from Ed Willes of the Vancouver Province,
This off-season, rebuilding Edler’s fractured psyche became a priority for the new Canucks organization, and considering how far he fell under Tortorella, that was lot of rebuilding. The bulk of the counselling fell to Linden, the new president who was in his penultimate season with the Canucks when Edler joined the team in 2006-07.
Like most, Linden couldn’t make sense of Edler’s catastrophic campaign in 2013-14. He just knew rehabilitating the lost defenceman was critical to any hope of a team turnaround. The two met a couple of times and Linden said the subjects of their conversations weren’t particularly profound, but they impressed on Edler his importance to the Canucks.
Through 12 games this season, Edler now leads the team in ice time, he’s formed an effective partnership with Chris Tanev, he’s back on his familiar position with the first-unit power play and he’s a plus-player.
Clearly, whatever he wasn’t getting from Tortorella he is getting this year.
“Knowing Alex and knowing the kind of person he is, he needs to be supported,” Linden said. “I think he’s sensed that from the coaching staff.”
“It’s important to know people believe in you,” Edler said. “They made that clear in the summer, that they like me as a player and I’m an important part of the team. It’s good to hear.”
more and note there is an autoplay video on the page...
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