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Part of the confidence comes from the changing NHL landscape. Subban cited smaller defencemen like Sami Vatanen (5-foot-10, Anaheim), Torey Krug (5-foot-9, Boston) and Jared Spurgeon (5-foot-9, Minnesota) as examples of blue-liners who are thriving.

“You have to think the game, be good positionally and work hard,” reasoned Subban, who gets regular encouragement from older brother P.K. “It (playing in the NHL) is possible and my height is definitely something that won’t hold me back.”

Canucks coach Willie Desjardins believes it’s more about the amount of time that smaller defencemen spend in their own zone that’s the determining factor in whether they can cut it or not. Stecher has already shown that in making a seamless pro transition.

“I was worried about Stecher’s size for sure at the start, but I look at Spurgeon and he plays against the other team’s biggest guys,” said Desjardins.

“That made me believe if one guy can do it, others can. And there’s no reason why Jordan can’t do it. He’s got good skill and an upside offensively.

“I said to him there are two ways of defending, You can work on your defence for 30 seconds in your zone, or you can get the puck and break it out right away. Then you avoid those 30 seconds.”

The Canucks wanted Subban to be exposed to the team culture this week. He took the warm-up skate at the United Center on Sunday, bonded with players Monday and was back on the ice Tuesday. It might not seem like much from the outside, but it has meant everything to Subban.

“You have to come here with the attitude to get better every day and you can’t take any days off,” he said. “It starts here with the leadership of the (Sedin) twins and right down to the younger guys. Everybody has a good work ethic and they’re glad to be here. I can learn from all those guys.”

And learn to take a joke — especially when teammates hid his helmet for the warm-up skate Sunday.

“That was cool,” chuckled Subban. “I appreciated that actually.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com

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Wednesday, Canucks at Colorado, 6:30 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040 AM.