Nitzy's Hockey Den Vancouver Canucks All-Time Team

Last week when I chatted with Steve Dryden (Senior Managing Editor of Hockey at TSN) on the phone, we talked mainly about the Maple Leafs All-Time team. We also discussed the fact that as a Toronto native, I have lived in the Vancouver area for over a quarter century and have seen a lot in this market. In fact, the second ever game I attended in Vancouver was on May 24, 1994; Game 5 of the Campbell Conference Finals, the one where Greg Adams scored in double overtime to knock the Maple Leafs out and send the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final. I've seen enough of the Canucks over the years, I figured I'd create my own Canucks All-Time team too. So here it is.
The All-Time top line is probably the easiest of any Canadian NHL team. Sedins and Bure, done. As well, the top two goalies in Canucks franchise history is about as straight forward as can be. All due respect to Richard Brodeur, but he gets the nod as Foundational Player. 
The Canucks all-time to defencemen is loaded with Scandinavian skaters. The Canucks really never had an all-world defenceman in their history, it goes all the way back to the spin of the wheel that produced Dale Tallon as their first ever draft pick. Back then, the thought was he'd develop into one of the top defenders in the game. The Canucks are still waiting for that D-man, although they may very well have one currently in Quinn Hughes. Time will tell. Edler, Ohlund, Lumme and Salo are all similar kind of players, they could all provide some semblance of offence, help run a power play and play a solid game in their own end of the rink. Dennis Kearns and Doug Lidster round out the Canucks All-Time sextet as a defacto "shutdown" pair. I could have opted for Harold Snepsts, Kevin Bieksa, Garth Butcher or even Chris Tanev as more traditional shutdown guys, I felt Kearns and Lidster were more deserving.
Since I have already done three different versions of my Maple Leafs All-Time team (Entire franchise history, pre-1960, post-1960) I figured, why not compare the Leafs from 1970 to present, to the entire Canuck franchise of the same timeframe. Here they are.
Not as terrible as I expected. Although a bit weak down the left side, the top three Centres make up for it. That's without Auston Matthews who made the All-Time team on the "player from the current roster" rule. This time, Morgan Rielly gets that nod, rounding out the defenders. I just couldn't put Matthews ahead of Sittler and Gilmour if I had a way of avoiding it. There's five guys on this team that made the overall All-time Leafs team, and Sittler and Gilmour were on the bubble, so it's not all that bad of a squad.

Comments

Unknown said…
thank you for contributing to my club's history.,we appreciate it - daveyboy604
May 15, 2020 at 9:49 PM
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