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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Sven Baertschi’s boldest career move came off the ice.

It wasn’t that the Vancouver Canucks winger was acquired in a trade with the Calgary Flames for a second-round pick nearly three years ago, it’s the fact he asked to be dealt.

At age 22, that took some stones because Baertschi had no control over his destination. He could have been thrown an anvil instead of a life preserver.

It proved the latter because he was reunited with his former junior coach Travis Green, who turned the winger from a project with the Utica Comets into a bonafide NHL player.

“It wasn’t a good fit back then in Calgary and I got the call after the trade deadline, but it was an interesting concept,” Baertschi recalled Sunday. “Obviously, it’s different for me now personally and I want to stay here as long as I can.

Photo by DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

“You just don’t know if it’s going to be better for you or not and it was a bit of gamble. Obviously, it was nerve-racking but maybe Travis had something to do with it — or a lot of it — and going back to him and being in Utica with him was the best thing for me.”