VANCOUVER — Patrick Russell’s hockey journey has always been one of life on the fringes.

He’s heard the word “can’t” at just about every turn as in he can’t skate well enough, he can’t score enough, he can’t do this or that so this Danish winger who played his kid hockey in Sweden and has a name more out of Camrose than Copenhagen, can’t be an NHLer.

And truthfully, his name was pretty far down the list of bottom six possibilities when camp opened because several others have better NHL pedigrees, but Russell, who got into his second straight exhibition in Vancouver Tuesday, tends to grow on you and he had a goal and an assist in the Oilers’ 4-2 loss to the Canucks.

He’s still in tough to be one of the 7-14 forwards on the roster because Riley Sheahan, Josh Archibald, Jujhar Khaira and Markus Granlund, even if he did little against the former club, are locks to be there. Tomas Jurco, who also scored and helped set up Russell’s goal, has played 201 games, Colby Cave was a fourth-line regular last year. And Cooper Marody, who had two assists here, Joe Gambardella and Tyler Benson were bigger names in Bakersfield last year.

But, coach Dave Tippett has noticed Russell, who got into six Oiler games last season but it might have added up to 40 minutes total. He started on a line with Cave and Granlund against the Canucks but was moved onto a offensive line with Marody and Jurco. He got an assist when he got the puck to Marody whose shot was put back by Jurco, then ripped one past Thatcher Demko off feeds from Marody and Jurco, who looked like a guy who led Charlotte to the AHL title last spring.

But back to Russell.

“Patrick does little things that allow teams to win…not just putting points on the board,” said Tippett.

There are players who don’t put up big AHL minutes who can be NHLers because of the style of game they play, no matter where it is. Maybe Russell is that guy but if not, it’ll be back to work for the 26-year-old who was never drafted but in college (St. Cloud State) and the AHL has gotten better every year. He did have 40 points in 51 games last year in Bakersfield.

“Russell helps the Bakersfield team win and he plays in the same role there as here which is a conscientious game,” said Tippett. ““It’s penalty-killing, it’s board work and it’s playing really smart when you have the lead. Smart role players do this and they’re able to play at the NHL level because of it.”

Russell, who played with Brad Malone and Gambardella last year in Bakersfield on the Condors’ second line, has never been a big scorer. But he’s got from 17 to 27 to 40 points in the AHL. In college, he went from 25 to 41 in his two years there.

“You have to know your role and what you’re good at.”

“My style is paying attention to the details, playing simple” said Russell.

“I’ve always had to prove something. I was injured (ACL knee) my entire draft year…played in Sweden in junior (Linkoping) but they told me they didn’t want to sign me (senior team) so I had to figure out what to do so went to the USHL…I like the underdog role,” said Russell.