After how hard he had played the last six weeks after Vancouver Canucks have confirmed they are accepting trade offers for him – how much Sherwood continues to invest in what could soon be the future free agent's former National Hockey League team – a minute is the least we could do.
Sitting motionless in his dressing room, elbows on knees and eyes ahead, Sherwood looked 1,000 miles away, as some players do after a heavy defeat.
Playing for the second time in less than 24 hours, the Canucks beat the Boston Bruins on Saturday and outshot them 27-13 in the final 40 minutes of regulation before losing the game 3-2. Fraser MintenGoal 19 seconds before the end of overtime.
Minten, a 21-year-old rookie from Vancouver who scored twice, turned away from Sherwood near the boards and beat him in front of the net to score off a shot from David Pastrnak.
Sherwood gave the Canucks the lead with 21:11 of ice time. In the middle of another wayward season in Vancouver, he also leads the team in goals with 17 goals. Against the Bruins, he was pointless and got only one save from Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman, although he made nine shots.
But the stats page showed nine crushing hits recorded by Sherwood, more than twice as many as anyone else in the game.
This guy plays with himself every night to the point of exhaustion. If he's done well with turnover since Canucks president Jim Rutherford confirmed in November that he wants to trade his potential UFAs, including the 30-year-old Sherwood, while the hockey team changes direction and reloads with younger players, we haven't seen it.
“Good isn't good enough right now,” Sherwood said after a minute, being as professional off the ice as he is on it. “We've got to strive for greatness and be the best we can be. And I'm just trying to focus on asking more of myself and my line to be reliable and play the right way. And we'll get rewarded for that.”
“Every game is a new opportunity, so I try to take myself and my line to be the best line if it's a matchup, or just to be the best line. I think it's time to raise our standard (as a team).”
He hasn't stopped thinking of the Canucks as “we.”
It seemed like a big deal that night when Sportsnet insider Elliott Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada that the Canucks were back in contract talks with Sherwood's representatives.
It should be noted that the sides are not close, and Canucks general manager Patrick Alwyn may simply be doing his due diligence by again figuring out what it might cost to keep Sherwood even as the team tries to trade him.
Given Sherwood's age, strong case for earning $4-5 million or more per year on his next contract, and the Canucks' long-term commitment to right wingers Brock Boeser and Conor Garland, Sherwood is a tough fit for Vancouver after this season.
However, the Canucks have not yet given up on the possibility of re-signing him. And the forward from Columbus, Ohio, hasn't given up on the idea just yet.
“I mean, I love it here,” he said. “I want nothing more than to bring energy and happiness to the fans in this market. This is where, you know, some of my dreams have come true. And we have a lot of great teammates and great relationships that I've built here, and I'm just grateful that the staff trusts me with the opportunities that I was hoping for a couple of years ago.”
“I don't know that (contract) side of things; I'm sure it'll be worked out one way or another. But I'm just, you know, trying to stay in the present and, like I said, just focus on asking more of myself and bringing it every night so we can give ourselves a chance here in the playoffs.”
A playoff berth is unlikely for the Canucks (16-20-5), but they are playing well enough to post more than two losing points in back-to-back games over the weekend against Boston and the Seattle Kraken, who won 4-3 in a shootout Friday at Rogers Arena.
“I don't know any of those stories,” veteran Vancouver defenseman. Tyler Myers said about Sherwood. “But no matter what happens, he was a lot of fun to play with and I hope to continue to play with him. We'll let things take their course; it's the business side of things. But I love seeing him on the team and in the room and seeing how hard he works every night. There's a lot about his game that I admire.”
There was a lot to admire about the Canucks' game on Saturday.
They rallied from deficits twice, although, ironically, in their best performance since Christmas, both of their goals came off the bat, with Filip Hronek scoring on a pass off the skate of teammate Elias Pettersson and then a center pass from Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy.
The Canucks moved the game to the Bruins, who had not played since beating the Edmonton Oilers 6-2 on New Year's Eve. Naturalstattrick.com had a high-risk score of 10-2 in Vancouver's favor at five-on-five over the final 44 minutes.
Again, the Canucks had some obvious youthful energy as the rookie defenseman Tom Willander spent 21:07 on the ice while the 20-year-old Ze'ev Buyum Throughout 17:38 of the match, TOI looked confident and completed the assist.
Rookie Liam Ogren had the Canucks' best scoring chance in overtime, and NHL freshman Linus Karlsson had another strong game on a line with Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk dominating his shifts.
“Good to see,” Myers said. “I love our young guys. Obviously, I'm spending more time with the three young D players, and those guys have been great. They work, they come to the rink every day, they work hard to get better. But not only do they do that; you can see their game starting to pick up. And that's great to see. You know, they keep me young.”
The Canucks head out Sunday on their longest road trip of the season, six games in the East starting Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres.
