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“As an athlete, you have a big voice and people listen to you,” Baertschi said Thursday before the Canucks departed for Whistler to open training camp Friday. “It was a big opportunity for me to have the spotlight on the SPCA. The stuff they do to find animals in need or who aren’t being treated right never stops. They grind and work their butts off.”

Just like Baertschi.

From an uncertain future to roster lock, Baertschi’s growth last season from self-doubt to a being confident was a grind. He needed a dozen games to score his first goal — a span that included three healthy scratches — but was kept in the lineup because he played responsibly without the puck.

Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images files

That was always the knock on a one-dimensional player who became solid in transition and scored in three consecutive games in December. He got to the net, scored greasy goals, earned power-play time and finished with a career-high 15 goals in 69 games to earn a two-year, US $3.7-million contract extension.

Now the talk is of increased potential as a consistent second-line left-winger with Bo Horvat in the middle and perhaps Jannik Hansen on the right side on a speed line that should have finish. It’s about how the 23-year-old Swiss native realized in a Jan. 19 game at New York’s Madison Square Garden that he had finally made it as a bonafide National Hockey League player. Not the one riding a roller-coaster existence between the minors and The Show. Not the guy that the Calgary Flames — who spent their 2011 first-round pick (13th overall) — had doubted.