NHL Game Preview - Ottawa at Vancouver

Tue Oct 10, 2017 10:00 PM EDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Alex Burrows will learn how the other half lives Tuesday night.

Burrows will play his first game in Vancouver since the Canucks traded him to the Ottawa Senators just before last season's NHL trade deadline. His return adds an aura of intrigue early in the season as the rebuilding Canucks (1-0-0) try to remain unbeaten in the young season.

The injury-riddled Senators (0-0-2) are looking for their first victory.

"When the schedule came out, that was the first thing I looked to -- seeing when we were going to play the Canucks," Burrows said Monday. "It's nice to be here at this time of year when the weather's nice."

Burrows, a native of Pincourt, Quebec, was traded after toiling in 822 regular-season games with the Canucks and producing 193 goals, 191 assists and 1,066 penalty minutes. He also amassed 34 points in 70 playoff appearances.

Vancouver fans took a shine to him after he went undrafted and rose to the NHL through the East Coast and American Hockey leagues. Initially tagged as a plugger, he earned a regular spot on Vancouver's first line with stars Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

It did not take long for Ottawa fans to take a liking to him either, as he scored two goals in his NHL debut. Ironically, considering the uncertain start to his career, he got to pick his new team -- and subsequently negotiated a new two-year contract that kicked in this season -- thanks to a no-movement clause in his old deal.

"It's been everything I was hoping for," Burrows said of playing with the Senators. "I felt this team had tremendous potential to do a lot of good things, that their window of opportunity was just opening.

"That's what I saw last year, and that's what I see right now."

Burrows is interested in seeing how Canucks fans respond to his return after watching former teammates Roberto Luongo and Ryan Kesler, among others, get mixed results in theirs. (Luongo, now with Florida, was feted, while Kesler, who demanded a trade to Anaheim, was booed and jeered.)

Canucks winger Derek Dorsett expects his former teammate to receive a warm welcome on Tuesday.

"He was a heart-and-soul guy, and I didn't think playing against him for so many years that we would be good buddies," Dorsett said Monday. "You look at his story. The amount of games he played in the NHL but also professionally in the AHL and ECHL.

"I'm sure it will show here Tuesday with a (video) tribute and I'm sure there will be a lot of Burrows jerseys in the stands."

Meanwhile, a minor league call-up or two will be wearing Ottawa jerseys against Vancouver as the Senators deal with a decimated defense corps.

Young rearguards Thomas Chabot and 2015 fifth-round pick Christian Jaros were promoted from the Senators' AHL farm team in Belleville, Ontario, on Sunday after Ben Harpur became the latest casualty. Harpur sustained a shoulder injury Saturday in Ottawa's 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

Harpur, who was an earlier call-up from Belleville, joined fellow defensemen Johnny Oduya (lower body) and captain Erik Karlsson (foot) on the sideline. Oduya was hurt in the season opener, a shootout loss to the Washington Capitals, while Karlsson is recuperating from surgery to repair a heel injury sustained in 2016-17.

"That's our top two guys gone," Senators coach Guy Boucher told Postmedia on Monday. "The adversity comes from the fact that you're asking guys to do things that they're not used to doing and for many minutes. We need those young defensemen to come and log minutes, not change, come here and make a gigantic difference."

The Senators were reduced to five defensemen against Detroit after Harpur, who is listed as week-to-week, left the game early.

"We need the other five guys to be able to breathe a little bit, to be able to do what they can do when we normally play with six guys," Boucher told Postmedia. "That's what those young guys are going to have to come and help us with."