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Is Mattias Ohlund the best Canucks defenseman ever?


riotsurvivor

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i never understood this stupid infatuation with the offensive defenseman. Ohlund is a defenseman, his job is to "defend", and no other canuck did this better than him. who cares if other blueliners score more? Jovo, Ehrhoff, Bieksa... these guys have always been defensive liability, especially in the playoffs. you win the stanley cup with shutdown defensemen, others can score fancy goals for all i care

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i never understood this stupid infatuation with the offensive defenseman. Ohlund is a defenseman, his job is to "defend", and no other canuck did this better than him. who cares other blueliners score more? Jovo, Ehrhoff, Bieksa... these guys have always been defensive liability, especially in the playoffs. you win the stanley cup with shutdown defensemen, others can score fancy goals all they want.

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Ohlund was great. Would have probably been even better without the eye injury - perhaps even Norris-candidate-better.

But, I gotta say, Hamhuis has been solid gold since he signed here. If he ends up playing out his career here, and doesn't lose much performance-wise, he may end up the best we've had.

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Best defenceman, IMO, to ever suit up as a Canuck was Paul Reinhart. He could skate, pass, shoot, score, play physically. It's too bad we didn't get hime earlier and that he couldn't stay longer. He retired at age 29 because of a back injury that he couldn't shake. 114 points in 131 games as a Canuck. Not too shabby. A career ended far too soon.

Ohly is a close second, for me. Not as prolific offensively, but, way above average defensively and moved the puck out of his zone well. 11 years in VanCity sums it all up, for me. So glad he played here in his prime.

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Sami Salo deserves to be part of the conversation. Aside from his health (or lack thereof), he was really an ideal d-man. His offensive talents speak for themselves, but imo he was one of the most consistent and solid defensemen Vancouver's ever seen. Note, in his time with the Canucks, he left with a +78 rating, tied with, believe it or not, Dana Murzyn for tops all-time.

PPG - 0.417

When considering statistical comparison of the likes of Lumme and Ohlund, recall they spent significantly more time with Vancouver Pre-Lockout (2005, not 2013).

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I was looking up Lumme highlights on youtube and ran into some '94 Canuck lore that i forgot even happened:

The 1994 Canuck fan appreciation event held at BC Place.

A few thoughts about it:

1. We packed BC Place to capacity and yelled and screamed like we won. (This event is usually reserved for winners.)

2. The event blows our reaction to the 2011 cup finals loss out of the water. It became more clear to me why we still hold '94 in such high esteem.

3. We absolutely LOVED Bure. As it was commented on in the footage, he turned a lot of 'meh' hockey fans in this town into real hockey fans.

4. Every player on that team stood up and made a speech to the fans, including guys like Shawn Antoski. The premier was there. The Campbell trophy was on display. Again, odd event for a non-championship team, but the demand for it was obviously there.

5. My apprecation for our fanbase just went up a few notches.

It was uploaded in 2007 and i'm sure a lot of you have seen it already, but it's worth another look, imo.

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Ohlund is definitely in the conversation along with Reinhart, Lumme, Jovanoski, Edler, Salo, Bieksa and possibly HAmhuis if he keeps playing like he does.

I have been watching the Canucks since 1971 and the 70's and 80's were pretty sparse when it came to top end D-men. Kearns was a good playmaker, McCarthy was okay, Rick Lanz & Doug halward, Doug Lidster were okay in the 80's

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