All-Time Canucks Roster

Posted on by

I know this Canucks season hasn’t been what we hoped it would be. The magic of last season seems like it was a decade ago. I don’t know about you, but for me, the worst part is that we haven’t had consistent playoff hockey here in years. The last time this team was a consistent contender was during the Sedin era. However, I still have faith that this group will figure it out. It may not be this year, but I believe we can get back to the playoffs very soon. Lately I’ve been feeling super nostalgic and have been watching videos of playoff runs from years past. Don’t you miss those years when the Sedin twins were dominating, or the years with the West Coast Express line? Imagine if the Canucks still had them with this current roster.

This got me thinking about what an all-time Canucks lineup would look like. So, I put one together. I made the roster with players who had their success predominantly with the Canucks. That’s why you won’t see Cam Neely, Mats Sundin, or Igor Larionov on this team. This was super hard to make and I changed it around a ton but I finally settled on a final roster.  Without further ado, here is my all-time Canucks team.

Forwards


Line 1: Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Pavel Bure


Line 2: Markus Naslund – Brendan Morrison – Todd Bertuzzi


Line 3: Stan Smyl – Elias Pettersson – Trevor Linden


Line 4: Thomas Gradin – JT Miller – Tony Tanti

Honourable Mentions: Alexander Mogilny, Ryan Kesler, Cliff Ronning, Alex Burrows

Ok, the first line shouldn’t be debatable. They are the three best Canucks ever. The Twins are number one and two in scoring, they’re both Hall of Famers, and each has won an Art Ross trophy, Henrik even won the Hart Trophy. Pavel Bure is arguably the most skilled player the Canucks have ever had. He had three 50-plus goal seasons in Vancouver, including back-to-back 60-goal seasons in 1993 and 1994. Bure is hands down the best goal-scorer the Canucks have ever had and one of the best of all time. Doesn’t this make you wonder how good they would be if they actually played on a line together? Bure, one of the best goal scorers of all time, playing with one of the best passers the league has ever seen in Henrik Sedin. Imagine those slap passes to Bure, or those magical between-the-legs passes finding him in the slot. Even better, picture this, Bure streaking down the wing, breaking a defenders ankles, dishing it to Daniel, who passes it to Henrik, who gives it back to Bure for a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal. That’s every Canucks fan’s dream.

For the second line, you know I had to keep the West Coast Express line together. Naslund, Morrison, and Bertuzzi were the best line in all of hockey in the early 2000s. Naslund was the star. From 2001-2004, he had four seasons over a point per game, headlined by having 104 points in 2003, and finished top five in Hart Trophy voting for three straight years. Bertuzzi was one of the best power forwards in the league at the time, and Morrison complemented them perfectly. So you know I had to keep the three of them together.

Now the bottom six is where it got really hard. First off, I want you to completely forget this season.

Elias Pettersson belongs on this team. He is already ninth all-time in points and could jump to number six if he has a great season next year. He is one of only seven Canucks to have 100 points in a season, and before this year, he was over a point per game in his career. So before you type up a storm in the comments, Pettersson has the numbers and six great seasons backing him up.

Stan Smyl may not be the “sexiest” pick, but “Steamer” was one of the few great players the Canucks had in the ‘80s and was a huge part of the 1982 Cup run. From 1980-83, Smyl averaged 81 points and 34 goals in an 82 game season, and had eight straight years of scoring at least 20 goals.

Trevor Linden shouldn’t be debatable. He is Mr. Canuck and helped lead them to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in 1994, all while averaging 32 goals and 70 points a year from 1991-1994.

The fourth line could have gone to multiple guys.Thomas Gradin is the one player who should be here no matter what. He is sixth all-time in scoring, had three 30-plus-goal seasons, and three straight years of being over a point per game.

If you were a Canucks fan who grew up in the 2010s, you might not agree with these last two spots and wished they would have gone to Alex Burrows and Ryan Kesler instead. But hear me out. JT Miller takes the center spot because he is 11th in scoring and was over a point per game as a Canuck. The only other player to do that was Pavel Bure. Throw in the fact that he had three straight years of over 30 goals and the seventh-highest scoring season as a Canuck with 103 points last season.

As much as I wanted to put the Dragon Slayer Alex Burrows on here, I couldn’t justify leaving Tony Tanti off the team. Tanti had three 40 plus-goal seasons and two 39 goal seasons from 1984-1988. Burrows’ best goal-scoring year was 35 goals in 2010, and that was the only time he scored above 30. You probably have fond memories of Burrows, as do I, but he just missed the cut.

Kesler scored 41 goals in 2011, but his second-highest was only 25, so he just missed. Alexander Mogilny had 55 goals and 107 points in 1996, but injuries limited him in the seasons after that. Cliff Ronning was another solid player who just missed, but he wasn’t a Canuck long enough to make my all-time team.

Defense


Pair 1: Quinn Hughes – Mattias Ohlund


Pair 2: Alex Edler – Jyrki Lumme


Pair 3: Ed Jovanovski – Kevin Bieksa

Honourable Mentions: Harold Snepts, Dave Babych, Dan Hamhuis

Quinn Hughes is already the best defenceman in franchise history. If you think otherwise, either you haven’t watched hockey since 2011 or you’re just jealous of him. He needs no explanation for being on this team, his Norris Trophy speaks for itself.

Mattias Ohlund was one of the most underrated defencemen in the early 2000s. He finished 10th in Norris Trophy voting in 2002 and is third all-time in points and second in goals for a defenceman in franchise history.

Before Quinn Hughes came along, Alex Edler was the standard for Canucks defencemen. He is the leader in points and goals for defencemen in franchise history… for now. He was so consistent for many years in Vancouver. Jyrki Lumme is fourth in points and third in goals for a Canuck defenceman and was one of their first offensive defencemen.

The Canucks got Ed Jovanovski in the package for Pavel Bure, and that was for a reason. When you trade a franchise icon in his prime, you would hope to get an elite player or two in return. That’s what Jovanovski was. “Jovocop” finished in the top six in Norris Trophy voting in back-to-back seasons in 2002 and 2003 for Vancouver.

Kevin Bieksa takes the last spot for me. He is seventh in points and ninth in goals for defencemen and had Norris votes in 2007 and 2012. If I had to add a seventh defenceman, it would have been Dan Hamhuis. He received Norris votes in his first three years in Vancouver and finished 10th in 2012. He was arguably the best defenceman on the 2011 team, and that’s saying a lot considering how good that blue line was.

Goalies


Roberto Luongo


Kirk McLean

Honourable Mentions: Richard Brodeur, Thatcher Demko

The goalies were the easiest part of making the team. Roberto Luongo is the best goalie in franchise history. He gave the Canucks a chance to win every game for eight seasons. He was the backbone of the 2011 Stanley Cup team, the leader in every major goaltending category in franchise history, and is a Hall of Famer. Kirk McLean was a two-time Vezina Trophy finalist and, before Luongo, was the leader in wins and shutouts.

I’m sure you disagree with half of my picks, sound off in the comments and let me know what you think I should change.