This is the third episode of finding the Vancouver Canucks best players by their jersey number, and we have a change! We covered the highest 20 the first time out. Did the next 15 in chapter two. But now things are different! Because now, NOW… Every number is actually used.
Okay, it’s not _that_ dramatic. And some of the numbers are used in only the most generous sense. The display models, if you will. Perhaps some overstock in the official Canucks store. A few games in a Canucks jersey still means you’ve played games in a Canucks jersey!
The Canucks Best Jersey Number 55-64
64 – Tyler Motte
Sure, Tyler Motte is more skilled than Evan Oberg or Borna Rendulic. But even if they were equals, Motte endeared himself to fans with his headfirst play and wild enthusiasm. Less popular were his repeated injuries, but it’s a price he happily paid.
Motte has played for six different teams in his career – soon to be seven – but only stuck in one. He played 196 games in Vancouver, scoring 28 goals and 50 total points. He has yet to crack the 10-goal or 20-point mark in any season, and he’s decidedly mediocre at defence.
But he IS loads of fun to watch! And that’s as good a reason to have him here as any other.
63 – Jalen Chatfield
Jalen Chatfield is the Real McCoy! Okay, sorry, he’s undoubtedly heard that a hundred times. He is one of the more annoying players that the Canucks have simply let walk away.
Chatfield is a right-handed defenceman who has played the last two full seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes. He also just signed a new, three-year deal with them. He is a much better player now than he was in his 18 games with the Canucks and he’d have fit well with the team.
But his only competition is Philip Larsen‘s 26 games, so still an easy choice. As easy as the one the Canucks made to ignore him in 2021, apparently. Not that we’re bitter or anything. NEXT!
62 – Mário Bližňák
Mário Bližňák was a decently sized, modestly skilled centre who picked up one goal in six games over two seasons. The Canucks drafted him 205th overall in 2005.
Joseph Labate was a monstrous 6’5″ centre who the Canucks drafted 101st overall in 2011. He got zero points in 13 games over one season.
We flipped a coin. Congratulations, Mário Bližňák! You are the Vancouver Canucks best player to wear number 62, because sure!
61 – Riley Stillman
As fun as it is to say Evan McEneny, it came down to Nic Petan or Riley Stillman. Both are serviceable “tweeners” getting called up or being the extra forward or defenceman. We’re going with Stillman as he’s got two 50+ game seasons under his belt to Petan’s one.
The defenceman’s also got four goals and 26 points in his 158 NHL games. That’s close enough numbers to Petan’s seven goals and 35 points in 170 games to put him over the top. If you want to argue that the local (well, Delta) boy should get the nod, we’re good with that, too.
60 – Markus Granlund
With a handshake and quick thank you to Collin Delia for his service, this number is Markus Granlund‘s. His one good(-ish) season of 19 goals and 32 points was countered by two others of not that. All of his 215 games in Vancouver included the frustration of his fans and coaches at what could be.
But it never was. He chipped in 41 goals and 69 points for Vancouver, but his defence was never quite good enough.
59 – Tim Schaller
Tim Schaller was a regular on the fourth line, brought in as part of the perpetual search to raise the floor. He left little impression in Vancouver except for being part of the trade that brought back Tyler Toffoli. Schaller’s 98 games were somehow worth Toffoli’s seventeen.
58 – Robert Kron
If there’s a competition for Vancouver’s best name, Robert Kron has got to be in there somewhere. Instead, this one’s for the Canucks best by number instead. He still wins the title handily, eventually playing 771 NHL games.
Kron broke in with the Canucks and scored 24 goals and 57 points in 144 games for them. He was part of a multi-part deal that brought back Murray Craven and – eventually – fan favourite Scott Walker. That’s pretty solid.
57 – Tyler Myers
We all knew this was coming. When your nickname includes your jersey number, something big has happened. With Tyler Myers – AKA Chaos Giraffe, AKA CG57 – it was a whole lot of big things, positive and negative.
It’s very hard to ignore any player who is 6’9″ and on ice skates. When the expectation was that he would anchor the team’s top pair, well. Every mistake he made was amplified, and he was in a weird void where no one knew what to expect. Was he a scorer? A big defender?
Ends up he’s somewhere in the middle which makes no one happy. He tried to do more than he should for his first two seasons in town, and none of it worked. Fans were counting the days until his trade – and when that didn’t happen, then until his contract expired.
And then he found it. He settled in defensively, sticking to the second pair. He added some more offence in his first full year with coach Rick Tocchet. And now he has a new contract for half the price and two years less. And fans are…happy? Scared? We’ll find out!
56 – Guillaume Brisebois
A hard-luck story that can still have a happy ending, Guillaume Brisebois was supposed to be part of the team in 2023-24. Since being drafted in 2015, Brisebois has taken the long, long, LONG way to the NHL.
He spent two more years in the QMJHL, three in Utica and then the messed up COVID season. Then two more years in the AHL, moving to Abbotsford when the Canucks AHL team did. Finally, he played 17 NHL games with Vancouver in 2022-23. That led to a two-year deal, and Brisebois was ready.
Right up until he got injured before the 2023-24 season started. He got eight games in Abbotsford as injury rehabilitation and might have missed his best shot at the majors. He’s not big, he’s not fast, but he is a very smart player. That might not be enough, but he isn’t going to quit.
55 – Ed Jovanovski
If anyone was going to have the “Chaos Giraffe” moniker before Myers, it’s Ed Jovanovski. The first overall pick from 1994, he made his way to the Canucks in the massive Pavel Bure trade. He brought with him an element of wildness that was half throwback, half skill.
Jovanovski had the “JovoCop” nickname soon after the movie came out, and he lived up to Verhoeven’s vision. He fought, he’d drive the front of the net, play dirty, and jump anyone who hit a teammate. A wild card that was worth the cost of a ticket.
Jovanovski played 434 games with Vancouver, scoring 57 goals and 234 points, including a 17-goal season in 2001-02. He also racked up 536 minutes in penalties and averaged over 24 minutes per game. Not their best player ever on the blueline, but one of the most entertaining.
The Canucks Best Number – 45-54 Up Next
Coming up! Fan favourites, a former captain, and more than one player no one knew what to do with.
Main Photo Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
