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The scrappy Abbotsford Canuck winger says: “Everyone wants their points, but, at the end of the day, my goal is to play in the NHL and play in the NHL for a long time.”
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Published Aug 22, 2024 • 4 minute read
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Abbotsford Canucks forward Tristen Nielsen. Photo by Vancouver Canucks Photo Library /HANDOUT
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Heading out of last season, it looked like the Vancouver Canucks might have space for a forward to move up from their farm system and get a crack at regular duty with the big club this year.
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It was unclear how many of their bevy of free agents they could bring back, especially when you considered the salary cap issues they had.
General Manager Patrik Allvin created financial space by trading winger Ilya Mikheyev to the Chicago Blackhawks. Vancouver then inked Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger to new deals and added Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood and Daniel Sprong to their forward group.
That path for ice time at the NHL level with Vancouver for someone like Tristen Nielsen, 24, certainly didn’t get any easier now that the dust is settling.
Nielsen was impressive enough in his first two years with the affiliate Abbotsford Canucks on an AHL contract — including producing 14 goals and 41 points in 64 games in 2022-23 — that Vancouver signed him to a two-year NHL deal last July.
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He will be looking to build on the 16 goals and 35 points he put up in 59 games last season with Abbotsford during this coming campaign.
The former Vancouver Giants fan favourite was skating with the likes of Montreal Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher and Dallas Stars winger Logan Stankoven this week at the Craig Cunningham All Heart Foundation camp at Planet Ice Delta as part of his preparations for the year.
The Canucks are at the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton on Sept. 19-22 for training camp. Abbotsford, with new coach Manny Malholtra leading the way, opens the AHL regular season on Oct. 11 at the Calgary Wranglers. Their home opener is Oct. 25, versus the San Diego Gulls.
“Every team gets players,” Nielsen said earlier this week when asked about his mindset going into the season. “At the end of the day, I need to focus on my own game and continue to get better. At the end of the day, if I keep getting better, it’s going to get me to where I want to go.
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“I just want to have a good year. I want to get back on track. I want to play to the best of my ability. We’re going to have a deep team in Abby. There’s lots of guys who will deserve (NHL) games. It’s about who’s going to earn them.
“We’ve got a new coaching staff. Nothing’s going to be given to anyone. There’s going to be a fresh slate given to everyone.”
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Nielsen feels like he lost his way at points last season, that he got away from the things that work for him. When he’s right, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Nielsen has the makings of an NHL bottom-six forward. He’s scrappy and snarly. Plainly put, he’s a pain. He’s also got the wheels and shot to keep opposing defencemen honest.
“I got a little guilty last year of being complacent with where I was and thought I deserved some stuff, but I need to earn everything I get,” admitted Nielsen, who’s a Fort St. John native. “Being an undersized, hard-working guy who probably doesn’t have that top-six skill, I need to be tenacious and I need to be hard on pucks and I need to be in the right spot defensively.
“I need to hold myself accountable on that every single day, and if I do that I think everything will fall into place.”
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Winger Arshdeep Bains, 23, was Abbotsford’s second-leading scorer last year, with 55 points, including 16 goals, in 59 games. The Surrey native was the WHL’s leading scorer during his 20-year-old season with the Red Deer Rebels, but had to round out his two-way game at the pro level before he started getting traction with the Canucks brass. He got into eight games with the big club last season.
That changing of a role or tweaking of game upon entering pro is a familiar story. Nielsen hasn’t had to undergo much of an overhaul. He scored in junior, but also had that edgy, scrappy aspect.
He was traded to the Giants from the Calgary Hitmen in October 2018, and he gave this scouting report to Postmedia after the swap: “I’m a gritty, little physical guy who likes to wheel. I like the offensive side of the game, but I also like getting under people’s skin.”
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“Everyone wants their points, but at the end of the day, my goal is to play in the NHL and play in the NHL for a long time,” Nielsen said. “If that means being a pest and playing physical and playing hard, I have no problem doing that.
“(The Canucks) want me to focus and be engaged and play my role. They have a position they want me to play, and it’s about doing that to the best of my ability. Once I do that, things are going to open up.”
The Canucks used 29 skaters and three goalies during the regular season last year.
sewen@postmedia.com
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/vancouver-canucks/canucks-farmhand-tristen-nielsen-sets-sights-on-nhl