From the second I got on the ice there, I just loved it. I was on a line with Petey and Millsy and we had incredible chemistry right from the get go. I just had a different feeling coming to the rink each day. I was rejuvenated. Obviously everything got flipped upside down when the season shut down due to the pandemic, but I felt a real connection to the city. Cat and I both did.

I got hurt in the bubble and the series against Vegas didn’t quite go our way last summer, but it seemed like the start of something special out there. And I just felt like I really fit in with that group off the ice. Everything was easy.

That’s why I wanted to come back to Vancouver. I could have seen myself finishing out my career there. But hockey is a business, I understand that. And at the end of the day, there was no offer from the Canucks’ end, so we had to go another direction. It was disappointing, but I knew that there was going to be a team out there that wanted me and saw me for the player I know I am.