It’s not a snapshot for the family album, but it’s one to keep within reach for added motivation.

When Linden Vey made a valiant attempt to check the hulking Ryan Getzlaf in the defensive zone slot last season, the Vancouver Canucks centre was swatted away with one arm like an annoying fly. He fell to the ice and fell further on hard times.

That telling Dec. 28 outing in Anaheim stretched his goalless streak to a dozen games and it would reach 14 before he was scratched for the third time.

Vey sat out seven regular-season games and appeared in just one of six in the postseason, and while nobody expected Vey to level Getzlaf in that collision, the offseason message was clear to improve on a paltry 10 goals last season and solidify a roster spot.

“It was basically, you’ve got your four months and it’s kind of do or die for me,” Vey admitted Monday following an an informal skate at the Britannia rink in Vancouver.

“This is the year I’ve got to prove to myself and everyone that I belong, and be a guy that the organization needs going forward. You only get so many opportunities and this has been my best summer in working on my fitness.

“I spent three weeks in Vancouver and have followed the program all summer. I’ve gained a lot of strength and that’s the biggest thing I had to work on. It’s winning puck battles and battles down low.

“I think everybody will agree that I don’t lack the skills to play in the NHL, but it’s the physical side of the game. I put in the time because I have to be able to do a job against big centres.”

Only time will tell if the 24-year-old Vey will be a roster mainstay because he’s behind Henrik Sedin, Brandon Sutter and Bo Horvat on the centre-ice depth chart.

He’s also on a one-year, one-way contract at $1 million and will either be part of the future here or part of a housecleaning with nine expiring contracts.

It’s a sobering reality for an amiable guy who was slotted on the first power-play unit at camp in Whistler last year and was a third-line centre regular before being bounced to the wing and bounced down the lineup.

Yet, amid the uncertainty of generating offence on the fourth line with projected linemates Brandon Prust and Derek Dorsett, comes a calming reflection from the six-foot, 190-pound Wakaw, Sask. native — even though he is listed as a winger on the main camp roster, and even though youth could be served sooner than expected.

“This is the kind of a year I like going into and I feel confident,” said Vey. “Last year, there were a lot of expectations and this year it’s more myself putting expectations on me, and I think I can go about my business.

“Maybe last year I got too much opportunity at the start. Sometimes when you get it too quick, you can’t find your game and I was focusing more on who I was playing with and where I was playing rather than focusing on what you can control — and that’s how hard you’re playing.