Stephen Hawco - @stephenhawco7
Adam Gaudette knows nothing is guaranteed in the NHL and that's why his goal celebrations, which have become very popular amongst Canucks nation and his teammates, are so boisterous.
"We love to see it, It's kind of a dying breed." Troy Stecher said about his teammate's goal celebrations.
Stecher was not wrong either, names that come to mind when you think of 'big celebrators' are the likes of Alex Ovechkin or Auston Matthews to name a couple, but it is something that is not seen as much as fans would like to.
Players too, for that matter.
Seeing their teammate getting pumped up after a goal injects some extra energy to the group which has the capability of changing the momentum in a game.
"They seem to like it. It seems to fire everybody up which is a good thing. Everybody wants to score, everybody wants to win." Gaudette said on what his teammates think of his celebrations.
Stecher added, "It gives us some energy. It keeps things light and kind of takes a serious edge off and helps you remember that you're playing a game."
He admitted, the guys on the team like to have fun at "Celly Gauds" expense, throwing the odd chirp at him. All in good fun.
Stecher also referenced Gaudette's "Superman" celebration against Ottawa in preseason, a precursor for what has been seen throughout the early parts of 2019/20.
It has been clear...no one on the Canucks loves to score more than Adam Gaudette, if they do, they don't show it.
Gaudette said he's had exciting goal celebrations for as long as he can remember during his hockey career.
"It's just the love of the game." he explained.
That love for the game has been evident for the young Gaudette.
On the ice he shows his true personality whether it's him or a teammate scoring.
Off the ice, however, he is much more reserved and soft spoken but it's easy to tell he's passionate about scoring but more importantly winning.
"Just work hard on the ice and celebrate after" he says.
There aren't any special or premeditated celebrations, he says they just come to him right away but his go-to is the patented one-knee fist bump.
But it's not just the goal celebrations that has made him popular with fans...
Back in 2014, Vancouver traded defenceman Raphael Diaz to the New York Rangers for a 2015 fifth round selection that was eventually used to draft the Braintree, MA native.
To put the early success of the trade into perspective, Diaz played just 11 games for the Rangers and had stops in Calgary and Hartford of the AHL before ultimately making the move to Switzerland.
The 23-year-old Gaudette is in his second NHL season after getting into 56 games with the big club in 2018/19 and has shown vast improvements in his play at both ends of the ice.
"I think I had a good summer in the gym. On the ice I got faster and stronger, it just made me feel more comfortable out there, more confident. Also holding onto and carrying pucks for long periods of time, just having a big comfort level." Gaudette said about his approach coming into this season.
Travis Green has taken notice of the 2018 Hobey Baker winner's steadily improving game.
"The details in his game are getting better from the defensive side of the puck. He's a quick learner and wants to be good at both ends of the rink and he's having a pretty good year." Green said.
20 games into his season, Gaudette has scored on 23.1% of his shots on goal.
Of course, those numbers will even out more as the season plays out but it is very promising to see so early into his NHL career.
He is starting to solidify himself as a productive third-line centre with his 13 points (6G, 7A) in those 20 games in a Canucks jersey along with his better defensive play that Green mentioned.
With those 13 points, he has already surpassed his previous season total in 37 fewer games thanks to a two assist effort against Ottawa on Tuesday.
"I knew it was going to be a transition, I didn't know how drastic it would be but it was something that I needed to work through." Gaudette said on going from NCAA to the pro ranks. "It took a bit of time but I'm up to speed now and things are going well."
Having found ways to score goals at just about every level he's played, his offensive capabilities have been starting to show at the NHL level since his late-October call up.
November saw all of the centre's six goals this season, with three of them coming on the man advantage. That is the highest goal mark for someone not on the top power play unit that is currently tops in the NHL with 30 goals.
He has shown all kinds of potential in being not just a serviceable player at the NHL level, but an effective one.
Adam Gaudette is just scratching the surface with his potential and he will surely be a fun player to watch develop with this exciting young core for years to come.