Who are the greatest Canucks of all time? I recruited a crew of Canucks writers to attempt to answer this question in a bit of a unique way: a draft.
I asked these writers to select a starting lineup of three forwards, two defencemen, and a goaltender, along with a coach and a wild card: a grinder, enforcer, or heart-and-soul type. But before we get to the votes, let鈥檚 meet our panel of esteemed draftists.
- Rob 鈥淭he Hockey Guy鈥� Williams - The sports editor for and promoter of .
- Ryan Biech - Writer for and Canucks.com, specializing in prospects. Creator of gifs.
- Jeremy Davis - Analytics guy for , who creates some lovely graphs and writes some lovely words to go with them. Prospect junkie.
- Wyatt 鈥淭he Stanchion鈥� Arndt - Regular backup for Jason Botchford on The Provies and creator of massive word counts that give Rob Williams headaches at The Daily Hive.
- Omarcanuck - Writer for , devoted transcriber of radio interviews, and big-time tennis fan.
- Patrick Johnston - Reporter for Postmedia, aka. and . Loves rugby more than the average Canadian. He missed the draft, so had to pick from the leftovers.
- Daniel Wagner - It me.
The rules are simple: it鈥檚 a snake draft, so the order switches every round. Once a player/coach is picked, they鈥檙e off the board. I鈥檒l post two rounds of the draft each day, then the final lineups on Friday with a poll, so everyone can argue over who ended up with the best team and vote for their favourite.
By a random number generator, Rob goes first鈥�
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Rob: For the first pick of the draft, I鈥檓 taking Pavel Bure. The most electrifying player in team history. Picked him mostly to piss everyone else off, because he's not actually my favourite player.
Daniel: You鈥檙e a jerk.
Ryan: I was hoping he would fall to the sixth round. For my first pick, I鈥檓 taking the best centre that the Canucks have ever drafted: Henrik Sedin. A future hall of famer with multiple NHL awards, Olympic gold and a cornerstone of the franchise for over a decade. Had to start somewhere and you can't go wrong with Henrik.
Although, ideally I would've liked to have traded back and acquired more picks but that wasn't allowed.
Jeremy: You would. Well, you鈥檙e definitely not getting both twins: I鈥檓 taking Daniel Sedin. The Canucks all-time leader in virtually every goal scoring category, Daniel was an obvious choice at 3 with his twin brother and Bure off the board. With an Art Ross, a Ted Lindsay trophy, and three all-star selections to his credit, this probable future hall of famer is easily one of the greatest Canucks ever.
Daniel: I am thrilled to select, from 脰rnsk枚ldsvik, Sweden: Markus Naslund. An absolute legend who helped lift the Canucks out of one of their darkest eras, Naslund is easily one of the greatest Canucks and one of my personal favourites. Not just an elite sniper, but an underrated playmaker and the cornerstone of the West Coast Express, one of the greatest lines in Canucks history.
Wyatt: Speaking of darkest eras鈥鈥檓 taking the one, the only Mark Messier. Undisputed greatest leader in the history of everything. Just by reading his name you've become a more productive reader, and most likely, a better person. You probably now also owe him some money and he probably stole your number. But leadership.
Daniel: You鈥檙e the worst, Wyatt.
Jeremy: The absolute worst.
Rob: You鈥檒l never work in this town again.
Omar: I thought for sure that Wyatt was going to take my pick. First, I'm going to tell you what I was going for with this team in three words: scoring, awesomeness, and bad-ass-ness. So let's start with Alexander Mogilny: he who put up 1032 points in 990 regular season NHL games. I've already checked all the boxes. I'm done.
Daniel: You鈥檙e not done: you were last so you have to make another pick.
Omar: I鈥檓 not done! Roberto Luongo! Not only is my team the most exciting, it has the best Canucks goalie of all time. I don't know how this happened: were you guys asleep?
Wyatt: If goalies are getting picked this round, I need to get my guy: Dan Cloutier. The acrobatics of Hasek minus the saving part. Still, if things go out of hand, we all know Cloutier can punch with the best of them. Fair warning: Watch out for shots from center ice. Or the half board. Or the blue line. Or the slot. Or in front of the net. Other than that, though, he's got it. I think.
Jeremy: Bold move.
Daniel: I see what you鈥檙e doing, Wyatt, and I love you for it. But if we鈥檙e going on a run of goalies, I鈥檓 going with the last great stand-up goaltender in the NHL: Kirk McLean. My reason for picking him really needs only two words: The Save.
Jeremy: Goaltender time? Cory Schneider time. His time with the Canucks might have been brief, but it was certainly memorable. He was a part of the greatest Canucks season ever, a season in which he shared the Jennings trophy with Roberto Luongo. Though just 28% of his career minutes to date were with the Canucks, the 0.927 save percentage he had here contributed to a career save rate that is on par with Dominik Hasek, and currently good for third all-time among all goaltenders.
Daniel: Stats!
Ryan: I wanted to shore up my goaltending, but you guys took Luongo and Schneider off the board, so I have to look at the defence. I鈥檓 taking Christian Ehrhoff and let's be clear: I am drafting the 2010-11 Ehrhoff, not the current one. 50 points in 79 games and was a huge part of the Canucks powerplay dominance.
The Canucks acquired him for pennies on the dollar and he was a huge part of the Canucks ascension to the league鈥檚 best teams. It may have been a reach in the second round, but Henrik Sedin and Ehrhoff is a good start to a first unit powerplay.
Jeremy: I鈥檓 sensing a theme.
Rob: Trevor Linden is still available? I鈥檓 taking Linden. Everyone else must have their judgement clouded by his job as team president, because I don鈥檛 know how else I鈥檓 getting one of the best players in team history at the end of the second round. He's also the only player that will play on crutches.
Daniel: Rob鈥檚 got Bure and Linden already: going for that 鈥�94 nostalgia.
Wyatt: You know who beat both of them in 鈥�94?
Daniel: You鈥檙e the worst, Wyatt.
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That鈥檚 it for day one, which started off with a run on forwards, a quick dip into goaltenders, and just one defenceman, an off-the-board selection of Christian Ehrhoff by Ryan Biech. Come back tomorrow for day two!
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