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Canucks' Bieksa used to taking calculated risks

Thursday, 09.18.2014 / 3:00 AM / 2014-2015 Season Preview

By Jon Lane - NHL.com Staff Writer

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Canucks' Bieksa used to taking calculated risks
With a degree in finance from Bowling Green State University, Vancouver Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa is set for life after hockey. For the time being, though, he's committed to helping the team get back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

As a teenager Kevin Bieksa had to step back and evaluate his place in hockey.

While playing minor hockey Bieksa was offered a roster spot with the first-year Mississauga (now Niagara) Ice Dogs, the Ontario Hockey League team that selected him in the 19th round of the 1998 OHL draft. A native of Grimsby, Ontario, Bieksa was tempted by, as he put it, the "glitz and glam" of immediately playing in the OHL.

Also on the table was a chance to pursue a full scholarship to Bowling Green State University. While the dream of playing in the NHL was very much alive, so was the desire to have a fallback plan.

"I was kind of thinking what were the odds of making the NHL and playing hockey for a living, and decided that going to college … at that time it wasn't even a certainty that I would get a scholarship to a university, so it was a little bit of a gamble on my part," Bieksa said. "But we decided that I would play a little bit more junior hockey Tier 2 and try to go the college route and get a scholarship. That worked out, and when that worked out everything else just fell into place."

Bieksa received his scholarship and his hockey career began to take shape. The Vancouver Canucks selected the defenseman in the fifth round (No. 151) of the 2001 NHL Draft and he graduated in 2004 with a 3.42 grade-point average and a bachelor's degree in finance.

Now well-prepared for life after hockey, Bieksa enters his 11th season, all with Vancouver, with 52 goals, 227 points and a plus-52 rating in 537 NHL games. He remains spry at 33 after spending his third summer with skating instructor Derek Popke at the Vancouver Hockey School in Richmond, British Columbia.

"I feel over the years I obviously learned how to train more efficiently in the summer," said Bieksa, who last season had four goals, 24 points, a minus-8 rating and 104 penalty minutes. "Obviously the goal is to always get bigger and stronger, and also to be as healthy as possible coming into camp.

"Last summer was a tough one for me. I had some injuries going into it and it was doing more rehab and training in the summer. This summer I felt great from the beginning and it's been a good summer."

It also was a long summer with the Canucks missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six years. A tumultuous season ended with Vancouver finishing 12th in the Western Conference, with its 2.33 goals per game placing 28th, ahead of only the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres.

"It's obviously a tough League and it's tough to get into the playoffs, but it was embarrassing to be on the outside looking in," Bieksa said. "We were so accustomed to, not cruising through the regular season but we were accustomed to making the playoffs every year and maybe took it for granted how hard it was. After the 50- to 60-game mark we were kind of on the outside looking in. The last 20 to 25 games we were fighting just to get above the line and couldn't do it at the end.

"I'd like to get that feeling back again where we're confident and used to getting into the playoffs. That's the first step in reaching the ultimate goal."

The disappointing season led to a bevy of changes. The Canucks hired a new general manager (Jim Benning) and coach (Willie Desjardins), revamped the roster with the trade of center Ryan Kesler to the Anaheim Ducks for potential second-line center Nick Bonino, defenseman Luca Sbisa and a 2014 first-round pick (No. 24) used to select center Jared McCann, and in free agency signed goalie Ryan Miller and forward Radim Vrbata.

The changes have Bieksa confident the Canucks will return to the playoffs in 2015.

"I think with the additions we made, we're a deeper team," Bieksa said. "We're going to be a team that's able to play four lines and six defensemen, and that's the way you win in the West these days. There's a lot of deep teams, L.A. and Chicago, and you can't beat them with two-and-a-half lines and four [defensemen]."

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