His first shift in the National Hockey League lasted 12 seconds, he didn’t touch anything but the ice and was cheered by fans at Rogers Arena both when he left the bench and when he returned to it a few ticks later.
That’s how excited people were to see Nikita Tryamkin, the 6-7 Russian defenceman whose Vancouver Canuck debut was, absurdly, almost as eagerly anticipated as Pavel Bure’s a quarter-century earlier.
The 21-year-old has lots to learn, which is why the Canucks rushed him over from the Kontinental Hockey League when his season in Russia ended.
Nine points out of a playoff spot, the Canucks can afford to audition their semi-mysterious third-round draft pick from 2014 and try to encourage Tryamkin to stay in North America next season even if it means forsaking a few KHL rubles to develop in the American Hockey League.