(Penticton) Kiefer Sherwood spent many a night chasing Quinn Hughes around the ice and annoying the Canucks last spring. Now the former Nashville Predators will suit up for Vancouver.
After signing with the Canucks in free agency, Sherwood is at the club’s camp in Penticton, B.C., working out with players he frustrated in the first round of the last playoffs.
His former enemies welcomed him with open arms.
“I try to be tough to play against and I try to hate the other team and play with that hate and that fire. But at the end of the day, it’s business, and it’s a game of respect,” Sherwood said. “You don’t cover players if you don’t respect them, right? So now that we’re teammates, it’s just respect.”
The 29-year-old’s journey to Vancouver has not been linear.
The 6-foot, 194-pound Columbus native was never drafted and signed his first contract with the Anaheim Ducks in March 2018. He played 50 games with the team the following season.
But Sherwood struggled to stay in the National Hockey League (NHL) and spent time in the minor leagues with the Ducks, Predators and Colorado Avalanche. Eventually, he realized that to solidify his place, he had to find what made him special: his speed.
“It’s definitely something I’ve had to learn and ingrain in myself. I think the saying is adapt or die,” Sherwood said. “At the end of the day, you can dominate the minors all you want, but you want to be here in this league.”
To hone his speed, Sherwood has added more dynamic movements to his training regimen, looking to create a new level of explosiveness in his skating. That explosiveness is key to winning puck battles, he said.
I want to chase. I want to participate in the forecheck, I want to create time and space for my teammates. And at the end of the day, it’s also a possession game. So I want to get the puck on our sticks and get it to my teammates who can make plays.
Kiefer Sherwood
And when he can’t get the puck back, Sherwood wants to wear down the other team.
Sherwood set career highs last season with 10 goals and 17 assists in 68 regular-season games. He also played in all six of the Predators’ playoff games, scoring once in the Canucks’ six-game series victory.
“I had to look deep inside to try to figure out what it would take,” Sherwood said of his career. “From there, I have to continue to refine and develop the identity that I need to play with every night.”