Former Duck Nick Bonino returns tonight to Anaheim

Asked his level of surprise at how well former Ducks center Nick Bonino has played with the Vancouver Canucks, Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau said, “None.”

“You guys knew I thought he was a good player … he’s turned out to be a real good player.”

Following a 22-goal, 49-point breakthrough campaign with Anaheim last season, Bonino has seven goals and 12 points for the Canucks (10-5), who can tie the Ducks (10-3-2) for the Pacific Division lead by beating them tonight at Honda Center.

Bonino and defenseman Luca Sbisa were traded along with a first-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks in June for center Ryan Kesler, the 2011 Selke Trophy winner who’s helped Anaheim improve its defense, penalty killing and faceoffs.

Ducks injured forward Kyle Palmieri, who came up through the minors with Bonino, said he’s spoken to his ex-teammate “quite a lot” since the deal.

“Obviously, I have a lot of free time on my hands, so I’ve watched some of his games, and he’s been a fun player to watch,” Palmieri said. “He’s playing with the same linemates, that’s helped. I’m really glad and happy for Bones.”

Bonino was dealt by Anaheim a week before his wedding.

“It’s definitely shocking a little bit,” Bonino told The Times on Saturday night.”You’ve got to make a lot of arrangements for stuff in storage and housing, and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, it was probably a good thing my wedding was coming up because I was able to put the trade in the background and focus on the wedding.”

Bonino said after Saturday night’s 5-1 loss to the Kings, “We’re happy we’re playing back-to-back because when you lose a game like this, you always want to get right back at it, and it just so happens it’s the Ducks.”

Bonino explained his team’s otherwise strong start as a result of being “in pretty good shape, and we’re playing pretty hard every night. When we’re winning our battles, like we didn’t do tonight, we’re a pretty tough team to beat, and we’ve had solid goaltending all year.”

The move up north has obviously agreed with him.

“It’s a very accepting team,” Bonino said. “They’ve made it very easy to transition to, and it’s not a bad place to have to play hockey for a living. It’s been great so far, [starting] 10-5 is where you want to be, and we’re happy with that.”