Whether you’re perusing the shady alleys of the Smylospher in forums or chatrooms alike – or catching up on the latest John Garrett article – there’s always an impending sense of doom attached to the Vancouver Canucks.

Though much of this is attached to the on-ice product and the forty-plus years of futility attached, it’s been similarly tinted by the events that followed them off the ice, too. It’s easy enough to find a starting point. Look at their inaugural draft in 1970. One of two expansion teams (the Buffalo Sabres being the other) Vancouver lost out on the first overall selection and Gilbert Perrault, settling for Dale Tallon at second.

This city still hasn’t forgiven the league for that one. There’ve been plenty of good moment too, though. I’ve captured the five best and luckiest, on the other side of the jump. Let’s get to it.

5. Dale Tallon as a consolation prize

Seems like a bizarre place to start, but bear with me on this one. The Canucks may have been unlucky to pick second overall in their inaugural draft. No argument there. But they landed an excellent consolation prize in Tallon.

Look at the rest of the 1970 Amateur Draft. Tallon is the highest scoring defenceman and it isn’t even close. Some of the other defenders selected in the first-round didn’t even go on to be full-time NHL defencemen. I’d say you have to count your blessings on this one.

Tallon was an All-Star in two of his three seasons with the Canucks and was a prolific point producer from the back end. Of course, Tallon went on to achieve his greatest success as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks. Might be a little higher on the list if he stuck around a few more years.

4. Ryan Kesler falls to Vancouver

It took a tonne of good fortune for Kesler to fall into the Canucks lap. As the sixteenth-ranked North American skater in his draft class, it was unlikely he’d make it well into the twenties – the Canucks selected him 23rd Overall in the 2003 draft. All the more so because the New Jersey Devils held the 22nd overall selection, before a draft day deal with the Edmonton Oilers put the pick in their hands. They selected Marc-Antoine Pouliot.

The Canucks had a first-line quality centre playing on their second line for a decade-plus. And they found that player in the late end of the first-round. The odds of the centre-needy Oilers taking on Pouliot, rather than Kesler, had to be minimal.

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3. Igor Larionov pick pans out

As the Iron Curtain was lifting over the Eastern Bloc, teams began placing late round bets on Russian talent in the hopes that they might one day be able to jump ship to the NHL. The Canucks did that with Igor Larionov, making an eleventh-round bet on the Russian star. Four years later he was a Vancouver Canuck.

The Canucks weren’t able to keep their Russian import for long, losing him to the Suisse league, then the Sharks in the early 90’s. Getting three serviceable years of two-way play down the middle from an eleventh-round pick is about as well as you can do on that kind of investment.

2. Pavel Bure too!

Larionov wasn’t the Canucks only late-round bet on Russian talent. They spent a sixth-round selection on Bure in the sixth round of the 1989 draft. This, to follow the selection of Trevor Linden just a year prior. Then they followed it up with Petr Nedved a season later.

Back to the matter at hand, though. Same principle as Larionov. There was absolutely no telling whether the player selected would ever step foot on North American soil. Not only did the Canucks get Bure, but he blew the top off the league for seven years as a member of the Canucks.

Bure was also a pivotal member of the 1994 club that came within a game of bringing home the Stanley Cup.

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1. Swedish Twins

Okay, so let’s just touch on the fact that, at one point in the history of the draft, there was a pair of Swedish twins. They also happened to be immensely talented. And the Canucks found a way to secure both, selecting them second and third overall in 1999 draft.

Brian Burke orchestrated the move, trading a Bryan McCabe and a first-round selection in the future for the Chicago Blackhawks pick, fourth overall. Then they orchestrated a move with the Tampa Bay Lightning for their pick, first overall, before flipping that to the Atlanta Thrashers, with the assurance that they wouldn’t take a Sedin.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Find out more information at www.canada.ca





