Veteran winger looks ready to resume his playing career after serious hand injury last season
Video surfaced this week of Tanner Pearson participating fully in Troy Stecher's summer pro camp in Richmond. It was a positive development -- and surely a welcome one, too -- for Pearson whose hockey future was in jeopardy after a hand injury suffered last November.
But Pearson gives the appearance of a man determined to reclaim his career when the Canucks open training camp September 21st in Victoria. Now, it's one thing to go through drills with fellow NHL'ers in late August. It's something else, entirely, to battle for a roster spot and one of the 12 precious jobs available for forwards in the Canucks October 11th opening night line-up. So it's far too soon to make any declarations about Pearson and how he figures into the team's plans for the 2023-24 NHL season.
If, however, he gets a clean bill health and is a full competitor at camp, Pearson could change the conversation about the Canucks forward group. He certainly changes the discussion about the club's already bloated salary cap situation.
The 31-year-old left winger is set to enter the final year of a three-year backloaded contract signed during COVID when the Canucks were loathe to spend. As such, the deal carries a $3.25M cap hit, but has the hockey club on the hook for $4.25M in actual salary.
Having not played an NHL game since breaking his hand in a November 9th game in Montreal, Pearson has plenty to prove to a new coaching staff hired months after he left the line-up. At his best, he's a big body with plenty of experience that wins battles along the boards and can chip in with some offense. But even before he was hurt early last season, there were questions about Pearson's effectiveness in a league that is getting faster by the day. Speed has never been his strong suit and last year Pearson managed just one goal and five points in the 14 games he played. The production was a concern then and certainly remains one now given all he's been through over the past 10 months.
The Canucks already have a glut of wingers who need to step up their games -- Brock Boeser, Conor Garland, Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Höglander just to name a few. Now Pearson looks like he has entered the conversation, too.
It seems highly unlikely that he is a top six calibre winger on this team with the options available. But is there a role for him in the bottom six? If he shows well in camp and through the preseason, could Pearson be a fit beefing up a third line with Garland and Pius Suter? Or is he an obstacle to the growth and development of players like Podkolzin and Höglander?
Could Pearson apply his size and ability along the walls to transition to a veteran fourth line option at this stage of his career? Perhaps Pearson on a wing with Teddy Blueger and Dakota Joshua or Phil DiGiuseppe?
Even if he shows well at camp and looks the part of the NHL'er he's been for more than a decade, might Pearson need to start the season in the American Hockey League to shake off the rust of a nearly year-long absence from the game? That seems like a very realistic possibility for an organization that can't have players chasing the game in an effort to make up for lost time in the early portion of the schedule.
By all accounts, Tanner Pearson is a true professional, low-maintenance for coaches and well liked and respected by his teammates. And the very fact he looks ready to resume his career after all he's been through is a good news story. Sure, there are salary cap implications, but on a human level, it's impossible not to feel good for Pearson that all signs indicate he's going to get the chance to continue in professional hockey. But as the Canucks try to progress as an organization, they can't wait for Pearson. He needs to show from the first day of camp that he has something to offer this team and that last year is in the rear view mirror.
For all of those reasons, it stands to reason that Pearson will be under the microscope when camp begins. That just comes with the territory in the competitive world of pro sports. But the fact he's set to rejoin his team in an effort to reclaim his roster spot will make Pearson one of the most compelling storylines when camp opens at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre later this month.