that juice,» Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said after the Canucks practised here ahead of Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Kings. «Even when our team's a little quiet, he's chirping on the bench. He's getting people that usually don't talk much on our bench, talking. So it's contagious. I talked to him in the summer three or four times, and he said he had some offensive game. And you can see that he has it.

«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, said Wednesday. «But that's when I had to figure out what identity I needed to bring. That was a really tough time, but I tried to use it as more fuel for the fire.

«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.»