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Most Outrageously Underrated Canucks D-Men in History?


Kevin Biestra

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8 minutes ago, debluvscanucks said:

Ha, I was just typing out Hedican.  

He was great, eh.  Elite skater who could compensate so much for risk-taking - close on odd-man rushes with ease -  and is seriously overlooked imo.

I love Malik as well - quietly an very solid D - and in the tradition of Lumme, Salo - another great personality.

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8 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

ahhhh...Brett Hedican....skated like Bobby Orr (but that was about the only thing that was similiar about the two LOL).

ahhh, fair to measure under-rated and overlooked players relative to HOFers / Legends?

Hedican was a very important addition to the 94 team that went to SCF game 7.

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Just now, oldnews said:

ahhh, fair to measure under-rated and overlooked players relative to HOFers / Legends?

Hedican was a very important addition to the 94 team that went to SCF game 7.

fair enough (though I felt he had fantastic skating ability - just that his other hockey skills didn't quite match that).

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7 minutes ago, NewbieCanuckFan said:

fair enough (though I felt he had fantastic skating ability - just that his other hockey skills didn't quite match that).

to his credit though, he wasn't just a quick skater - lots of guys are - but Hedican used it - he was a suffocating transition defender.  I think that tends to be highly under-rated - as are things like puck retrieval - when you're as fast - and aware -  as he was. 

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17 minutes ago, GiveEmTheCan said:

Brent Sopel

 

Guy took a ton of flak while he was here, but he was a consistent 40pt threat from the blue line. Underrated shot that did damage when it wasn't blocked.

 

He also bled Canucks colours. 

He bled canucks colours so much that he was bested by a cracker.

I actually do agree though sopel was pretty good here.

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Jiri Slegr's old man Jiri Bubla had some decent years for the Canucks in the 80's.

 

No love for Garth Butcher? He was our Bieksa of the 80's.

From his Wiki page ..............."Butcher played an aggressive style and earned a reputation as a classic "needler" who distracted opponents or provoked them into taking penalties. In 1989, Gerard Gallant of the Detroit Red Wings was suspended five games for retaliating and deliberately attempting to injure Butcher."

 

Haaaaaaarolllllllld Snepts

 

Sami Salo. Back when our PP was consistently over 20%. Man those were the days.

 

Oh yeah Jyrki Lumme.

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2 hours ago, joe-max said:

Where is the ruptured testicle? You know, the one that even has its own facebook page. Oh right, he didn't miss any games with it...

 

For underrated defenseman I would throw in Nolan Baumgartner. He scored 42 points in 99 games in a Canucks uniform and later was an important leader on the farm team. Basically he was like Weber or Larsen, PP specialist with questionable defense, but he actually produced from the point.

 

Honourable mentions: Scott Lachance and Marek Malik. Both were extremely reliable on the blueline for almost 150 games each.

Baumgartner is a good call.

 

Plus he's been a big part of the franchise.

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Ohlund. Who knows how good he would have been if he didn't take a puck to the eye in Japan.  Could stand guys up at the Blueline as good as any we've had ( although Babych getting hit by Probert and then watching Big Bob fly ass over tea kettle was legendary)....

Edler should have taken lessons....

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1 hour ago, nuckin_futz said:

Jiri Slegr's old man Jiri Bubla had some decent years for the Canucks in the 80's.

Threw a great hipcheck.  Had no problem with this 'clutch & grab' period in the league.

 

Unlike the more famous of the two (at least I think he was - this was a LONG time ago & my memory isn't perfect heh...) Hlinka, his 'style' seemed to fit right in here  (re: more physical).  Again, going by memory, I *think* he used to give these great 'bear hugs' on anybody that tried to fight him (he wasn't exactly accustomed to 'dropping in the gloves' in Europe - and he had to defend himself somehow...).

 

Had a "little problem" that resulted in him being jailed after his playing days were over - but he paid his dues to society  (even a guilty man should only be punished once).

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3 hours ago, IBatch said:

Ohlund. Who knows how good he would have been if he didn't take a puck to the eye in Japan.  Could stand guys up at the Blueline as good as any we've had ( although Babych getting hit by Probert and then watching Big Bob fly ass over tea kettle was legendary)....

Edler should have taken lessons....

Ohlund wasn't really under-rated - most people realized he was a stud 1D.

 

Edler didn't need to take lessons.  Edler was on a remarkable trajectory - and was a hell of a defenseman - before his back problems.

Had very good upside - a 40-50 pt D for a 4 year span approaching his prime - very solid two way D - and he could run people over as well - threw some spectacular hits,on guys like Doughty and Kane - I think a lot of people forget how good Edler was.  Unfortunately Edler was another case of Canuck luck - from ages 23-26 he was emerging as a Norris candidate and finished in around the 10 spot a couple times - but really, his prime was cut short.

 

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14 minutes ago, oldnews said:

Ohlund wasn't really under-rated - most people realized he was a stud 1D.

 

At his peak - one of (if not the best) best defensive/shutdown D in the league.  Had epic battles with the then premier "power forward" in the league (Iginla).  Didn't take **** from nobody.  Mikko Koivu found that out when he tried throwing an elbow in the direction of Ohlund's bad eye......can you say "Tiiiiiiiiiimberrrrrrrrrrrrrr".  Physical guy with a mean streak (when sufficiently provoked).

 

Amazing that we might've lost him even before playing his first real game as a Canuck.  Pat Quinn was playing real hardball in the contract negotiations (with the then fairly highly touted D prospect).  The Laffs saw an opportunity and gave him an offer sheet (this was when handing out those were unheard of/considered verbotten).  Lucky for us, he didn't end up back east (well....at least until much, much, much later...).

 

re: Edler....probably didn't help the league tried to neuter him with those lame suspensions against him.  Too bad Ohlund didn't stick around - maybe some of his "mean streak" could've rubbed off on him....

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