Jerseys of Vancouver: rare Canuck
- Thread starter nastynuck
- Start date
Namestnikov was a good player who probably should have been an NHL regular - had some skill and was a vicious hitter for his size. But when you were 5'10 as a defender at the height of the Dead Puck Era, you were kinda screwed, and NHL teams kept vastly inferior players like Dean Malkoc on their roster instead.
Horse McHindu
They call me Horse.....
Honestly,
I'd be willing to buy a Petri Skriko jersey if one was available.
I started following the Canucks right around the time they had Skriko, Smyl, Sandlak, Tanti, Snepts, Butcher, Coxe, etc. Those guys weren't the Oilers.....to put it politely.......but damn I loved those guys. Gave it a 100% each night, and almost took out Calgary in 89'. #OttoKickedItin
Their grittiness and never-say-die attitude is what made me a life long fan. It was always sweet whenever they managed to win on occasion.
I'd be willing to buy a Petri Skriko jersey if one was available.
I started following the Canucks right around the time they had Skriko, Smyl, Sandlak, Tanti, Snepts, Butcher, Coxe, etc. Those guys weren't the Oilers.....to put it politely.......but damn I loved those guys. Gave it a 100% each night, and almost took out Calgary in 89'. #OttoKickedItin
Their grittiness and never-say-die attitude is what made me a life long fan. It was always sweet whenever they managed to win on occasion.
Namestnikov was almost an instant fan favorite when he was called up, like MS said he was an aggressive hitter, which was really surprising for a Russian player. I was sure he was going to stick with the team and was quite surprised when he didn't last.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Different country but look at how Hlinka & Bubla were different as players in the NHL (as they wound down their careers). One guy "style" seemed to fit perfectly with what was passing for hockey in the NHL at the time - the other guys? Not so much.
The 1990s were a really weird time for NHL defenders with almost every team assembling their roster horribly inefficiently.
If you were a defender who was under 6'0 or if you didn't have a mean streak and put up at least 50-80 PIMs/season ... forget about it. You weren't going to stick. Instead every NHL team carried two AHL-level cavemen on their roster who were awful players but were big and tough and 'cleared the crease' and were 'hard to play against'. Guys like Robert Dirk, Dean Malkoc, Jason Strudwick. If this was 1995, Stecher and Hutton and probably Tanev would be in the AHL (or would never even have received pro contracts in the first place) and Andrey Pedan would be a roster regular.
Another guy who got a really raw deal here was a guy named Chris O'Sullivan. He played a dozen games here in 1999-00 on a not very good team, and was just a sublime transition defender. Extremely mobile, brilliant first pass - puck was down the ice in an instant. Was an obvious excellent possession player before that was ever a thing, and I thought he was sure to stick here as I thought he was one of our best players every night ... but he had no physical game at all so he was cut as soon as guys got back from injury, and we continued on with the ghastly Jason Strudwick and not very good Murray Baron as regulars.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
Yeah, that's another good one. I was too young to remember him here but he comes up pretty regularly on the HOH board here with Swedish posters listing him as the top Swedish player not to stick in the NHL. Won something like 3 SEL MVPs and was still a high-end player into the late 1990s despite leaving here in 1982.
That was kind of why I thought he'd stick though... he made a really solid first impression by crushing a couple guys, and I thought that might be all it took. He may have run into some injury trouble (unsurprising) which wouldn't have helped – I don't fully remember.
I vaguely remember O'Sullivan but lived in Montreal at the time and rarely got to see the team play except Saturday nights.
I remember the preseason when Scott Walker and Mark Wotton both showed up. I liked both guys – and of course Walker turned out to have an excellent career. But I still wonder (admittedly from the tiniest of sample sizes and fuzzy memory) whether Wotton wasn't the type of guy who'd be better suited to a more enlightened view of the game that wasn't yet around.
skeena1
Registered User
- May 15, 2006
- 1,243
- 158
Me to. He gave me his stick, and that finally converted me to A Canucks fan (Winnipeg transplant.) That was back at the old Pacific Coliseum. after games, kids were able to go to the doors that led to their private area. their way in they would stop sign thinks give away sticks etc. Was A great thing to have. I think that was 86? Could you imagine that now? A reg kid has A really rare chance at ever getting any swag. Kinda sucks. I'm sure guys like Brock or Bo or the Twins etc, wouldn;t have an issue, Then just tell the kid in the nose bleed hey we got A stick signed by some of the guy's. Might just make A kids year. We're not all blessed.
I rememeber hearing somewhere how everyone else tried to match the legion of doom strength for strength, and Lindros would just win that battle. Scotty Bowman put out his top 2 puck moving d-men against them instead (Lidstrom and Murphy I think?), and that was supposedly the difference in the cup finals. You didn't beat Lindros' line with brute force, you beat them with finesse and puck possession. Maybe that could mark the start of a transition, with the lock out being the final nail in the coffin?
I remember doing the same thing at the Saddledome in Calgary. When I was really young you could wait down where the Zamboni came out. My claim to fame was some minor league team my age (maybe 8 year olds) got a "meet the team" thing in the training room, and our parents got my brother and me to sneak in with them. It was just after Lanny McDonald. My brother and I being honest kids realized we weren't meant to be in there, and told some guy in a suit, but he told us to stick around anyway. A few minutes later McDonald spotted us and realized we weren't meant to be there, and kicked us out before any of the players got to the room.
Megaterio Llamas
el rey del mambo
it was Tony Gallagher who once came to the defense of Anders Eldebrink when he was being bullied by Garth Butcher in training camp, asserting that "nobody moves the puck like Anders Eldebrink". I didn't know he was related to Nordmark though. Similar players really, Eldebrink was softer than Nordmark though.
This was in Tony's pro Euro phase. Late seventies early eighties vintage Gallagher.
Hit the post
I have your gold medal Zippy!
From my recollection, Nordmark couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with his shot. Actually unless I'm confusing him with someone else, someone way up in the crowd is more likely to be hit by the puck (from a Nordmark shot) than the net.
David Bruce Banner
Nude Cabdriver Ban
That would be Jiri Slegr (Jiri Bubla's son). His shot was an unguided missile. Eventually he ended up on the Oilers and broke teammate Jason Arnott's face with a point shot. I remember someone, maybe Dave Randorf, leading into the highlight saying, "well, you knew this was going to happen sooner or later..."
Megaterio Llamas
el rey del mambo
I don't recall Nordmark's shooting prowess to be honest. Eldebrink didn't really play enough games to get a good handle on his abilities though I do recall him being soft as margarine.
