After breaking open the bank for Jake DeBrusk on a long-term contract, the Vancouver Canucks added a depth piece in free agency by signing former Nashville Predators forward Kiefer Sherwood to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.5 million. Sherwood is a 29-year-old forward who was originally an undrafted free agent signed out of college by the Anaheim Ducks.
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Sherwood then found his way to the Colorado Avalanche after two seasons with Anaheim and then went to the Nashville Predators organization where he finally found his footing last season where he played 68 games and scored 10 goals and 27 points. He took that season and landed a nice contract with Vancouver, but he will bring aspects to the Canucks that the team will need.
Sherwood Brings Grit to the Bottom Six
As a shorter guy at only 6 feet tall, Sherwood scratched and clawed his way into the NHL by being a feisty and tough guy to play against which is exactly what the Canucks need. They have some grit in their middle six with players like Dakota Joshua and newly acquired Jake DeBrusk but Sherwood adds even more than those two players. His toughness caught the eye of Patrik Allvin during the Canucks’ first-round series against the Predators: “We saw first hand in the playoffs how tough Kiefer is to play against,” said Allvin. “We like his quickness, tenacity, and the way he competes in all situations. Adding another physical player to the mix will work well with the way our forward group is currently constructed.”
Allvin is right about Sherwood’s toughness as the forward engaged in three fights last season and two the season before. He is willing to get his hands dirty by going into the corners and getting those greasy goals in front of the net when needed. Players like Sherwood are needed in the playoffs and the Canucks lacked that in their forward core against the Edmonton Oilers. He will be able to provide the playoff toughness that is needed from the bottom six and pairing that with DeBrusk, Joshua, and even Carson Soucy on the back end will make them much tougher to play against as the team hopes to go deeper into the playoffs.
Canucks’ Depth Will Help Sherwood Score More
While playing in Nashville last season, Sherwood was only able to put up 27 points in a depth role, but that was his career high. Playing lower in the lineup, he was lining up with guys like Tommy Novak, Michael McCarron, and Mark Jankowski. In Vancouver, he will have the chance to play with more skillful depth players like Joshua, Conor Garland, and Pius Suter. By playing with these players, he will be surrounded by players with more offensive capabilities than the ones he was playing with in Nashville. So by proxy of him playing with these players, he will have the opportunity to score more than he did last season and have more of an impact on the team than just his physicality.
Sherwood likely will bring a scoring touch to the Canucks by playing with much better offensive players in Vancouver than he did in Nashville, while also bringing the toughness and physicality that they originally signed him for. In that case, he will be able to bring aspects to the Canucks that will help the club more than they originally thought.
Sherwood is not a perfect player by any means but he brings to Vancouver aspects that the team desperately needs. He will bring toughness to the forward core, which was needed during their series against Edmonton, and can bring depth scoring if he is paired with the right linemates. Those two aspects will make him an effective player for the Canucks and will make this signing worth it for Allvin and Jim Rutherford.
