from Thomas Drance of The Athletic,

“It was a really important tournament for me,” said former NHL agitator Antoine Roussel, who also attended Canucks camp in 2011 as an undrafted free agent fresh off of a challenging season split between the AHL and the ECHL in the Boston Bruins organization. “Really, it helped me feel good about myself before going to the main camp. When you’re a rookie and you play some games before getting into main camp, it helps you feel good about your game, about the environment, about yourself. When you’re a veteran there’s stuff, and it’s not stuff you take for granted, but you’re used to it. It’s just the way it is in the NHL.

“When you’re a young guy and you come in, there’s a lot. It’s different. You come in early and you get to talk to trainers, and they’re there, and they help you out. You get used to, a little bit, what it means to be a full-time NHLer and what you need to do.

“A rookie camp, a rookie tournament like that, it helps a young guy be ready to just take off. I know it did for me.”

Roussel’s experience as an invitee at the Penticton Young Stars tournament, fresh off of a challenging first professional campaign, set him on the path to building an NHL career that spanned more than 600 NHL games played and netted him over $20 million in estimated career earnings, according to CapFriendly.com.

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