When Rick Rypien succumbed to a sports hernia last October, his future with the Vancouver Canucks looked bleak.
It was even bleaker when the oft-injured forward took a personal leave from the Canucks in January, and wound up missing 70 of 82 regular-season games. But after rejoining the team late in the year, and becoming a playoff regular on the fourth line, Rypien has revived his career in Vancouver.
Yesterday, the Canucks signed Rypien, a 25-year-old who has played 41 games over four seasons, to a two-year contract extension worth $550,000 (U.S.) a season. The Coleman, Alta., native stood to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
“He adds a whole lot to our team,” general manager Mike Gillis said. “He’s a young player who doesn’t have a whole lot of NHL experience due to injuries, but when he plays, everyone knows he is on the ice.”
Rypien made his Stanley Cup playoffs debut this spring amid questions. He has refused to discuss the matter that kept him from the team for so long, and the Canucks have only said that it was not related to hockey.
Rypien is a long-time favourite of Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault, who tutored him with Vancouver’s AHL farm team, but he hasn’t been able to establish himself in the NHL because of injuries. Gillis said Rypien would undertake a club-supervised training program this summer designed to strengthen his resistance to injuries.
“We think we can begin to manage those things better,” Gillis said. “We look at him as a player who we will continue to work with, and who will continue to get better.”
Rypien normally plays at full speed and with loads of physicality. He is prone to excessive penalties, but is comfortable lining up at centre or right wing. Gillis said he could become more than just a fourth-line energy player.
