Vancouver Canucks right wing Radim Vrbata (17), of the Czech Republic, scores a goal against Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (35), of Finland, during a shootout at an NHL hockey game Tuesday, March 31, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. The Canucks won 5-4.Mark Humphrey/The Associated Press
It was the end of a swirling six days for the Vancouver Canucks at the start of last summer, a week that began with the trade of Ryan Kesler and was followed by the signing of goaltender Ryan Miller on Canada Day, the opening of free agency.
A second free-agent signing on July 2, in comparison, felt like minor news, the announcement that Vancouver had plucked 33-year-old Czech scorer Radim Vrbata from Arizona.
Vrbata was a welcome scoring punch, but as the Canucks prepare for a return to the playoffs, a reversal of the disintegration of one year ago, it has been Vrbata on whom the spotlight has pivoted. He's notched 30-plus goals for the second time in his career, making him one of the best free-agent signings of last summer.
Vrbata signed for two years, at $5-million (U.S.) a season. He had been paid $3-million annually in six previous seasons. Vrbata could have eked out more money, and a longer deal, elsewhere, but felt Vancouver, and the Sedins, were a fit. It paid on the ice: He made his first all-star game in January.
He was an immediate balm last October, scoring in four of Vancouver's first five games. In the opener, the Canucks were up 2-1 on the road against the Calgary Flames, in the middle of the second period. Henrik Sedin swept around the back of the Calgary net and flung a pass to Vrbata across the front, the puck deflecting up off a defenceman's stick. Vrbata, in a demonstration of hand-eye agility, batted it down and in. The goal was initially waved off, presumed to be a high stick, but Vrbata nailed it with the shaft of his stick, below the crossbar. It counted. The Canucks won.
In an analysis of the 31 goals Vrbata has scored this season – the most by a Canuck since 2010-11 – Vrbata has been particularly potent when the Canucks are up by a goal, scoring 12 in such situations. In those dozen games, the Canucks won 11.
Vrbata puts pucks on net at an elite rate. From the 2009-10 through today, hehas the 14th-most shots on goal in the league, 1,369. This season he has 262, which ranks ninth. And his scoring pace has escalated: he had five goals in October and five in November, four in December, five in January, three in February and nine in March. He hasn't yet scored in April.
Vrbata, from a small city northeast of Prague, was 8 at the time of the Velvet Revolution. At 17, he moved to Quebec to play major junior and was drafted in the seventh round by the Colorado Avalanche in 1999. He scored 18 goals as a rookie in 2001-02. "He's a game-breaker," then-Colorado coach Bob Hartley said.
Alex Burrows, a teammate in junior and this season, cited meticulous preparation behind Vrbata's scoring touch – including a craftsman's touch for upward of 45 minutes of work on his sticks before games. "He is," Burrows said on Wednesday, "one of the best pure snipers in the league."