Top 50 Canucks of All-Time - #36

[Kevin Biestra]

24 minutes ago, IBatch said:

As far as any defenseman to ever lace them up I'd have him at the top - ahead of Reinhart, Jovonoski, Brown and Ohlund as far as careers goes.

 

Babych and Reinhart...that's a pretty good career battle.  Both guys are Hall of Famers with a bit more luck.  Reinhart had that extra gear for the playoffs too.  He led all the Flames in 1984 with 17 points in 11 games.  And that was far from his only great playoff year.  15 points in 16 games in 1981, 18 points in 21 games in 1986, 9 points in 9 games in 1983, 9 points in 8 games in 1988.

 

Heh, Bertuzzi had 14 CAREER playoff points for us.

 

It's probably between Babych and Reinhart for best defenseman to lace up the skates for the Canucks for part of his career.

 

We had some more good guys pass through for a cup of coffee that have been completely forgotten...like Tom Kurvers.  But they're a notch or two below Babych level.  Kurvers was traded straight up for a lot of good defensemen over his career:  Babych, Scott Niedermayer, Craig Ludwig.

 

Some really good defensemen from those days never get mentioned now...Doug Crossman, Reed Larson...  I fear people wouldn't even talk about Randy Carlyle and Doug Wilson if they hadn't gone into coaching and management.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Kevin Biestra

[Master Mind]

Voting Butcher

 

Nominating Lanz

[Kevin Biestra]

26 minutes ago, IBatch said:

..the few times he did fight he gave the player a couple shots and then just embraced him until the other guy just gave up trying.   Always said to my buddies at the time that you could tell guys were afraid of him and weren't in much of a hurry to trade blows.   Not that he wasn't involved in the after whistle stuff - just that he didn't want to punch people and hurt them, and other players didn't want to get punched by him and get hurt.   Howes father was afraid his son would kill someone in a fight - said that he had a blow that could do that - I imagined at the time Babcyh did too - how many times did we watch him barely break a sweat while holding onto the biggest guys in the league with one hand and moving the puck with the other.   Or breaking up bodies after the whistle and taking the big guys out of the pile and de-escalating things quickly.

 

Yeah Babych was just a great guy.  Played hard but played super honest.  I don't dislike Matt Cooke but since his name is coming up, they are just polar opposites in almost every way except for both being pretty good in the playoffs.

 

Cooke was at best indifferent about whether he hurt people, and sometimes seemed like he wanted to.  Babych was going out of his way to keep from hurting people.

 

Cooke would do dirty stuff and leave his teammates to clean up the mess.  Babych would skate into messes he didn't create and settle things down.

 

Heh, but both guys were good at scoring goals to force overtime.

[smithers joe]

13 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

Babych and Reinhart...that's a pretty good career battle.  Both guys are Hall of Famers with a bit more luck.  Reinhart had that extra gear for the playoffs too.  He led all the Flames in 1984 with 17 points in 11 games.  And that was far from his only great playoff year.  15 points in 16 games in 1981, 18 points in 21 games in 1986, 9 points in 9 games in 1983, 9 points in 8 games in 1988.

 

Heh, Bertuzzi had 14 CAREER playoff points for us.

 

It's probably between Babych and Reinhart for best defenseman to lace up the skates for the Canucks for part of his career.

 

We had some more good guys pass through for a cup of coffee that have been completely forgotten...like Tom Kurvers.  But they're a notch or two below Babych level.  Kurvers was traded straight up for a lot of good defensemen over his career:  Babych, Scott Niedermayer, Craig Ludwig.

 

Some really good defensemen from those days never get mentioned now...Doug Crossman, Reed Larson...  I fear people wouldn't even talk about Randy Carlyle and Doug Wilson if they hadn't gone into coaching and management.

if reinhart doesn’t make top fifty, it will only because he only played two years to finish career. talent wise, he’ld be close to best we’ve ever had here. i loved they way he moved the puck so perfectly to players, his qb pp skills. one of my all time favourite canucks.

[Kevin Biestra]

Just now, smithers joe said:

if reinhart doesn’t make top fifty, it will only because he only played two years to finish career. talent wise, he’ld be close to best we’ve ever had here. i loved they way he moved the puck so perfectly to players, his qb pp skills. one of my all time favourite canucks.

 

I have him around 55th, and pretty much the only guy to sniff the top fifty with only two seasons of work.  If he had played his whole career here, he wouldn't be top fifty, he would be a retired jersey number.

 

Absolutely the only thing keeping him down the rankings is his short career as a Canuck.  He was a fantastic player.

[the grinder]

voted vevergaert  again   25th on the alltime scoring list   409games  304 points  better numbers than Horvat , way better numbers than tiger Williams   nominate oddleifson

Edited April 24, 2020 by the grinder

[Kevin Biestra]

Just now, the grinder said:

voted vevergaert  again   25th on the alltime scoring list   409games  304 points  better numbers than Horvat , way better numbers than tiger Williams   nominate darcy rota

 

Keep your eye on the ball, grinder!  Rota is not only nominated but doing well in the voting.

 

And if you were around to appreciate Rota and Ververgaert, you know Williams' goals and assists don't tell the whole story...

[McBackup]

At number 36 you gotta go with the Honey Badger. Voting Hansen.

 

Nominating Ivan Hlinka.

[the grinder]

1 minute ago, Kevin Biestra said:

 

Keep your eye on the ball, grinder!  Rota is not only nominated but doing well in the voting.

 

And if you were around to appreciate Rota and Ververgaert, you know Williams' goals and assists don't tell the whole story...

I did I changed to oddliefson   I know what tiger did  ,but  i have him in the  forties  , there are few more guys that should be ahead of him ,  

[apollo]

Gotta respect Babych but I easily give this to Hansen based on his longevity and sample size .

 

 

Drafted by Vancouver Canucks

- round 9 #287 overall 2004 NHL Entry Draft

 

9th rounder in 2004... was with our franchise up until 2017... his stats speak for himself. His play on the ice speaks for himself. There's no one more deserving to be #36 in this poll than Jannik. 

 

 

Nominating: THE COOKER 

Edited April 24, 2020 by apollo

[apollo]

2 hours ago, Kevin Biestra said:

Heh, Bertuzzi had 14 CAREER playoff points for us.

He easily adds 20+ to that total if he was allowed to play in 2004. We'd have a cup ring too. So yea lets not discredit Bert for the disgrace that is the old boys club who ruined his career.

 

He was the games most dominant power forward at the time. 

 

The mugging by Steve Moore of our captain, leagues reigning MVP, and Todd's best friend was a travesty. 

 

Steve doesn't attempt to end Naslunds career, Canucks don't lose to calgary and we go all the way. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by apollo

[Kevin Biestra]

6 minutes ago, apollo said:

He easily adds 20+ to that total if he was allowed to play in 2004. We'd have a cup ring too. So yea lets not discredit Bert for the disgrace that is the old boys club who ruined his career.

 

He was the games most dominant power forward at the time. 

 

The mugging by Steve Moore of our captain, leagues reigning MVP, and Todd's best friend was a travesty. 

 

Steve doesn't attempt to end Naslunds career, Canucks don't lose to calgary and we go all the way. 

 

The Aaron Rome suspension was a disgrace by the discipline department.  Nobody knew what to do with Bertuzzi after the Moore thing, but the thing was international news and suspending him for the rest of the year wasn't that unreasonable.

 

Bert didn't get the Canucks knocked out of the playoffs every year, but he also was only part of ever getting the team to the second round once.  Those teams were great fun in the regular season but they weren't up to the task when the chips were down after Game 82.

 

Anyway, I wasn't out to disparage Bertuzzi.  But rather to show how phenomenal Reinhart was by basically scoring Bert's entire playoff career's worth as a Canuck, season after season as a defenseman.

 

I at least respect that Bertuzzi was willing to stand up for his teammates, which is how things are supposed to be on a team, especially in the playoffs.  The consequences were some pretty bad luck, worse than he or Moore deserved, but it was the risk he took.

 

Perhaps the Canucks would have gone deep in 2004, but that lineup's performance every other year is not evidence to support the claim.

Edited April 24, 2020 by Kevin Biestra

[Beary Sweet]

Voted Rota. Nominating Lanz

[Baratheon]

Vote Dave Babych!

 

Nominate Rick Lanz

[wildcam]

I can't believe people are voting for Dave Williams in top 50?????? GP 312 - PTS 165 .. So many player better but i guess its about his entertainment?

Also small percentage that remember players in the  70"s and early 80's  ....

[apollo]

Wow neck and neck! 9 Votes for Babych and 9 for Hansen! 

 

With all due respect to Dave... who is a Vancouver resident; Hansen simply gave this franchise more. He was in our system for close to 14 years! Come on! 

 

The guy was the EPITOME of what it meant to be a Canuck. Not many players consistently worked as hard as Jannik did in every shift. So here's to Jannik getting that #36 

 

 

 

@Coconuts where are you man! This is crucial! #36! Pad the ballots 

[IBatch]

59 minutes ago, wildcam said:

I can't believe people are voting for Dave Williams in top 50?????? GP 312 - PTS 165 .. So many player better but i guess its about his entertainment?

Also small percentage that remember players in the  70"s and early 80's  ....

Ha ha ha .... I can't believe people are voting for Hansen and Tanev already....this team has been around 50 years - there are many Hansens (third liners) that deserve consideration - he gets in based on longevity and what have you done recently.  Tanev is a fringe top 50 guy yet was available to vote on way before greater players...Hansen is NOT a top 30 player on any franchise all-time - yet alone ours.  If you don't know what Tiger meant to this franchise then you haven't done your research - and nowadays thats not very hard.  Where is Murzyn?  Barely been mentioned so far - yet did more for this team then Tanev has.   Hansen...well ok - he was part of a cup run...but before Babcyh, Butcher, Rota...well pretty much anyone on this list really - except maybe Tanev... trying my best not to lose patience but this voting session is a mess - anyone voting Hansen never watched any of the other guys on this list play a game - except maybe Tanev and Gino depending on how they value enforcers.

[IBatch]

34 minutes ago, apollo said:

Wow neck and neck! 9 Votes for Babych and 9 for Hansen! 

 

With all due respect to Dave... who is a Vancouver resident; Hansen simply gave this franchise more. He was in our system for close to 14 years! Come on! 

 

The guy was the EPITOME of what it meant to be a Canuck. Not many players consistently worked as hard as Jannik did in every shift. So here's to Jannik getting that #36 

 

 

 

@Coconuts where are you man! This is crucial! #36! Pad the ballots 

With all due respect- comparing Hansen to Babych is like comparing Ronning to Daniel Sedin - and saying they were head to head .... not really.  Both are great Canucks - thats for sure.  But one was a top four defenseman and leading scorer in the playoffs for us 4 out of 7 years....the other was a servicable middle six forward.

[IBatch]

3 hours ago, apollo said:

He easily adds 20+ to that total if he was allowed to play in 2004. We'd have a cup ring too. So yea lets not discredit Bert for the disgrace that is the old boys club who ruined his career.

 

He was the games most dominant power forward at the time. 

 

The mugging by Steve Moore of our captain, leagues reigning MVP, and Todd's best friend was a travesty. 

 

Steve doesn't attempt to end Naslunds career, Canucks don't lose to calgary and we go all the way. 

Apollo I agree that was our year.  Things were all going in the right direction, we had some playoff hopes dashed and experience gained and were once again going head to head with the still powerful COL team...at the time the news guys considered us a contender and no longer a dark horse.  We had a well rounded good defense and the best line in hockey ripping it up in the darkerst part of the dead puck era (how many guys managed 100 points back then?) only a few oldies but goodies plus peak Naslund.  Bertuzzi was impossible to contain - only Lindros pre-Stevens looked like him out there.   Muscling his way through hooks and holds with abandon.  I truly thought at the time that we had a good chance - Detroit was not buying another cup....and we gave them the hardest challenge an their way to the one they did.  Cloutier gets a lot of flack - thing is he was actually a decent number one - his stats weren't top ten but not far off.   Felt it was definitely our time and it was one of the worst things as a fan I went through outside of Game 7's....losing Naslund and Bertuzzi was terrible and after that things were never the same with that team.   Went from powerhouse to doubt to out without those two - it's also why I have Bertuzzi close to the top ten - few guys could make an impact on a game like he could when he had his confidence and swagger.

[IBatch]

For those guys voting Butcher - hey I get it.  But maybe time to look at the bigger picture and throw Babych some shade...have changed my vote a few times during this process just to help the frontrunner that deserves it the most get in - to avoid the "monkey business".    To me playoffs separate the two - no shame for Butcher loved the way he played and have compared him to Manson several times in the past - a very deserving defensive defenseman that didn't put up with anything and was stuck in the strong Smythe in the 80's so didnt get much post season action.   His greatest service to us might have been how valuable a player he was in the end - the trade that brought us an entire second line and two other guys that are already in the top fifty and one more that has a decent case (if Hansen gets votes then maybe so should Momesso....a peak season of 38 points for Hansen is a pretty low bar isn't it despite time served?).   Anyways - love Butcher too - just love Babych a little more.