A. the new NHL season begins,
lets take a look back at the top ten
Vancouver Canucks of all time. In
the first of this two part series, we’ll
coundown Canucks numbers 10 to six.

  

ey] #10. Andre
«244 Boudrias,
Centre

Ms » | The slick

| centreman
was known
throughout
the NHL
as the
“superpest,”
»| but to the
Canucks,

~ he was
much more than that. Boudrias

was the first offensive star for the
Vancouver Canucks, giving the team
five consecutive seasons of 60 points
or better, many of these points coming
as he expertly dished off passes to
teammates.

Boudrias played six campaigns with
Vancouver, and stood just 5’8. He led
the team in scoring during its first ever
season with 25 goals and 41 assists. His
career highlight came during the 1974-
75 season, when he collected 62 assists
and 78 points to set a franchise record
for single season assists, a record was
just recently broken by Henrik Sedin.
That season, Boudrias and the Canucks
won the Smythe Division banner.

Boudrias also played for the
Montreal Canadians, Minnesota
North Stars, Chicago Blackhawks,
and St. Louis Blues before coming to
Vancouver for the Canuck’s first ever
season. Boudrias accumulated 388
points for Vancouver before finishing
his career with the Quebec Nordiques of
the WHA.

#9, Harold
Snepsts,
Defense
One of

the most

| popular
players in
Vancouver
history,

| Harold

@ Snepsts was
selected by
Vancouver
in the 4" round, 59" overall, in the

1974 amateur draft. Playing 12 years in
Vancouver, Snepsts skated in 781 games
for the team, and while many players
had more talent, few had more passion

 

 

 

and fire for the game.

Snepsts never had more than
31 points in a single season, but his
contributions to the team went far
beyond points. Snepsts was a big, strong
defenseman, standing 6’3, and racking
up 1446 penalty minutes in a Canuck
uniform.

Snepsts played ten seasons in
Vancouver before being traded and
reacquired a few years later. During
his first decade of service, Snepsts was
named the team’s best defenseman four
times, played in the 1977 and 1982 all-
star games, and was a true rough and
tumble blueliner. He was one of the
leaders on the 1982 team that went to
the Stanley Cup finals for the first time
in team history, losing to the New York
Islanders.

Snepsts was one of the most durable
players in team history, playing 17
seasons with Vancouver, the Minnesota
North Stars, Detroit Red Wings, and the
St. Louis Blues before retiring after a
wrist injury in 1991.

#8. Tony
Tanti, Left
Wing
Tony Tanti
was a
marvellously
gifted
hockey
player with
terrific
hands. He
was drafted
in the first
round, 12"
overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks.
He was one of the best pure offensive
players in junior hockey history,
breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for
goals in an OHL season with 81. In
just 154 major junior games, Tanti
scored 177 goals and 338 points as an
Oshawa General. He was picked up by
the Canucks for veteran Curt Fraser on
January 6, 1983.

Tanti set a then team record for
goals in his second season in the NHL,
scoring 45 times and recording 41
assists. During his first five seasons with
Vancouver, he had goal totals of 45,
39, 39, 41, and 40, ensuring his status
as one of Vancouver’s top offensive
players in team history. He is second
all-time in team power play markers
with 102. Tanti skated with the Canucks
for seven and half years before being
traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins on
January 8, 1990, where he would just
miss out on the Penguin’s Stanley Cup
triumph in 1990-91, being traded to

 

Buffalo midway through the year.
After his stay with the Sabres, Tanti
packed up and played in the German
Elite League for six years. Injuries

had hampered him in Pittsburgh and
Buffalo, and he could play in Germany
for $300 000 tax free and while playing
far fewer games before retiring after the
1997-98 season with NHL totals of 697
games, 287 goals, 273 assists, and 560
points.

#7, Richard
Brodeur,
Goaltender
In the case
of ‘King’
Richard
Brodeur,
stats most

_| certainly
don’t tell
the story.

In his 377
starts over
eight years with the team, he only had
one winning season, and he lost far
more games than he won. But that was
not due to his goaltending ability, it
was because of the poor shape of the
Canucks in those days.

The Canucks grabbed Brodeur (no
relation to Martin Brodeur of the New
Jersey Devils) from the New York
Islanders, who had taken him in the
7" round of the 1972 amateur draft.
Despite playing for bad teams his entire
career, one playoff spring cemented
his name in the annals of Vancouver
Canuck history.

‘King Richard’ guided his Canuck
team-mates, a fairly average bunch,
through three consecutive playoff
rounds to the Stanley Cup finals
at just 5’7, defeating Calgary, Los
Angeles, and Chicago in the process.
More than any other player, Brodeur
was responsible for this magical run
through the post-season. That spring
is what Brodeur will forever be
remembered for. His sparkling 1.55
goals-against-average in a three game
sweep of the Flames, his dazzling 46-
save performance against the Chicago
Blackhawks in a 2-1 double overtime
Vancouver win. Vancouver lost to the
dynastic New York Islanders in the
final, but all the same, Brodeur was
fabulous.

Richard Brodeur became the first
goalie in Canuck’s history to record 100
wins, and in 1987-88, he was delt to
the Hartford Whalers, where he played
shortly before concluding his career
with Binghamton in the American
Hockey League.

 

mca Canucks Countdown-
Part One

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

#6. Kirk
McLean,

_, Goaltender
4) Just like
King
Richard,
Kirk McLean
is most
famous

for his
spectacular
effort in

the 1994
playoffs, where he, along with Trevor
Linden and Pavel Bure, led Vancouver
to game seven of the Stanley Cup finals.
What separates him from Brodeur
though, is that McLean was stellar
throughout his entire career with the
Canucks. McLean was nabbed from
the New Jersey Devils in a deal in
1987. It turned out to be a major one.
Going to New Jersey was long time
Canucks star Patrick Sundstrom, and
coming to Vancouver was McLean and
Greg Adams, who would also help the
Canucks to the ‘94 finals.

It would prove to be a terrific deal
for then GM Pat Quinn. McLean still
holds the team records for games
played, wins, and shutouts. McLean’s
best regular season was the 1991-92
campaign, where he played 65 games
and posted a career best 38 victories. He
recorded five shutouts, and managed a
respectable 2.74 GAA during a time of
high offense in the NHL. He was named
to the NHL’s second all-star team, and
participated in the annual NHL all-star
game.

While McLean’s best regular season
may have been 90-91, it was in the
spring of 94 that he proved to be the
best netminder Vancouver has ever
had. The stand-up goalie had a sub-par
regular season, going only 23-26-3,
but the playoffs were another story
entirely. McLean was fantastic, playing
24 playoff games while posting 15
wins and a 2.29 GAA. He was also
made famous for his legendary save in
game seven of round 1 against Calgary,
making an unbelievable sliding toe save
off of Robert Reichel in overtime.

Shortly after that magical
postseason, the tyrannical Mike Keenan
was hired by the Canucks, and he
packaged McLean off to Carolina
for Sean Burke on January 3, 1998.
McLean played bit roles for the
Hurricanes before moving on to Florida
and then New York. After he retired, he
moved back to Vancouver and remains
involved in the Canucks alumni.

17