It's official: Kiefer Sherwood is not a one-hit wonder.
Other free agents have fooled the Vancouver Canucks before. Radim Vrbata had one amazing year after signing in the summer of 2014, only to fizzle out in year two. Even Ilya Mikheyev had a decent debut before struggling the following season.
Not only is Sherwood stepping up in his second year with the Canucks, he's putting himself in the conversation as one of the best free agent signings in franchise history.
The 30-year-old now has six goals in 10 games, leading all Canucks. That doesn't even include the first goal of the game he scored, which was waved off due to an offside challenge.
"Yeah, that was obviously a buzzkill," Sherwood told Sportsnet's Dan Murphy after the game.
The Ohio native didn't let that stop him from having himself a night.
Sherwood scored the overtime winner to give the Canucks a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers, tipping home a Brock Boeser shot during a sequence where the Canucks had three forwards out during a 3-on-3 shift.
However, it was his second-period tally that prompted chants of "Kiefer Sherwood" from the Canucks crowd.
With time draining in the middle frame, Sherwood turned Mattias Ekholm inside out before burying his shot past Calvin Pickard.
"It means the world," Sherwood replied when asked by the media about the fans chanting his name. "It's why you play the game... just those feelings."
"You just try to give them those moments to cheer for."
It's not just the highlight-reel goals that make Sherwood so impactful, although he's on a torrid pace to start the season.
It's also about his big shot blocks on the penalty kill. It's the fact that he hits at everything that moves. It's about him driving the opposition nuts both in scrums after the whistle and on the scoresheet.
"He plays with that edge, plays with that speed all the time," Elias Pettersson said postgame. "His goal today was amazing to see. Very happy for him."
Sherwood never played more than 50 NHL games in a season until he turned 28 years old. The undrafted free agent grinded through most of his 20s before finally establishing himself as a full-time NHLer.
As more time passes, the decision to sign Sherwood in the summer of 2024 is looking like one of the best free agent signings in team history.
Sherwood has unequivocally established himself as a fan favourite in Vancouver, much like another undrafted free agent, Alex Burrows, did nearly 20 years ago.
And after Burrows, Sherwood already has a strong case as the second-best free agent signing this club has ever made.
The competition includes the likes of Dan Hamhuis, Chris Tanev, Mikael Samuelsson, Lars Lindgren, and Andrew Cassels, and Anson Carter.
If Sherwood keeps playing like this for a full season, he will sit clearly alongside Burrows as the best free agent Vancouver has ever unearthed, especially if he gets the chance to bring it for the Canucks in the playoffs.