The Vancouver Canucks agreed to terms with Tyler Myers on a three-year contract with a $3 million AAV on Thursday afternoon, and on Friday morning, he spoke with the media to talk about his new deal.
It was important to Myers to stay close to home and he wants to continue building on what the team achieved last season.
“That was always what I wanted, what our family wanted. [I’m] super excited to build off what we what we had last year, and it's great for us being close to home, really happy for the family,” Myers said.
“I really, truly believe in our team. And I think what we were able to accomplish last year, even though it's not where we want to be, it's a good stepping stone to where we're trying to get to.”
The team made strides in building a winning culture, Myers spoke about coming to Vancouver early to skate together ahead of training camp and he says to take the next step they need to continue to put the work in and come into next season with the same mindset.
The 6-foot-8 defenceman had 29 points (5-24-29) last season and averaged 18:56 per game during the regular season.
“We've changed the standard. We talked about going into the year. We wanted to raise our standard as a group, but I don't think we flipped a switch and all of a sudden that was changed. We built off some early success going into the season at the start of the season. And I think that feeling and that belief grew with that. Guys came into the rink every day, looking to get better, if guys were unsure on certain things, I feel like they were more open to talking to other players or coaches,” Myers said.
The group focused on the details and improved as individuals and as a unit and held each other accountable. With 15 years of NHL experience, Myers says he’s always there to help the younger players whenever he can and that the defensive group kept communication going throughout the year.
Establishing a culture based upon hard work and open communication was a big factor in his want to return. The expectations for the team were set and that helped Myers flourish.
“The communication was constant, the feeling of never being satisfied, everybody was always trying to get better. I think that in itself just created that much more talk within the room and communication from the coaches to the players. For me, that just provided a lot less guessing going on the ice. I've been pretty vocal about how I feel about them [the coaching staff] and, you know, they were a big part of why I wanted to stay so bad,” Myers said.
