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
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ron Hextall and the stolen Conn Smythe Trophy

Image
Ron Hextall did not deserve the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1987....there, I said it. I recently caught game seven of the '87 finals on ESPN Classic, where the Oilers beat the Flyers 3-1. Hextall was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy to the disdain and boos of the Northlands Coliseum. Hextall was (and remains) the fourth player to win the trophy in a losing cause. Even as a teenager following these playoffs as they happened, I thought this was an injustice. Upon further inspection, I believe he only won because he was a rookie, and was the "sexy" pick as opposed to the proper pick. When looking at his numbers, it's hard to figure why he won. Hextall finished with 15 wins, 11 losses and a GAA of 2.77. Oilers, Grant Fuhr went 14 and 5 with an average of 2.46. I realize that stats cannot tell the whole story, but even if we dig further the award doesn't seem justified. His .908 Save Pct was the same as Fuhr's and tied for third behind Ken Wregget and Kelly Hrudey. Also,...
Read more

WHA Ottawa Civics, The Two Week Franchise

Image
Tom Earl, Daryl Maggs, Mark Lomenda, Gary MacGregor, Garry Swain "Please let the fans make up their own minds," Henry Feller told a press gathering. "Let them decide if they want pro hockey here. We have to average 7,000 or 8,000 in the remaining 19 home games for a break-even point." Feller was a director of the Founders Club who had interest in buying the WHA's Denver Spurs club. Ivan Mullinex, owner of the Spurs had brought his team to Ottawa in an attempt to drum up interest and save his investment. The date was January 2, 1976 and Mullinex was in debt to a Denver bank to the tune of $1 million dollars. This same day, the newly christened Civics lost their first game under the new moniker by a score of 2-1 at Cincinnati. Star of the team, Ralph Backstrom said after the game, "Our first official notice of the move hit us when we entered the Cincinnati rink and the names on the big scoreboard read: Stingers and Civics. Until that moment we were un...
Read more

Team Canada 1972, What Might have Been

Image
Guy Lafleur, if he had played in the 72 Summit Series "No way. Can you imagine what our fans would say if we allowed Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito to play for Canada in that series and either...suffered an injury that might prevent them from playing with us for a year or more?" This was the concern of Weston Adams Jr, president of the Boston Bruins as quoted on April 20, 1972. After being speculated and discussed since February 1972 at the Olympics in Sapporo Japan, the series was set to go. Early on however, controversy stirred as to who exactly would be representing Canada. Bruins GM, Milt Schmidt agreed with his boss saying, "My only interest would be to see the Russians play the Bruins for the world championship...or whatever team wins the Stanley Cup." In the Vancouver Sun a few days later, the legendary Jim Coleman responds to the American naysayers suggesting that Team Canada should be made up strictly of players from Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal ...
Read more