Vancouver Canucks Hockey Team

The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team
based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Vancouver Canucks are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Canucks joined the league in 1970 as an expansion team along with the Buffalo Sabres. In its 38-year NHL history, the team has advanced twice to the Stanley Cup Finals but were defeated both times by New York teams: the Islanders in 1982, and the Rangers in 1994. They play their home games at the 18,630 capacity General Motors Place.

The season was characterized by under-achieving play, most notably in the first line of Naslund, Bertuzzi, and Morrison, which was expected to produce higher point totals under the new league rules.

On April 25, 2006, the Canucks hockey team fired Crawford; he was hired by the Los Angeles Kings. Alain Vigneault, who had just coached Vancouver's AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, to a 102-point season, was hired as his replacement on June 20, 2006 . The re-building of the Canucks continued just three days after Vigneault's hiring, when Nonis completed a blockbuster trade with the Florida Panthers, trading Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and Alex Auld for Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek and a sixth-round draft pick (Sergei Shirokov) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Florida fan-favourite Luongo initially claimed to be "surprised" with being traded.

He later signed a long-term 4-year, $27-million deal with the Canucks, which includes a no-trade clause after the first year, tying him with Chicago Blackhawks' Nikolai Khabibulin as the highest paid goaltender in the NHL and showing the Canucks' clear intention of making Luongo a franchise goalie. With the acquisition of Luongo, previous starting goaltender Dan Cloutier was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings on July 5, 2006.

On April 7, 2007, the Canucks won the Northwest Division title for the second time in three seasons with an overtime win over the San Jose Sharks. The win also gave Luongo his 47th win of the season, tying him for the previous single-season win record with Bernie Parent, which had been eclipsed during the same season by New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur.

The Canucks opened the 2007 playoffs with a quadruple-overtime win against their first-round opponents, the Dallas Stars. The game was the longest in club history and the sixth longest in league history. Also in this game, the Canucks set a record for shots against, allowing 76.

In seven games, the Canucks prevailed despite a lack of goal-scoring; Stars goalie Marty Turco recorded three shutouts in the series, becoming the only goalie to earn three shutouts in a losing effort. Advancing to the second round, the team was defeated by the Stanley Cup-winning Anaheim Ducks in five games. Following the playoffs, coach Vigneault received the Jack Adams Award for his efforts in the Canucks' 49-win season.

Towel Power in the 2007 Playoffs.The 2007-2008 season did not begin especially well, with key injuries beginning from training camp. Defensemen Sami Salo and Lukas Krajicek were both injured in October, while Kevin Bieksa was severely cut by the skate blade of Vernon Fiddler of the Nashville Predators on November 1. The trade deadline saw only one change for the team, with agitating left-winger Matt Cooke being traded to the Washington Capitals for left-winger Matt Pettinger. During the nine-game season-finale at the end of the season, the Canucks were again without Ohlund, who had suffered bone chips in his knee; as well, they lost promising rookie forward Mason Raymond to an MCL sprain and Morrison, again, to an ACL tear. Coming up short in these crucial games, the Canucks missed the playoffs for the second time in three years, coming up three points short. The final game of the season, played on home ice, saw the retiring Trevor Linden hailed as the first star of the game and given a standing ovation on a 7-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.

On April 14, 2008, the Canucks management fired general manager Dave Nonis. Nine days later, former player agent Mike Gillis was named as his replacement. The 2008 off-season has thus far seen several losses from the Canucks ranks. On May 29, 2008, the Vancouver Canucks tragically lost promising young prospect, Luc Bourdon, a defenseman picked 10th overall in the 2005 entry draft who died in a motorcycle crash near his hometown of Shippigan, New Brunswick. Long-time Canuck Trevor Linden officially retired on June 11, 2008. July 3, 2008, saw the loss of Canuck captain and all-time leading scorer Markus Naslund to the New York Rangers where he signed a 2 year, $8 million deal. July 7, 2008, saw the loss of another long-time Canuck, Brendan Morrison, who signed a deal with the Anaheim Ducks.

Despite the losses, on July 4, 2008 the Canucks traded for highly regarded young forward Steve Bernier from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for draft picks. The Canucks signed Bernier on July 8, 2008, for $2.5 million over 1 year after matching an offer sheet made by the St. Louis Blues. On July 10, 2008, the Canucks signed free agent Pavol Demitra to a 2 year contract worth $8 million. The Canucks have also added more grit players such as Darcy Hordichuk. The team is also rumoured to close to a major trade for another established "top six" forward using their abundance of blue-chip NHL defensemen.

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