Background and establishment The first professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver was the
Vancouver Millionaires, formed by
Frank and
Lester Patrick. Established in 1911, the Millionaires were one of three teams in the new
Pacific Coast Hockey Association. To accommodate the Millionaires, the Patrick brothers directed the building of the
Denman Arena, which was known at the time as the world's largest artificial ice rink. The arena was later destroyed in a fire in 1936. The Millionaires played for the
Stanley Cup five times, winning over the
Ottawa Senators in
1915 on home ice. It marked the first time the Stanley Cup was won by a West Coast team in the trophy's history. The WHL's Canucks were playing in a small arena at the time, the
Vancouver Forum, situated on the same
Pacific National Exhibition grounds as the Coliseum. Meanwhile, a Vancouver group led by WHL Canucks owner and former Vancouver mayor
Fred Hume made a bid to be one of the six teams due to
join the league in 1967, but the NHL rejected their application. Bid leader Cyrus McLean called the denial a "cooked-up deal", referring to several biases that factored against them. Speculation long abounded afterwards that the bid was hindered by
Toronto Maple Leafs president
Stafford Smythe; after a failed Vancouver-based business deal, he was quoted as saying that the city would not get an NHL franchise in his lifetime. Additionally, the Leafs, along with the
Montreal Canadiens, purportedly did not wish to split
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) hockey revenues three ways rather than two. Less than a year later, one of the 1967 expansion teams, the
Oakland Seals were in financial difficulty and having trouble drawing fans. An apparent deal was in place to move the team to Vancouver, but the NHL did not want to see one of their franchises from the expansion of 1967 move so quickly and vetoed the deal. In exchange for avoiding a lawsuit, the NHL promised Vancouver would get a team in the next expansion round. Another group, headed by
Minnesota entrepreneur
Tom Scallen, made a new presentation and was awarded an expansion franchise for the price of $6 million (three times the cost in
1967). The new ownership group purchased the WHL Canucks, and brought the team into the league with the
Buffalo Sabres as expansion teams for the
1970–71 season. In preparation for joining the NHL, the WHL Canucks had brought in players with prior NHL experience. Six of these players (
John Arbour,
George Gardner,
Len Lunde,
Marc Reaume,
Ted Taylor and
Murray Hall) would remain with the club for its inaugural NHL season. The rest of the roster was built through an expansion draft.
Early years (1970–1982) To fill the Canucks' roster for their inaugural season, the league held an
expansion draft in the preceding summer. A draft lottery was held on June 9, 1970, determining who between the Canucks and Sabres would get the first selection in the expansion draft, as well as the
1970 NHL amateur draft; the Sabres won both spins. With his first selection in the expansion draft, Canucks general manager
Bud Poile chose defenceman
Gary Doak. Among the other players chosen by Vancouver were centre
Orland Kurtenbach, who was named the Canucks' first captain, as well as defenceman
Pat Quinn, who later became the team's general manager and coach in the 1990s. Two days later, on June 11, 1970, the Canucks made defenceman
Dale Tallon their first-ever Amateur Draft selection. Tallon played three seasons with the club before being traded away to the
Chicago Black Hawks. By comparison, the Sabres chose centre
Gilbert Perreault with the first overall selection they won from the lottery; Perreault went on to become a nine-time
All-Star and member of the
Hockey Hall of Fame. With the Canucks' roster set, the team played its inaugural game against the
Los Angeles Kings on October 9, 1970. They lost the contest 3–1; defenceman
Barry Wilkins scored the Canucks' lone goal in the game and first in franchise history, a backhander against
goaltender Denis DeJordy. Two days later, the squad recorded the first win in franchise history, a 5–3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Canucks struggled in their early years, failing to make the playoffs in their first four seasons. Also in the summer of 1974, the Canucks were re-aligned within the league and placed in the new
Smythe Division. They responded with their first winning record (38 wins, 32 losses and 10 ties), backstopped by goaltender
Gary "Suitcase" Smith finishing first in the Division with 86 points. Making their debut in the
Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks lost the opening series of the
1975 playoffs in five games to the
Montreal Canadiens. Head coach and general manager
Phil Maloney (the third general manager in team history after Poile and
Hal Laycoe) recalled the importance of a successful season for the Canucks in that year specifically, as the rival league
World Hockey Association (WHA) had established another major professional team in the city, the
Vancouver Blazers. Competing for the same hockey market, the Canucks emerged over the Blazers as the latter relocated to
Calgary,
Alberta, the
following season. The Canucks posted a second consecutive winning record and made the playoffs in
1975–76, but lost to the
New York Islanders in a two-game preliminary series.
1982 Stanley Cup run outside of
Rogers Arena, commemorating the 1982 Stanley Cup run The Canucks made their first significant playoff impact in the
1982 playoffs. In their previous five playoff appearances, the team had failed to win a single series. Though the Canucks finished three games under a .500 win percentage in the
1981–82 regular season, they began gaining momentum by finishing the campaign on a nine-game unbeaten streak. Meanwhile, Smyl emerged as the club's leader, replacing McCarthy as the captain after the latter was sidelined with an injury late in the season (he would retain that position for a team-record eight years). Continuing their success in the playoffs, the Canucks made the
Stanley Cup Final with a combined 11–2 record in series against the
Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, and Chicago Black Hawks. Despite having a losing regular season record, Vancouver had a home-ice advantage in the first series, having finished second in the Smythe Division to the
Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks also had a home-ice advantage during the second-round series against the Kings, who upset the Oilers in the first round. Late in game 2 of the conference finals in
Chicago, Vancouver's interim head coach
Roger Neilson, frustrated with what he felt was the poor officiating in the game, placed a white towel on the end of a hockey stick and held it up in a gesture mocking surrender (waving the
white flag). The players on the Canucks' bench followed suit. When the series shifted to Vancouver for the next two games, the team's fans cheered them on by
waving white towels above their heads. The habit stuck, becoming an original Canuck fan tradition now seen across the league and in other sports, known as "
Towel Power." The Canucks proceeded to win the series in five games, making it to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in their history. Entering the Stanley Cup Final against the New York Islanders, the Canucks were the first team from Western Canada to play for the Stanley Cup in 56 years, when the
Victoria Cougars reached the
1926 Stanley Cup Final. It also marked the first-ever coast-to-coast Stanley Cup Final. Competing against the Islanders—the
Stanley Cup champions of the previous two years, who had finished with 41 points more than Vancouver in the regular season standings—Vancouver took the first game to
overtime. In the final minute of the extra period, Canucks defenceman and fan favourite
Harold Snepsts gave the puck away with an errant pass from behind his net, leading to a
Mike Bossy goal. Like the first game, the Canucks held a 3–2 lead after the first two periods in the second game, but were not able to keep their lead, and lost 6–4. The Canucks were unable to complete their
Cinderella run and were swept, losing their next two games by 3–0 and 3–1 scores. The 1982 playoffs proved to be the last year in which Vancouver won a playoff series until
1992. In addition to Neely, the Canucks gave up their 1987 first-round draft pick, with which the Bruins chose
Glen Wesley, and in return acquired centre
Barry Pederson. While Pederson collected back-to-back 70-point seasons with the Canucks in his first two seasons after the trade, he was traded away to the
Pittsburgh Penguins in 1989 as his performance quickly declined. Neely went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Bruins, recording three 50-goal seasons, and Wesley had a solid 20-year career.
Pat Quinn era (1987–1998) After the installation of former Canucks defenceman
Pat Quinn as general manager in the summer of 1987, the team underwent an immediate rebuilding process, trading away core veterans for younger prospects and players. Among the more key transactions was a deal with the
New Jersey Devils, in which Sundstrom was traded away in exchange for winger
Greg Adams and goaltender
Kirk McLean. In addition to Quinn's trades, the team improved through the draft route with two selections, in particular. With the second overall selection in the
1988 NHL entry draft, the Canucks chose winger
Trevor Linden from the
Western Hockey League (WHL). The
following year, the team made a controversial selection by choosing Russian winger
Pavel Bure 113th overall. Bure was believed by most teams to be ineligible for selection that year. Consequently, his draft by the Canucks took a year to be verified by the league as team management went about procuring documents to prove his eligibility. As the decade turned, a shift in the Canucks' leadership occurred as Stan Smyl resigned his captaincy prior to the
1990–91 season due to a reduced on-ice role with the team. In his place, the Canucks implemented a rotating captaincy of Linden,
Dan Quinn and
Doug Lidster; of the three, Linden retained the captaincy thereafter, becoming the youngest permanent captain in team history at 21 years of age. At the end of the season, Smyl retired as the team's all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points. In the
1992 playoffs, the Canucks won their first series since 1982 before being eliminated by the Oilers in the second round. The following year, the Canucks repeated as regular season division champions, while Bure emerged as arguably the team's first superstar with his first of back-to-back 60-goal seasons, totals which remain the highest recorded in Canucks history. As the team struggled to score in the second half of the
1993–94 season, Bure recorded 49 goals in the club's final 51 games and contributed to 46.45% of his team's goals in the final 47 games of the season to carry the Canucks into the 1994 postseason. Jim Matheson of the
Edmonton Journal called Bure "the NHL's best forward the last 40 games, scoring almost a goal a game."
1994 Stanley Cup run was a key member of the Canucks' 1994 Stanley Cup run. In the
1993–94 season, the Canucks made their second trip to the Stanley Cup Final, entering the
1994 playoffs as the seventh
seed in the renamed
Western Conference. Despite underachieving in the regular season (their points total decreased by 16 from the previous year, although they finished second in the newly renamed Pacific Division), The deciding seventh game featured two of the most recognizable and celebrated plays in Canucks history. With the game tied 3–3 in the first overtime, goaltender Kirk McLean made what became known thereafter as "The Save", sliding across the crease feet-first and stacking his pads on the goal line to stop
Robert Reichel on a one-timer pass from
Theoren Fleury. The following period, Pavel Bure received a breakaway pass from defenceman
Jeff Brown before deking Calgary goaltender
Mike Vernon to score and win the series. Fifteen years later, Bure's goal and McLean's save were ranked first and second in a
Vancouver Sun article listing the "40 most memorable moments in team history." Following their victory over the Flames, the Canucks then upset both the
Dallas Stars and
Toronto Maple Leafs (both in five games) en route to the franchise's second Stanley Cup Final appearance. After losing the next 3 games, the Canucks won the next two to force a seventh game at
Madison Square Garden on June 14, 1994. Vancouver lost the game by a 3–2 score. The Canucks' efforts to tie the game included a post hit by forward
Nathan LaFayette with just over a minute remaining in regulation. The loss was followed by a
riot in Downtown Vancouver, which resulted in property damage, injuries and arrests. Two days after the riots, the team held a rally at
BC Place attended by 45,000 fans, who congratulated the team for their effort. With a young core that included Linden, Bure and McLean still in their 20s after the 1994 playoffs, the Canucks appeared poised to remain contenders in the league. Vancouver finished with a .500 record that year. as the team moved into the new
General Motors Place (since renamed Rogers Arena), a new $160 million arena situated in
Downtown Vancouver, the following season. The Canucks made another significant move in the off-season by acquiring high-scoring Russian forward
Alexander Mogilny from the
Buffalo Sabres, reuniting Bure with his former
CSKA Moscow and national team linemate. While Mogilny became the second player in team history to record 50 goals and 100 points in a season, chiefly playing with centre
Cliff Ronning, the expected chemistry between Mogilny and Bure never materialized, with the latter suffering a season-ending knee injury early in the campaign. Vancouver finished
1995–96 two games below .500 and were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the
Colorado Avalanche. Despite a late season swoon, Ley was fired and replaced by Quinn down the stretch. The team limped into the playoffs, losing to the
Colorado Avalanche in the first round. In the 1996 off-season, Quinn hired
Tom Renney whose tenure as the team's head coach lasted less than two seasons. Despite strong performances from Mogilny and team-leading point-scorer
Martin Gelinas in Bure and Linden's absence (both of whom were injured for long periods of time during the season), They had come close to signing
Wayne Gretzky the previous summer, but were reportedly spurned away when they refused to continue negotiations and gave Gretzky an ultimatum to sign.
Keenan and Messier (1997–1998) Heading into the
1997–98 season, Linden resigned his captaincy for Messier, who had developed a strong reputation as a leader, having captained the New York Rangers over the Canucks in 1994 (he also captained the Oilers to a Stanley Cup in 1990). Linden later recalled regretting the decision, feeling that Messier generated hostility and tension in the dressing room. Messier later said if he could change one thing about his time in Vancouver, he would not have accepted the captaincy. The Canucks began the campaign overseas in a two-game series against the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo, Japan. It marked the first time in NHL history that a regular season game was held outside of North America—an effort from the league to attract attention to the sport in anticipation of the
1998 Winter Olympics, which were held in
Nagano, Japan. As the team's performance continued to worsen, starting the 1997–98 season with three wins in the first 16 games, Quinn was fired as general manager after ten years with the team. Two months into his tenure with the team, his role was expanded and he was made de facto general manager. With control of player personnel, Keenan overhauled the roster, making ten trades within two months, most notably dealing Linden to the
New York Islanders. Although the trade was unpopular with fans, the Canucks received winger
Todd Bertuzzi in return, who would later become an integral part of the team's return to success in the next decade. Defenceman
Bryan McCabe was also part of the deal, who would eventually be involved in a key transaction in the
1999 NHL entry draft.
Brian Burke era (1998–2004) West Coast Express years and the early years of the Sedins (1998–2006) After the Canucks finished the 1997–98 season last in the Western Conference, former NHL vice president
Brian Burke was named general manager in the summer. Suffering their worst season since 1977–78 the
subsequent year, Vancouver possessed the third overall pick in the
1999 NHL entry draft. Set on drafting highly touted Swedish forwards
Daniel and
Henrik Sedin, Burke orchestrated several transactions to move up to the second and third overall picks, with which he chose both players. The Canucks began to show improvement in the
1999–2000 season, finishing four points out of a playoff spot. During the campaign, Mogilny was traded to the
New Jersey Devils for forwards
Denis Pederson and
Brendan Morrison. With Bure gone and Messier in the last year of his contract, several previously under-achieving players began developing into key contributors for the team, most notably Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi. In the off-season, Messier left the team and returned to the Rangers; during the team's September 2000 training camp, held in Sweden, Naslund was selected to replace Messier as captain, a position he held for seven seasons. the Canucks once again became a playoff team. After qualifying for the postseason in
2001 and
2002 as the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference (losing to the eventual Stanley Cup winners Colorado Avalanche and
Detroit Red Wings, respectively), Over the next three years, Naslund ranked in the top five among league scorers and was a
Lester B. Pearson Award winner and
Hart Memorial Trophy finalist in
2003. Bertuzzi was also a top-five scorer in the league in 2001–02 and 2002–03. The ex-captain returned to a markedly different Canucks team with a young core consisting of the aforementioned trio, defencemen
Ed Jovanovski and
Mattias Ohlund, as well as goaltender
Dan Cloutier. In 2002–03, the Canucks set a franchise record with a 10-game win streak but lost the division title to the Colorado Avalanche on the last day of the regular season. Individually, Naslund was surpassed the same night by Avalanche forwards
Peter Forsberg and
Milan Hejduk for the
Art Ross Trophy and
Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, respectively. Entering the
2003 playoffs with the fourth seed in the Western Conference, the Canucks won their first playoff series in eight years, defeating the
St. Louis Blues in seven games before losing to the
Minnesota Wild in the second round.
The incident was in retaliation of a hit that Moore landed on Naslund during a previous game between the two teams. For his actions, Bertuzzi was suspended by the NHL and
International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) through to the start of the
2005–06 season. He also faced legal action in
British Columbia court, while Moore filed lawsuits against him and the Canucks organization in
Colorado and
Ontario courts. The Canucks went on to win their first Northwest Division title that season, but lost in the first round of the
2004 playoffs to the Calgary Flames. Due to the
NHL lockout, the 2004–05 season was not played. Several Canucks players went overseas to Europe to play professionally, including Naslund and the Sedin twins, who all returned to their former Swedish team,
Modo Hockey.
Dave Nonis era (2004–2008) Upon the resolution of the labour dispute between NHL players and owners, new gameplay rules were set in place for the
2005–06 season that were intended to benefit skilled players and generate more goal-scoring. As the Canucks' basis of success in previous seasons was built on playing a fast-paced, high-scoring style of play, expectations for the team were high going into the season. However, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs, completing the regular season ninth place in the conference. The first line of Naslund, Bertuzzi and Morrison suffered offensively, as all three players recorded decreased points totals. Crawford was fired in the off-season and replaced with
Alain Vigneault, who had been coach of the team's
American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the
Manitoba Moose. Three days after Vigneault's hiring, Nonis dealt Bertuzzi to the Florida Panthers, ending the "West Coast Express" era. In return, the Canucks received All-Star goaltender
Roberto Luongo as part of a six-player trade. With the acquisition of Luongo, Cloutier was traded away to the Los Angeles Kings. . Ending at the 138-minute mark, it was the longest game in the club's history. With widespread changes to team personnel in
2006–07, the Canucks won the Northwest Division title for the second time in three seasons. He also tied
Bernie Parent for the second-most wins in a single-season by an NHL goaltender, with 47. The Canucks opened the
2007 playoffs with a quadruple-overtime win against the
Dallas Stars. Ending at the 138-minute mark, the game was the longest in club history and the sixth-longest in NHL history. The Canucks also set a league record for shots against in one game, allowing 76. Vancouver won the series in seven games despite a lack of goal-scoring; Stars goaltender
Marty Turco recorded three shutouts in the series and equalled the league record for most shutouts in a playoff series. Advancing to the second round, the team was defeated in five games by the Anaheim Ducks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup
that year. Following the playoffs, head coach Vigneault received the
Jack Adams Award. The final game of the season, a 7–1 loss to the Calgary Flames, marked Trevor Linden's last NHL game, as the former Canucks' all-time leading scorer retired. Having missed the playoffs for the second time in three years, longtime Canucks captain
Markus Naslund, as well as
Brendan Morrison, were let go via free agency. Also in the off-season, on May 29, 2008, the Canucks lost defensive prospect
Luc Bourdon to a fatal motorcycle crash near his hometown of
Shippagan, New Brunswick. during the
2008–09 season, with a C visible on his
goaltender mask denoting his captaincy. He was named captain of the Canucks in September 2008. With Naslund's departure, Gillis announced on September 30, 2008, that
Roberto Luongo had been named team captain, marking the first time since
Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens in
1947–48 that a goaltender had been named the captain of an NHL team. During the ensuing season, the Canucks retired their second jersey number in team history, hanging Linden's number 16 beside Smyl's number 12 in a pre-game ceremony on December 17, 2008. Later that month, the Canucks acquired unrestricted free agent
Mats Sundin. The arrival of the former
Toronto Maple Leafs captain and 500-goal scorer in the NHL came with high expectations. However, Sundin scored below his usual pace and retired in the subsequent off-season. The team finished the regular season with another Northwest Division title and the third seed in the Western Conference. In the
2009 playoffs, the Canucks swept their first round series against the sixth-seeded
St. Louis Blues (the first four-game sweep in franchise history), but were defeated in six games by the fourth-seeded
Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. In the
2009–10 season, the Canucks faced the longest road trip in NHL history, playing 14 games over six weeks, from January 27 to March 13, 2010. The schedule was a result of Vancouver hosting the
2010 Winter Olympics, which shut down the NHL for two weeks, facilitating General Motors Place's use for
ice hockey during the games. It marked the first time that an NHL market hosted an
Olympics since the league allowed its players to compete in the games, beginning with the
1998 Games in Nagano. Among the several Canucks players named to their respective national teams, centre
Ryan Kesler of the
United States and goaltender Roberto Luongo of
Canada played against each other in the gold medal game; Luongo and Team Canada emerged with the win. As the NHL season resumed,
Henrik Sedin went on to become the first Canucks player to win the Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophies as the league's leading scorer and most valuable player, respectively. He achieved the feat with a franchise-record 112 points, surpassing Pavel Bure's mark of 110 set in 1991–92.
Third Stanley Cup Final run and back-to-back Presidents' Trophies (2010–2012) with the Canucks during the 2010 conference quarterfinals. Kesler spent the first 10 seasons of his NHL career with the team. The
2010–11 season began on October 9, 2010, with a
pre-game ceremony to commemorate the team's 40-year anniversary.
Henrik Sedin was named in the ceremony as the team's new captain, replacing
Roberto Luongo, who had relinquished his captaincy in the off-season. The Canucks played the
Los Angeles Kings, their first opponent in their inaugural season in 1970; both teams wore their original uniforms used in the Canucks' inaugural game. Throughout the season, the Canucks continued to celebrate their 40th anniversary with the creation of the "Ring of Honour", a permanent in-arena display commemorating their most significant players from past years. Four players were inducted during the campaign—Orland Kurtenbach, Kirk McLean, Thomas Gradin and Harold Snepsts. In December 2010, the Canucks also honoured
Markus Naslund by retiring his number 19 jersey. Naslund had retired two years after leaving the Canucks in 2008. The team finished the season first overall in the league for the first time, winning the
Presidents' Trophy. Finishing with 54 wins and 117 points, the Canucks broke the previous team records in both categories by significant margins. Individually, numerous players had career years.
Daniel Sedin won the
Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer with 104 points, marking the first time in NHL history that two brothers won the award in back-to-back years. Meanwhile,
Ryan Kesler tied Daniel Sedin for the team goal-scoring lead, with 41 goals. In goal, Roberto Luongo and backup
Cory Schneider captured the
William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals against. accepts the
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl on behalf of the Canucks as the 2011 Western Conference champions. Entering the opening round of the
2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks played the defending Stanley Cup champions and eighth-seeded
Chicago Blackhawks, who had eliminated Vancouver in the previous two years in six games in the second round. While Vancouver initially took a 3–0 lead in the series, Chicago came back to win three straight games 7–2, 5–0 and 4–3, respectively to force a seventh game in the series. Forced into overtime in game seven, winger
Alexandre Burrows scored his second goal of the game in overtime on Blackhawks goaltender
Corey Crawford following a failed clearing attempt by Chicago defenceman
Chris Campoli to win the game 2–1 and the series 4–3. The Canucks played the fifth-seeded
Nashville Predators in the second round, defeating the Predators in six games to clinch a spot in the conference finals for the first time since 1994. Facing the second-seeded
San Jose Sharks in the conference finals, Vancouver won in five games against the second-seeded Sharks with
Kevin Bieksa scoring the winning goal in overtime against Sharks' goaltender
Antti Niemi. Advancing to the
Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1994, the Canucks won the first two games of the series on
home ice against the third-seeded
Boston Bruins 1–0 and 3–2, respectively, with Boston winning the next two in Boston 8–1 and 4–0, respectively. Vancouver won game 5 at home 1–0, giving them a 3–2 series lead and a chance to capture the Stanley Cup in game 6 in Boston. The Bruins, however, won game 6 in Boston 5–2 to force a game 7 and then the deciding game 7 in Vancouver 4–0 to win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972. After the game,
riots and looting broke out in downtown Vancouver, repeating the events of 17 years earlier. at BC Place. During the season-opening game on October 6, 2011 against the
Pittsburgh Penguins, a ceremony was held to honour
Rick Rypien, who died by suicide during the 2011 off-season. For the rest of the season, the players wore decals on their helmets saying "37 RYP." The Canucks were strong contenders for much of the 2011–12 season, and clinched Presidents' Trophy, for the second consecutive year and second time in franchise history altogether. Despite projections for another Stanley Cup run at the outset of the
2012 playoffs, the Canucks were eliminated in five games by the eighth-seeded and eventual Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.
End of the Gillis era (2012–2014) Prior to the start of the
2012–13 season, the league's
collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired. Unable to agree on a new CBA, the NHL enacted a
lockout on September 15, 2012. The lockout continued on for days, which resulted a 48-game shortened season. The Canucks wore Vancouver Millionaires replica jerseys on March 16, 2013, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Millionaires. Vancouver finished the year winning their fifth consecutive Northwest Division title and the third seed in the West, but were swept in the first round of the
2013 playoffs by the sixth-seeded
San Jose Sharks. Vigneault and his coaching staff were fired at the end of the season, and replaced by
John Tortorella. The Canucks participated in their first outdoor NHL game on March 2, 2014, a match against the
Ottawa Senators at
BC Place. The event was titled the
2014 Heritage Classic. Luongo was traded back to the
Florida Panthers late in the season, while the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in six years. This saw Gillis fired and Linden named president of hockey operations; Tortorella was also relieved as coach after his one season.
Jim Benning era (2014–2021) Later years of the Sedins (2014–2018) with Henrik and
Daniel Sedin warming up prior to a game in the
2014–15 season. Miller was acquired as a free agent in July 2014. On May 21, 2014,
Jim Benning was announced as general manager, having previously served as assistant general manager of the
2010–11 Boston Bruins championship team that had beaten the Canucks three years prior. On June 23,
Willie Desjardins was named the 18th head coach of the Canucks. The team underwent a series of changes under the new management – veteran forward
Ryan Kesler was traded to the
Anaheim Ducks, veteran defenceman
Jason Garrison was traded to the
Tampa Bay Lightning and veteran forward
David Booth was let go in free agency, while
Ryan Miller and
Radim Vrbata were signed as free agents. This season saw the team honour former general manager and head coach Pat Quinn, following his death, by renaming a city street after him (Pat Quinn Way) as well as having his family participate in a pregame ceremonial puck drop. The Canucks finished second in the Pacific Division in the 2014–15 season, reaching the 100-point plateau for the ninth time in franchise history. They faced the
Calgary Flames in the first round of the
2015 playoffs, losing in six games. As the team fared poorly throughout the
2016–17 season, more veteran players were traded –
Alex Burrows and
Jannik Hansen were dealt in an effort to rebuild. On March 25, 2017, the Canucks' 2015 first-round pick
Brock Boeser made his NHL debut in his home state of Minnesota. Desjardins and his coaching staff, with the exception of assistant coach
Doug Jarvis, were let go at the end of the season, replaced by
Travis Green who coached their AHL affiliate in
Utica. They also added
Nolan Baumgartner,
Newell Brown, and
Manny Malhotra as assistant coaches. The
2017–18 season was another poor year for the Canucks, but rookie Boeser was a bright spot for the team. Despite an injury late in the season, Boeser's 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games were enough to place him second in
Calder Memorial Trophy voting for rookie of the year. Longtime Canucks Daniel and Henrik Sedin played their final game on April 7, 2018, against the
Edmonton Oilers. On June 5, 2018, longtime Canucks' public address announcer John Ashbridge died, having worked in his capacity with the franchise since 1987. During the off-season, Linden stepped down as president of hockey operations.
Rebuilding (2018–2021) The
2018–19 season saw the debut of the Canucks' 2017 first-round draft pick,
Elias Pettersson. Pettersson broke the Canucks' record for points by a rookie, set by
Ivan Hlinka (1981–82) and matched by
Pavel Bure (1991–92), and finished with 66 points to lead all NHL rookies, winning the Calder Trophy. The franchise celebrated its 50th season in the NHL, the
2019–20 season, with a ceremony at the home opener on October 9, 2019.
Bo Horvat was named the 14th captain in team history, following a one-year hiatus without a captain with the retirement of long-time captain Henrik Sedin. The 2019–20 season also saw the rookie campaign of
Quinn Hughes, who finished the regular season with 8 goals and 45 assists for 53 points in 68 games, finishing as runner-up in Calder Memorial Trophy votes. The Canucks became the first team to have a top two Calder Trophy finalist three years in a row since the
Toronto Maple Leafs, who did so when the league only had six teams from
1957 to
1959. On February 12, 2020, Daniel and Henrik Sedin's numbers 22 and 33 were retired before a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. On March 12, 2020, the Canucks and the NHL's season was suspended due to the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic. When the league resumed play, the Canucks won their first postseason series in nine years in the
2020 qualifying round by defeating the Minnesota Wild. They then beat the defending Stanley Cup champions St. Louis Blues in six games in the first round before being eliminated by the
Vegas Golden Knights in seven games in the second round. General manager
Jim Benning, head coach
Travis Green, assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner, and assistant general manager John Weisbrod were fired on December 5, 2021, after an 8–15–2 start to the
2021–22 season. On the same day,
Bruce Boudreau was named the 20th head coach of the Canucks.
Jim Rutherford era (2021–present) Patrik Allvin (2022–2026) On December 9, 2021,
Jim Rutherford was named president of hockey operations and interim general manager. He hired
Patrik Allvin as general manager on January 26, 2022. As the news broke that Boudreau would be fired while he was still coaching, the Canucks organization faced widespread criticism by fans and journalists mainly directed towards owner
Francesco Aquilini, Rutherford and Allvin, for their public mishandling of the coaching switch. Following Horvat's trade to the New York Islanders in exchange for
Anthony Beauvillier and
Aatu Raty,
Quinn Hughes was named the 15th captain in franchise history during the 2023 off-season, making him the youngest captain in the NHL and first American captain of the Canucks. The
2023–24 season was the first season with Hughes as captain and the first full season with Tocchet as head coach. With low expectations from fans and media at the start of the season, the team started 9–2–1 in their first twelve regular season games, and finished third in the
Western Conference en route to winning their first-ever Pacific Division title (and their first franchise division title since
2013). The Canucks qualified for the playoffs for the first time since the expanded playoffs in 2020 and played their first playoff games in Vancouver since 2015. The Canucks defeated their first round opponent, the
wild card Nashville Predators in six games, but lost their second round series in seven games to the
Edmonton Oilers. Following the season, Tocchet was announced as the winner of the
Jack Adams Award and Hughes won the
James Norris Memorial Trophy; Allvin was voted as a finalist for the
Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award. Halfway through the
2025–26 season, and sitting in last place in the league, Rutherford and Allvin traded Hughes to the
Minnesota Wild in exchange for
Marco Rossi,
Liam Ohgren,
Zeev Buium and a
2026 first-round draft pick in an effort to rebuild. On April 17, 2026, the Canucks fired general manager
Patrik Allvin after finishing last in the league. On May 5, 2026, soon after the 2026 NHL Draft Lottery where the Canucks dropped from 1st to 3rd overall, Rutherford announced that he would be stepping down as president of hockey operations after the
Draft, and that he would move into an adviser role. ==Team information==