A four-month hiatus from the Coyotes hasn’t changed Antoine Vermette’s style.
He’s still a faceoff guru, a defensive model and a sparkplug for offense as a responsible two-way center among the top-six forwards.
But as he returns to Arizona after signing a two-year, $7.5 million contract as a free agent during the offseason, it isn’t hard to notice one difference that emerged from his abbreviated second-half stint with the Blackhawks.
A Stanley Cup championship.
“There’s a confidence that comes with that when you go through a run like that, especially with the kind of team they had, everybody learns from that,” coach Dave Tippett said.