Patrick Coulombe, I was surprised to discover, is still playing hockey.

The guy who was a surprise star early in the Vancouver Canucks’ 2006-07 campaign is 40 and still going in the French league, where he has spent more than a decade.

It’s a long way from the heights of his rookie season, when the undrafted ex-Quebec junior surprised everyone in Canucks training camp and then was an early-season callup, playing seven games for the Canucks that November. He wouldn’t play in The Show again, but he has made a good long career as a pro, and that’s worth something.

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It’s a teammate of his in that campaign who bears a lesson here, another rookie on that blue line: Alex Edler.

Edler obviously became the surprise defensive star, the b

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