One on One Thomas Gradin He is a quite man, on the ice as well as off it Therefore, ‘he is not the hol- ler-quy that some team leaders are. But make no mistake about. it: ‘Thomas Gradin is a Canuck leader, in the eyes of many who have watched him since Jake Milford ‘stole’ him from Chicago for a draft choice that became Steve Ludzik. Gradin Is representative of the Canucks nucleus. He is at the prime of hockey lile:.27. He is the feeder for ‘wingers Darcy Rota and Stan Smyl. Only Herold Snepsis has been with the cub longer, and only Smyl and Kevin McCarthy as long. He is repre- sentative of the changing game of the NHL, as a European import DUNN: Everybody savs that you are the best player this franchise has ever had. How satisfying is that? GRADIN: That's very satsiving. Its always great to hear positive things about you, but i's very important to kop that kind of standpoint, to. DUNN: In hockey, what's the toughest criticism you've ever had? By Bob Dunn It | play the way thoy think 1 should play, ‘willbe here quite a number of years. What's hurt you the most? GRADIN: That I never shoot the puck, I'm always hearing that, even in Sweden. I think it’s tapered off I think ‘even the fans realize that i's a good thing to pass the puck once in a while, too, DUNN: Did you ever fee! that you didn’ tshoot enough? GRADIN: Well, when you get told four or five times a day, you better start thinking about i, but I never felt that 1 really had to, because if T can make a good play and it tums out to bbe a goal anyway, there can’t be any reason for doing that DUNN: Why did you think it was important to build up your upper body strength by going back to Swe- den and singing garbage bags like you did? GRADIN: That was two summers ago. [ only did it for three days, and everybody thought I did it for the whole summer. A fiend of mine drove by and asked me if would lke to help him for a day. One of the guys ‘working for the company is one of the hockey people and he thought it would be a great PR thing, so he phoned the newspaper right away. DUNN: Js intimidation stil very much apart of the NHL? GRADIN: Not as much as it used to be, DUNN: Why? GRADIN: Because the team can't ailofd to have those players. They can't afford to have @ guy just for fighting. He has toibe some kind of hockey player, too. That's the way it works, t DUNN: In inteftiational hockey, fighting isn’t allowed. Proponents of fighting in the NHL say if you took it out of the game, you'd have more spearing and butt-ending. Do you agree with that thinking? GRADIN: Yes, sort of. It would be great if there wouldn't be any of them, but it should be in the game. When {wo guys get upset, it's fair when they just throw down the gloves because it's very tough to throw a punch on 5One on One continued skates. I don’t think anyone can get hurt much. | really lke that better than to have two guys go at each other with the stick DUNN: You seem to be extremely wise, Is this from education or experi- ence? GRADIN: I'ma smart guy... ha, ha. No, it's a combination of experience and things you have been taught to do. DUNN: Last year, did you feel more responsibility to be a checker until Roger Neilson said he wanted you to play more of an attacking ste? GRADIN: Well, to be a checker in the system we had was to make sure other guys didn't get scoring chances. As a team, 1 don't think that's maybe a good idea to have... is very dificult for a teal good team to have the best guys at making scoring opportunities fo be the checkers. This year, we haven't been checking anything at all Our record isn’t any worse than last year when we were just going in to check a team. DUNN: So what's the ight way? GRADIN: Halfway between. I's not a bbad idea to check, but you can’t check. for 80 games and have any success, DUNN: There was much discussion about your plus-minus statistics. Peo- ple thought it was very important to you, Was it? GRADIN: If there is any stat you really count in Europe, it's the plus- minus. There is no other stat you ‘would really care about. Nobody hikes to be a minus. DUNN: Did that make it more dificult to accept? GRADIN: No. You have to think about how the team is playing, too. Some games when you're down 3-1 ‘or 3-0, some guys have to go out and play every other shift fo create scoring ‘opportunities. Three or four games ‘out of ten, you are successful, The other seven games you lose 5-0 or 6-0 just because you take the chances, and that's also where the plus-minus comes into t. DUNN: How has the Swedish influx of players in the NHL affected hockey in Sweden? GRADIN: It's a better opportunity now for the younger guys to have the chance to play fis in the Elite Division in Sweden, and then the next step, play on the National team, There are 6 so many players who have gone away, there is a shortage of players. That means players who are younger get better opportunity to play. DUNN: Whatis the ultimate now fora young boy growing up in Sweden ... isitto play in the NHL? GRADIN: For sure. I know guys who have a dream just to play in the NHL But to play there, you have to go through the National team in Sweden first. Otherwise, I don’t even think you will be drafted, You have to take one step ata time. DUNN: Who is regarded as the best hockey player Sweden has ever produced. .. and don't be modest? GRADIN: I would say a quy like Bove Salrsing must be up there. He has been around for so many years now and I would think he was Just a kid himself when he broke into this league. In my opinion, it was tougher five years ago to break into the league because of the difference in style. The style is more like the Swedish style now than it was five years ago, and. Salming was five years ahead of me, too, 80 I can imagine there was even mote of a problem at that time, DUNN: Don’t you think you rank high among Swedish exports? GRADIN: | don’t know . . . I made Team Sweden, so I must be one of the 20 best. DUNN: There was talk of your possi- ble retum to Sweden after the federal budget a couple of years ago. How close did it come to happening? GRADIN: It was very close. I's a dis- cussion about what your value is. When you sign a contact, they always say “This is how much you're worth” But the question you always ask is: “How much do I get?” That's what it is all about. All of a sudden, that changed, Then I found no reason to stay, because I would get almost that kind of money playing as a top player in Sweden, DUNN: What happened in the 1th hour to convince you to stay? GRADIN: We played out the year and we agreed on certain terms on a contract. DUNN: So it was simply 2 matter of the Canucks coming up with the ‘money that was required at the last minute? GRADIN: | wor't say anything about that, but things are great for me. DUNN: What is your contract situa- tion, in ferms of length? GRADIN: Quite a few years left. f things go right, i I play the way they think I should play, I will be here quite ‘a number of years DUNN: When you came to Van- couver, what was your perception of the NHL? GRADIN: You get two sides. One is just by average people who say it must be tough, there's 2 lot of fighting, i is hard, tough play on smaller rinks. The other is from the players who actually had been playing here. Anders Hed- berg , Uf Nilsson, Kent Nilson... 50 {you Have two ways to go. You have to try it yoursell A lot of players said guys like Kent Nikson and myself would never make it_in the NH because we were too Europear-siyie players. But... we made it. And there are guys you would say he would make it for sure, because he's strong, and a good hitter. He should be the fone who should make it right away, but he hasn't been too successful. DUNN: How have you changed your thinking about what the NHL is? GRADIN: When 1 first came, I tked the attitude, But I didn’t ke the way they were playing it, because I could see very easily that they wouldn't have a chance ageinst the Russians, ‘with the kind of conservative play they had here. As you have seen, it has changed a lot during these five years, which I feel good about, In one way, I have been part of if, but the main rea- son is the Canadians themselves or at least the coaches. They've tried to keep the attitude but change the style of play. If they can keep that thinking, they could be way ahead of the Russians. DUNN: Will the Soviets ever change to the point of having the style and that attitude? GRADIN: | don’t think the Russians will ever change their attitude. There are Canadians whose ability is very low in comparison to some other guys, but they overcome that because of their attitude to just win the game, and I don’t think the Russians can ‘ever change that DUNN: You are known for being 2 teetotaller, and I know that you're involved in Counteratiack. How didOne on One continued GRADIN: I'm sil involved in it but that program has been put on hold because of budgetary reasons. For me, its a great thing. I never tasted a beer, or any kind of liquor, 50 think it ‘was a natural thing for them to contact DUNN: Is there some long-sianding reason for you not to drink? GRADIN: | think it's because I was very young when I started playing with the 'big boys’. That atmosphere 0 early meant a lot to me. Isaw a lot of things I didn’t really lke, and 1 dln’ treally believe in. DUNN: A couple of years ago, you said that the Canucks had a culture, an identity, for the fist time since you. ceame here. Is that same statement still ‘ruc? GRADIN: Even more, The first year we came here, no one really knew what they were doing. There were all kinds of systems, guys didn’t know what to do and how to do it When Harry Neale came, he put one system fn. . even though we were losing six ‘or seven in a row. Keeping the coach, keeping the management, you always get something that you’ believe in ‘Then, as we have it now, it makes itso «easy for the guys who have been here to realize how important those things are. DUNN: When does this identity or this culture manifest itself in success ‘ona continuing basis? GRADIN: Maybe it never happens. You never know, but that's what | think is so exciting about the game. You never know what's going to hap- pen, When we made the finals, we ‘weren't maybe the true finalist during the regular season, but even though it could happen, teams like Hartford and New Jersey could make the playotfs and maybe go to the final ‘The thing is f you keep doing what you believe in, what most of the peo- pile believe in, sooner of later you hit that spot, DUNN: So realistically, to attain thet kkind of consistency, you have to look three or four years down the road. GRADIN: | think so, because we are only three guys left since we started, In my opinion, if we had been a really successful team right now, we should have been at least seven or eight aus. ‘That means I think we'll have to wait until those guys like Tony Tanti and Patrik Sundstrom have started their third or fourth year DUNN: So obviously you think i's important to keep some kind of stabil- ityin the roster? GRADIN: Very important. You can see Boston, or Philadelphia. Even though they change a lot of guys, they sill have their same experienced guys who have been in the team for a ong time, But they haven't changed their statusin the standings DUNN: Are you a team leader, or ‘THE team leader, with this club? GRADIN: It’s tough to say. I would like to be one of them, But [try to do the best 1 can and if that helps the team, | really lke that. 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