Former Canucks Thread 2023-24 Off-Season Edition

[MS]

Dale Tallon & Jerry Korab should get an honorable mention had the team not eff'd up Tallons development & kept Korab. Korab was an underrated blue liner that was able to function pretty well in the midst of the Bad Bruins & Nasty Flyers in the early to mid 70s. Things that might've been........


Edit: stupid me ..they got Korab as part of the package when they dealt Tallon.

Bob Dailey and Korab were on the team at the same time and both inexplicably dealt away. The team should have had the two biggest defenders in the NHL in the back half of the 1970s and instead they were the 1Ds for Philly and Buffalo who were two of the best teams in the NHL. Whoops.

 

[Ernie]

I'm not sure I'm ready to put him in that category yet.

Canucks have had a star on the backend; unfortunately it was at the tail end of his career (Paul Reinhardt).

Salo and Ohlund were first pair defencemen just like Hronek is.

Paul Reinhardt was not on a Sedin / Bure / Hughes level. Nobody is voting him into the Hall of Fame.

 

[Hit the post]

Salo and Ohlund were first pair defencemen just like Hronek is.

Paul Reinhardt was not on a Sedin / Bure / Hughes level. Nobody is voting him into the Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately his career was cut short because of injuries. He was a star player (imho).

 

[MS]

Salo and Ohlund were first pair defencemen just like Hronek is.

Paul Reinhardt was not on a Sedin / Bure / Hughes level. Nobody is voting him into the Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately his career was cut short because of injuries. He was a star player (imho).

Paul Reinhart is this weird Mandela Effect thing for Canuck fans.

Absolutely he was an elite PP QB as a Canuck, the first one the team ever had. But at ES he was used as a sheltered #4-5 defender and Garth Butcher put up more ES points than him one year.

Ask any Canuck fans who the 1D was on the 1989 Canucks, though, and they'll say Reinhart in spite of the fact that Doug Lidster was the runaway 1D on those late 80s Canuck teams.

 

[Hit the post]

Differences attributable to eras and Aucoin aside, Salo's 9 PP goals in 59 games in 05-06 is the best PP goal scoring rate and PP goals in a season by Canucks defensemen since 1990? I believe Lanz earlier held the record for most PP goals by a Canucks defenseman until Aucoin broke it.

Salo is also the Canucks' all-time leader in PP goals among defensemen. If Hughes averages 4 PP goals a season over the next 10 seasons he can break it by the time he retires (he needs 38 to tie). Anything less and Salo likely keeps the record.

A shame I think injuries shortened his career (knee?). One of the few "hits" from our Canadian amateur scouts. Lanz even served a useful role as on ice interpretor for Bubla & Hlinka.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Bob Dailey and Korab were on the team at the same time and both inexplicably dealt away. The team should have had the two biggest defenders in the NHL in the back half of the 1970s and instead they were the 1Ds for Philly and Buffalo who were two of the best teams in the NHL. Whoops.

wow TIL that we briefly had korab.

the 1975 sabres went to the finals with former canucks korab and jocelyn guevremont in their top four. meanwhile we had john gould, tracy pratt, mike robitaille, and bob murray (not the same bob murray who played 1,000 games for the blackhawks and later became a GM). benningeque.

Paul Reinhart is this weird Mandela Effect thing for Canuck fans.

Absolutely he was an elite PP QB as a Canuck, the first one the team ever had. But at ES he was used as a sheltered #4-5 defender and Garth Butcher put up more ES points than him one year.

Ask any Canuck fans who the 1D was on the 1989 Canucks, though, and they'll say Reinhart in spite of the fact that Doug Lidster was the runaway 1D on those late 80s Canuck teams.

back when we were in lockdown in 2020, i spent a couple sleepless nights watching games from the 1989 first round. iirc it felt like the 2011 D (in deployment, not ability). reinhart and nordmark maybe should have been specialists, but played regular minutes, the same as lidster and butcher. i don’t recall anyone standing out as getting workhorse minutes, but lidster i guess would have been the happy medium between defensive and offensive guy.

as for how reinhart looked on the ice, he had his moments where you could see the control the play guy he probably was in calgary in the mid-80s, but he didn’t particularly jump out at you as a plus or minus most of the time. he just kind of ate average minutes out there at ES. he did look less spectacular on the PP than i expected though.

 

[HairyKneel]

Paul Reinhart is this weird Mandela Effect thing for Canuck fans.

Absolutely he was an elite PP QB as a Canuck, the first one the team ever had. But at ES he was used as a sheltered #4-5 defender and Garth Butcher put up more ES points than him one year.

Ask any Canuck fans who the 1D was on the 1989 Canucks, though, and they'll say Reinhart in spite of the fact that Doug Lidster was the runaway 1D on those late 80s Canuck teams.

His back was absolutely murdered when he got here. Reinhart had HHOF talent if his career didn't get mangled. Cliff Fletcher gifted him to the Canucks along with Steve Bozek for a 3rd round pick

 

[MS]

His back was absolutely murdered when he got here. Reinhart had HHOF talent if his career didn't get mangled. Cliff Fletcher gifted him to the Canucks along with Steve Bozek for a 3rd round pick

Oh, of course.

I’ve said on the HOH board here before that Reinhart was probably a better player than Larry Murphy but it’s an example of what happens when you have exceptional durability vs. crippling injuries.

 

[EpochLink]

Tyler Madden got put on waivers today, was there outrage when we traded him?

 

[tyhee]

Tyler Madden got put on waivers today, was there outrage when we traded him?

The outrage wasn't over trading Madden, it was turning him, and a 2nd rounder into a short term rental, not offering Toffoli anything to extend when it was reported he wanted to stay because the Canucks were in Cap Hades.

Some gave Benning leeway over that because it was partly due to the Luongo recapture. I wasn't one of them-aside from the bad cap moves leading up to then I'd been asking for a couple of years by then for people to explain why Florida would put Luongo on IR with long term relief. It was a move that was widely expected in Canucks Land but which wouldn't have made sense for the Panthers.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Inb4 Pod gets stapled to McD and puts up like 60-70 points.

 

[EpochLink]

Canucks legend Brendan Gaunce was put on waivers today.

Don't worry, he needs more 'seasoning' in the AHL.

 

[rypper]

Canucks legend Brendan Gaunce was put on waivers today.

Don't worry, he needs more 'seasoning' in the AHL.

Canucks would have been better running Gaunce at 4C then blowing a wad on Jay Beagle.

 

[Hit the post]

Canucks legend Brendan Gaunce was put on waivers today.

Don't worry, he needs more 'seasoning' in the AHL.

Probably will end up with a better "NHL career" than 5th overall pick Juolevi.

Seriously though, was there *ANY* facet of the game "The Frig" excelled at?

Canucks would have been better running Gaunce at 4C then blowing a wad on Jay Beagle.

They would've been better to have signed 80 year old Orland Kurtenbach to perpetual PTO's than to hand *THAT* contract to Jay Beagle.

 

[EpochLink]

Probably will end up with a better "NHL career" than 5th overall pick Juolevi.

Seriously though, was there *ANY* facet of the game "The Frig" excelled at?


They would've been better to have signed 80 year old Orland Kurtenbach to perpetual PTO's than to hand *THAT* contract to Jay Beagle.

I had no clue why we drafted Gaunce, what was his upside? Power forward? Bottom 6?

 

[Hit the post]

I had no clue why we drafted Gaunce, what was his upside? Power forward? Bottom 6?

You can probably finger the usual dogsh*t Canadian amateur scouts the Canucks have employed since like forever.

 

[rypper]

I had no clue why we drafted Gaunce, what was his upside? Power forward? Bottom 6?

Eliteprospects who can make any player sound like a superstar, had this for his scouting report:

A big, strong two-way forward with good net drive and a high level of compete. His speed should be noted, as he constantly uses it to gain leverage on defenders. Propels himself into hits, and is very effective in a bang-and-crash role. Very good positionally and always recognizes where the puck is and where it will be in the next few seconds. Has natural offensive instincts around the net and conceals the puck well against goalies in close. Defensively, very aware and active; uses the boards to his advantage and actively takes away shooting and passing lanes. Transitioning to offence quickly is something that he needs to work on, as he can get caught up in his own zone for a prolonged amount of time.

 

[RobertKron]

I had no clue why we drafted Gaunce, what was his upside? Power forward? Bottom 6?

IIRC, he was a big body with okay speed but lacking quickness, who was a couple years removed from being an offensive juggernaut in minor hockey and going 2OA in the OHL draft, had a mature game, wore a letter for his team, put up decent offensive numbers (led his team in scoring by a fair bit his draft year), had good vision, was defensively responsible, and gave good effort. I'd imagine the projection was that if he got a bit quicker he would do some damage, and if he didn't he'd be a decent bottom six forward and a solid pro. IIRC, he was generally projected to be a ~20-something-ish pick going into the draft.

I don't really see a big issue with taking this player at the tail end of the first round if they liked him.

 

[Kryten]

Canucks would have been better running Gaunce at 4C then blowing a wad on Jay Beagle.

Would have been better to keep Nic Dowd in that hilarious hindsight

 

[David71]

whatever happend to david pope? did he ever play for vancouver at all?

 

[F A N]

whatever happend to david pope? did he ever play for vancouver at all?

He played for K-Wings and Comets

 

[David Bruce Banner]

meanwhile we had john gould, tracy pratt, mike robitaille, and bob murray

Hey, Pratt was a fine defender… great hipchecker too.
IIRC, Robitaille was decent too until he got screwed over by our medical staff. I’m glad that doesn’t happen any more.

 

[MS]

Hey, Pratt was a fine defender… great hipchecker too.
IIRC, Robitaille was decent too until he got screwed over by our medical staff. I’m glad that doesn’t happen any more.

I’m pretty sure all of the work by the medical staff here is totally legit and professional.

 

[StreetHawk]

IIRC, he was a big body with okay speed but lacking quickness, who was a couple years removed from being an offensive juggernaut in minor hockey and going 2OA in the OHL draft, had a mature game, wore a letter for his team, put up decent offensive numbers (led his team in scoring by a fair bit his draft year), had good vision, was defensively responsible, and gave good effort. I'd imagine the projection was that if he got a bit quicker he would do some damage, and if he didn't he'd be a decent bottom six forward and a solid pro. IIRC, he was generally projected to be a ~20-something-ish pick going into the draft.

I don't really see a big issue with taking this player at the tail end of the first round if they liked him.

Between Gaunce at 26 to Jake Mcacabe at 44, best guy available was Brady Skjei who went like 2 spots later (why Gillis didn’t take a Dman who could be a 2nd pair guy vs a max 3C) I don’t get. Then it’s like Pearson and Matteau to close out round 1. Thing in early round 2 was that good until you got to McCabe. Best of round 2 was Severson who went near the end of the round . Bleuger also went in round 2.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Hey, Pratt was a fine defender… great hipchecker too.
IIRC, Robitaille was decent too until he got screwed over by our medical staff. I’m glad that doesn’t happen any more.

thx for the insight. both are way before my time but i always assumed tracy pratt was a nepo acquisition, because of his dad.