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“I didn’t know. The good thing is he knew. He knew what he wanted to do. He wasn’t going to come back and just try to hang on.

“I guess he’s proven people wrong his whole career. People have always wondered if he’s going to take the next step or keep doing it. But he always finds a way.”

Even if he’s the only one who can see that way.

Friday night, Burrows drew the primary assist on Luca Sbisa’s goal, then added an empty-netter in a 4-2 victory over Tampa the Canucks needed the way roses need rain water. On the season he’s returned to top-six duty and his six goals and 14 points have been found money for a team desperate for offence.

Photo by BEN NELMS / THE CANADIAN PRESS

But those numbers don’t begin to tell the story of the influence Burrows has had on his young linemates Bo Horvat and Sven Baertschi or his impact on the locker-room. Desjardins’ team is in tough virtually every time it takes the ice but there have been games this year that Burrows has coaxed a winning effort out of this group through the sheer strength of his will.

That he’s done that at all is impressive enough. That he’s done it when he looked to be the forgotten man heading into this season might be the most remarkable chapter of his remarkable career.

“He’s made our team better,” said Desjardins.

“Look at his career,” said Horvat. “He’s always had to work for everything.”

Horvat, just so you know, was seven-years-old when Burrows broke in with the East Coast league’s Greenville Grrrowl 14 years ago, and, with Baertschi, the trio forms an odd confederacy. Desjardins admits he was just throwing names into a blender when he came up with this configuration for a Nov. 15 game against the Rangers. But that night the Canucks snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 5-3 win and the line has been the team’s most consistent unit ever since.