Canucks’ Paul Cotter Thinks He Has More to Show

Sometimes the most interesting thing a new player tells you isn't what he has done. It's what he thinks he can still do. That's what caught my attention about Paul Cotter in TheCanucksArmy Tyson Cole’s recent post. The new Vancouver Canucks forward has spent five NHL seasons bouncing between Vegas and New Jersey, carving out a useful bottom-six role without ever really getting the chance to find out whether he could become something more.

That's why Vancouver appealed to him. Not because the Canucks were offering a ready-made winner. They weren't. Cotter came to Vancouver because he saw something else: opportunity.

Cotter Wants More Than a Fourth-Line Job.

Cotter has never averaged more than 13:05 of ice time in a season. He's played wing, but he grew up playing centre. He's taken important faceoffs. He's killed penalties. He's played with good players. And he believes he hasn't necessarily shown the NHL everything he can do. That makes his versatility pretty interesting for a rebuilding team.

When Filip Chytil went down with a shoulder injury during the preseason, Cotter found himself playing centre. He wasn't particularly bothered. He explained that he grew up down the middle and that faceoffs have always been one of his strengths. In today's NHL, he said, positions can become pretty fluid anyway.

But the part I really liked was Cotter talking about wanting the difficult minutes. He doesn't need to be handed the first-line centre job tomorrow. He wants to earn more trust. Power play. Penalty kill. Four-on-four. Protecting a lead. Trying to score when the goalie is pulled.

Those are the minutes players remember. And maybe that's what Vancouver can offer him. Not promises. Opportunity.

Maybe Cotter Fits What Vancouver Is Becoming.

There has been some criticism of Cotter's defensive game over his career, and he doesn't exactly run away from that. He admitted that when he was younger, he was thinking about offence first. As he moved up, he learned that one bad decision can change a game. That's a pretty good lesson for a young team.

What might matter even more, though, is what Cotter said about the Canucks' dressing room. He called it “very, very, very rare” and described it as “egoless.” The older players want to help. The younger players want to learn. Players in the middle, like Cotter, can help both groups. Now, it's September. Every NHL player loves his teammates in September.

But something about the way Cotter described it was convincing. Maybe because he's new enough to Vancouver that he doesn't carry the baggage of the last few seasons. That's what makes Cotter worth watching.

Cotter Is Far from a Star Player. But He Thinks He Can Improve.

He isn't arriving in Vancouver as a star. He's arriving as a 26-year-old player who thinks there's another level in there somewhere. And the Canucks are giving him a chance to find it. Oh, and that ridiculous stick tape? Cotter says his father taped his stick that way when he was young. Chandler Stephenson once offered him money to get rid of it. Cotter tried. Thirty seconds later, the tape was back.

Some things, apparently, are worth keeping. For Vancouver, the hope is that Cotter's game is one of them.