Today’s episode of the Vancouver Canucks Best by Number is brought to you by the last retired number on our list, difficult decisions everywhere, and possibly the most injured number in Canucks history.
Our previous entry’s over here.
Canucks Best by Number: 6-10
Seriously, a lot of these numbers have three or four good choices between them. Should a player who is still active take precedence, or one who’s long retired? Great players in weak seasons, of good ones lucky enough to play on great teams? Fortunately, the first pick’s pretty easy.
10 – Pavel Bure
Easy, sure. Also pretty dang complicated. Even starting at the start with Pavel Bure is a bit tricky, because you have to ask which start?
The Canucks drafted Bure in the SIXTH round of the 1989 draft, and couldn’t get him for another year. Not because the USSR was still keeping players back, but because other NHL teams objected. He was very well-known to North American scouts, but particularly to the Canucks.
Mike Penny started scouting Russia for Vancouver, and the obvious place to start was the Viktor Tikhinov-coached CSKA Moscow. They had two players the Canucks were still waiting for – Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov. Also known as the Central Red Army club, CSKA Moscow had the USSR’s best players filtered to it.
Penny noticed another, tiny player skating with the club, and asked after him. Somehow, in some way, a 16-year-old player had made the veteran-loving coach’s team. Bure played just five games with the team in 1987-88, scoring once with an assist. The next season, he played 32 games with 17 goals and 26 points.
He followed that up with eight goals and 14 points in the World Juniors, and the cat was well out of the bag. What kept him from getting drafted that year was “the Russian Question”. When would he come to the NHL, and was that worth the early pick? They decided no, and the Canucks decided to lawyer up.
We Got Him! Now What?
The Canucks best ever at number 10 came to town in time to be mentored by their best-ever number 18. Larionov had been in Vancouver for two seasons and loved it. He couldn’t help his friend Krutov make the transition to North America, but Bure was far more adaptable.
Fortunately for Canucks fans, because Bure was bottled lightning. He was instantly a star, the style of player Vancouver hadn’t seen before. There had been good skaters and fast players and a few high scorers. But seeing someone accelerate after they took a pass and blow past defenders was a whole new level.
That first year, Bure tied the Canucks rookie points record, set by the 32-year-old Ivan Hlinka. He still has the team’s rookie goal-scoring record with 34 and their short-handed goal record with three. Three isn’t a lot, but how many coaches have their rookies killing penalties? And give them the green light to try scoring?
Larionov left the team the next season, but Bure had a new best friend on the team – enforcer Gino Odjick. In 1992-93, Bure scored 60 goals on 407 shots. Both are still Canucks records, with his shot total 105 more than the second-highest player on the list, Markus Naslund. Bure also has the single-season record for even-strength, short-handed, and power-play goals.
We Lost Him! Now What?
Things got complicated during Bure’s tenure with Vancouver. Stories abounded that he would have sat out of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final if a new contract wasn’t reached. When a new deal was revealed, it included the team putting Bure’s father on the payroll.
Always a target, he started to accumulate injuries, including playing through concussions and surgeries on his knees. There was a pay dispute during the 1994-95 lockout, and he sat out four games. Rumours of a trade request started to circulate before the 1997-98 season, and after that year he told the team he wouldn’t play the last year of his contract.
That left a lot of fans with a bad taste in their mouths. After years of increasingly difficult negotiations and what he felt was alienation from the team, Bure was traded to the Florida Panthers. The deal netted Vancouver the former first overall pick from 1994 Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, and goalie Kevin Weekes.
For a forced deal, it was a decent return. But there has arguably never been another player like Pavel Bure in Vancouver Canucks colours. Not just the Canucks best at number 10, but arguably their best-ever player.
9 – J.T. Miller
First off, we’re going to put some respect on Don Lever‘s name. He never led the team in scoring, but he was top-three for a half dozen seasons in that first bleak decade. He managed a 15-year career on some of the worst teams in league history, including the Canucks, Atlanta Flames, Colorado Rockies/Devils, and Sabres. Salute his endurance, if nothing else.
A possible choice for the Canucks best at number nine is Tony Tanti. Vancouver’s first true scoring star, Tanti racked up three 40+ goal seasons and two more reaching exactly 39. By the time he was traded away, Tanti played 531 games for Vancouver, scoring 250 goals and 470 points.
But we’re going with the guy who seems to keep getting better every year, J.T. Miller. It was a controversial deal, to say the least. A weak Canucks team moving out high draft picks was… challenging to the fan base. Especially for a 26-year-old middle-six centre.
That attitude has changed somewhat. Since coming to Vancouver and taking on a leadership role, Miller has obliterated any memory of his past teams. In his first season, he missed a dozen games because of the COVID-shortened schedule and still hit career highs in goals and assists, then followed that up with 18 points in 17 playoff games.
In his fifth season with the Canucks, the vocal leader had his best season with 37 goals and 103 points. He’s currently at 364 games, 143 goals, and 402 career points with Vancouver.
8 – Chris Tanev
Another number with a handful of choices! Soft-spoken scorer Greg “Gus” Adams? The Big Pickle himself, defenceman Willie Mitchell? Current spitfire and perpetually underrated whirling dervish Conor Garland? When decisions are this hard to make, you should call Dad.
Chris Tanev was somehow signed out of the Rochester Institute of Technology – total NHL alumni, two – in 2010. Over the next three seasons, he moved between the NHL and AHL as the team tried to decide if scoring points was really that important? The Canucks had plenty of point-getters, after all…
It speaks volumes when a defenceman is described as a “throwback” in a complimentary sense. He managed 20 points for Vancouver twice in 10 seasons, but that was fine. He would get the puck out by any means necessary, sacrificing his body repeatedly. Injuries piled up, but his cool demeanour never cracked.
Eventually, he became the veteran who welcomed new players to the team and the city. But even that couldn’t keep him here when he hit free agency, eventually going to Calgary, then Dallas. For a defender with as few points as Tanev – 514 games for Vancouver, just 122 points – he’s always in demand.
7 – Brendan Morrison
Just to check this off the list, Barry Pederson was a very good player. In 347 games with Boston, he scored 163 goals and 408 points. Trading a first-round pick and a physical forward seemed worth the risk. It, ah, didn’t work out quite like Canucks fans wanted, but so it goes.
André Boudrias may not have been the Canucks best at number seven, but he deserves his plaudits. He’s certainly one of the best trades Vancouver’s ever made, in contrast with the last guy. A seventh and a ninth went to St. Louis, along with an indeterminate amount of cash, and Boudrias came back.
The 27-year-old was on the first-year Minnesota North Stars. but was otherwise used sparingly through four different teams. In return for their roll of the dice, Vancouver got their leading scorer in four of their first five seasons. That’s pretty dang good.
Brendan Morrison, the defensive conscience of the West Coast Express, takes the number here. He was a cardinal piece between Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund, catching plays they missed and spotting opponents trying to cheat their positions. Morrison was a crafty player, and skilled enough to complete the trio.
In eight seasons with Vancouver, he had 136 goals and 393 points in 543 games.
6 – Brock Boeser
Maybe the Canucks best player at number six should go to whoever can make the ceremony. The two players we thought of here are two of the most highly skilled, often injured players in this entire series.
In a 15-year career, Sami Salo managed a full season (79 games) once. He lost more than 300 games through 40 different injuries, including one that inspired a famous arena chant. An Achilles tendon rupture during ball hockey. A pulled glute celebrating a goal. Countless times blocking shots or hit by a clearing attempt. Literally snakebitten.
But when he could play, Salo was a rock-solid defenseman. Very few mistakes, willing to drop the gloves, and a hammer of a shot. He played 566 games with Vancouver, scoring 74 goals and 234 points.
On the other side, Brock Boeser‘s injuries, while plentiful, tend to be a little less dramatic. His first full season with the Canucks saw him score 29 goals in 62 games, make the All-Rookie team, and come in second for the Calder Trophy.
The talent to be a 40-goal scorer was always there. The opportunities, however, were often lacking. In most seasons, Boeser is on pace to hit 30 goals until yet another on-ice injury takes him out. Between those and his father’s health concerns, not reaching that magic number was wearing.
But finally, he is healthy and focused. Boeser not only reached 40 goals last season in 81 games, his defence has improved dramatically. He was always a solid player along the boards and good positionally, but for 2023-24 he caught fire.
Now, Vancouver had a LOT of players hitting career-highs last season, so there’s luck involved. But if the players didn’t, then neither would the team. It’s hard to call a 40-goal player underrated, but Boeser is almost as good a passer as he is a shooter. He’s the Canucks best at number six, and he’s earned it.
Added Bonus! Check out Adrian Aucoin and his wild, record-setting season.
Canucks Best by Number Next Time!
Whew, this one went long. Thanks for sticking to it, and tune in next time for the close of our series, just in time for training camp to open. See you then!
Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
