Under appreciated Canucks of All Time

Captain Bowie

Registered User
Jan 18, 2012
27,139
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Raffi Torres would have had a much longer and more fruitful career were he a little smarter and had more awareness and wasn't so damn wreckless.
 

iceburg

Don't ask why
Aug 31, 2003
7,602
3,959
Nick Bonino. Straight up he was the best player in the Pitts trade for Sutter.
I made the mistake of looking at the stats since the trade:
games/goals/point

Sutter: 232/45/92
Bonino: 362/74/161

And he is arguably better defensively. He never got the respect he deserved here.
 

Horse McHindu

They call me Horse.....
Jun 21, 2014
9,668
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Beijing
Does Sundin get the 2010 unsung hero award?

I’d have him as a nominee for sure. A 38 year old coming into the fire after missing half a season, only to start returning to form in a big way down the stretch. Sundin was a PPG player in the playoffs that year, and Kesler cites Sundin as being a major influence on him, in terms of transitioning from a defensive center into a two-way beast. I was very thankful for Sundin’s brief time as a Canuck.

Some other guys that come to mind:

-Tyler Motte
-Murray Baron
-Ryan Miller
 

Zippgunn

Registered User
May 15, 2011
3,928
1,627
Lhuntshi
I’d have him as a nominee for sure. A 38 year old coming into the fire after missing half a season, only to start returning to form in a big way down the stretch. Sundin was a PPG player in the playoffs that year, and Kesler cites Sundin as being a major influence on him, in terms of transitioning from a defensive center into a two-way beast. I was very thankful for Sundin’s brief time as a Canuck.

Some other guys that come to mind:

-Tyler Motte
-Murray Baron
-Ryan Miller

Hmmm such a fine line between goat and hero. Mats gets lionized for his numbers here (28 points in 41 games) yet Messier is worse than Satan at the same age (54 points in 66 games; he missed 16 games due to injury). Kesler cites Sundin as being a major influence on him (hmmm) while Naslund cites Messier as being a major influence on HIM. Interesting...
 

Didalee Hed

I’m trying to understand
Sep 14, 2019
1,963
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AFC6C41A-6E7A-47F7-BAC8-4EB0DDA5F392.jpeg
 

Jyrki21

2021-12-05
Sponsor
Mats gets lionized for his numbers here (28 points in 41 games) yet Messier is worse than Satan at the same age (54 points in 66 games; he missed 16 games due to injury).
To be fair, during Messier’s three years in Vancouver, Satan put up seasons of 22, 40 and 33 goals for the Sabres while costing way less.

:sarcasm:

(Side note – Miro’s goal totals are very Swedish-Canuck-number friendly).
 

Horse McHindu

They call me Horse.....
Jun 21, 2014
9,668
2,650
Beijing
Hmmm such a fine line between goat and hero. Mats gets lionized for his numbers here (28 points in 41 games) yet Messier is worse than Satan at the same age (54 points in 66 games; he missed 16 games due to injury). Kesler cites Sundin as being a major influence on him (hmmm) while Naslund cites Messier as being a major influence on HIM. Interesting...

this is an excellent point. To be honest, I never fully bought into the mantra that Messier was a cancer here. The guys that seemed to have issues with Messier were some of the old 1994 guys (Linden, Odjick, McLean, etc.). Guys like Naslund and Bertuzzi however, were nothing but complimentary. The Canucks never should have targeted Messier in the first place, as we weren’t even close to being “one piece away” at the time. Messier was well past his prime, and was also going to be teammates with whom he had competed against in a cup finals just a few years earlier. Of course there was going to be tension there. The fans and media, not Messier, were basically the ones that put pressure on Linden to hand over the captaincy (also Mess probably shouldn’t have accepted the captaincy). It was also on ownership to consult with the Maki family with regards to the usage of #11. How on earth was Messier supposed to know about Wayne Maki? The whole Messier thing was screwed up from the start and he never should have been brought in. The team had become a lazy country club atmosphere long before Mess got here, and major changes were needed.
 
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PG Canuck

Registered User
Mar 29, 2010
62,739
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Right, if he had had exactly the same career but with the Bruins everybody on this board would compare him to Satan...

That's how hockey works. If Burrows was an Oiler, we'd all hate him. If Marchand was a Canuck, we'd all love him. Nothing groundbreaking or shocking about it.
 

Shareefruck

Registered User
Apr 2, 2005
28,875
3,570
Vancouver, BC
A lot of these guys (like Higgins, Cooke, Torres, and Salo) are pretty well appreciated.

I LOVED watching Artem Chubarov's game when he played for us-- like a bull-ish power-defensive-forward. I seem to recall Klatt, Linden, Cooke, and Letowski getting all of the attention instead when he was just as important and doing it at a very young age.

I remember Brent Sopel being somewhat unfairly maligned when he was here simply because he occasionally made really visibly goofy glaring mistakes (that usually didn't even cost them) and had a dumb look on his face when doing it. Ate top four minutes often against top forwards because he played with Ohlund (was in way over his head in that regard, but still did okay in that role), fantastic at holding the line and getting shots through, produced offensively, and I may be misremembering, but didn't he basically make peanuts the whole time he was here? Yet he was basically treated like Lucas Sbisa or something, and if I'm not mistaken, often blamed for Cloutier's inconsistent play at times. He was better overall than Malik, Allen, or Baron by a wide margin, from what I remember, but was always more vilified and scapegoated.

That one year of Magnus Arvedson that we got was pretty special as well. Formed one of the strongest shut-down lines in the league for a period of time with Cooke and Linden, and then ended up having great offensive chemistry with the Sedins as well before having a career ending injury.
 
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vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,584
15,946
I LOVED watching Artem Chubarov's game when he played for us-- like a bull-ish power-defensive-forward. I seem to recall Klatt, Linden, Cooke, and Letowski getting all of the attention instead when he was just as important and doing it at a very young age.

my memory is everyone loved chubarov, and rightfully so.

“will win selkes,” “better than the sedins,” and so on
 

VanJack

Registered User
Jul 11, 2014
21,043
14,073
I know his Canuck career went by in the 'blink of an eye'.....but pound for pound, Alex Mogilny might have been one of the most multi-talented player ever to put on a Canucks uni.....but just never worked out for him here.
 

Mr. Canucklehead

Kitimat Canuck
Dec 14, 2002
39,961
29,757
Kitimat, BC
A lot of these guys (like Higgins, Cooke, Torres, and Salo) are pretty well appreciated.

I LOVED watching Artem Chubarov's game when he played for us-- like a bull-ish power-defensive-forward. I seem to recall Klatt, Linden, Cooke, and Letowski getting all of the attention instead when he was just as important and doing it at a very young age.

I remember Brent Sopel being somewhat unfairly maligned when he was here simply because he occasionally made really visibly goofy glaring mistakes (that usually didn't even cost them) and had a dumb look on his face when doing it. Ate top four minutes often against top forwards because he played with Ohlund (was in way over his head in that regard, but still did okay in that role), fantastic at holding the line and getting shots through, produced offensively, and I may be misremembering, but didn't he basically make peanuts the whole time he was here? Yet he was basically treated like Lucas Sbisa or something, and if I'm not mistaken, often blamed for Cloutier's inconsistent play at times. He was better overall than Malik, Allen, or Baron by a wide margin, from what I remember, but was always more vilified and scapegoated.

That one year of Magnus Arvedson that we got was pretty special as well. Formed one of the strongest shut-down lines in the league for a period of time with Cooke and Linden, and then ended up having great offensive chemistry with the Sedins as well before having a career ending injury.

Arvedson is a good one. I actually really liked Mats Lindgren during his season with the Canucks. Very good defensive player with a strong hockey IQ, just couldn’t stay healthy.
 

Burke's Evil Spirit

Registered User
Oct 29, 2002
21,372
7,336
San Francisco
Arvedson is a good one. I actually really liked Mats Lindgren during his season with the Canucks. Very good defensive player with a strong hockey IQ, just couldn’t stay healthy.

Ruutu-Linden-Lindgren was just an awesome fourth line for us.

People forget but in 03-04, the Canucks lost 2 forwards to career ending injuries (Arvedson and Lindgren), on top of the Bertuzzi thing. What could have been.

Lindgren, by the way, still lives in Vancouver.
 
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Mr. Canucklehead

Kitimat Canuck
Dec 14, 2002
39,961
29,757
Kitimat, BC
Ruutu-Linden-Lindgren was just an awesome fourth line for us.

People forget but in 03-04, the Canucks lost 2 forwards to career ending injuries (Arvedson and Lindgren), on top of the Bertuzzi thing. What could have been.

Lindgren, by the way, still lives in Vancouver.

I believe he coaches in the NSWC program on the North shore.

I think the 03/04 and 94/95 Canucks were both teams that deserved better dates. The 94/95 Canucks lost 3 of their 4 games in the second round in overtime, and the other by a goal. McLean was still giving top notch goaltending, and the team was still deep, experienced and talented. In 2003/2004, we had all the pieces on the roster (save goaltending) to go deep. We pushed Calgary to seven games in spite of losing our top forward to injury, two other vital forwards to career enders, and our starting goalie going down to injury in the third game.

Anyway - another under appreciated Canuck for me was Brad May. Two tours of duty with the team, frequently fought outside of his weight class to protect his teammates, and was a good leader in the room, too.
 
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ChilliBilly

Registered User
Aug 22, 2007
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chilliwacki
Ivan Boldirev
Paulin bordeleau
Jiri Bubla
Ivan Hlinka
Jocelyn Guevremont

Seldom remembered and were some of the best Canucks in their times
 

ChilliBilly

Registered User
Aug 22, 2007
7,080
4,325
chilliwacki
Ivan Boldirev
Paulin bordeleau
Jiri Bubla
Ivan Hlinka
Jocelyn Guevremont

Seldom remembered and were some of the best Canucks in their times
 

F A N

Registered User
Aug 12, 2005
18,626
5,890
Anyway - another under appreciated Canuck for me was Brad May. Two tours of duty with the team, frequently fought outside of his weight class to protect his teammates, and was a good leader in the room, too.

Well he was kind of overpaid and he kind of sucked when he was here. Then again he was forced to take on fights that was above his weight class due to lack of HW options.
 

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