Vancouver Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey club playing in the National Hockey League's Western Conference's Pacific Division and located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Since entering the NHL in 1970 (the Vancouver Canucks previously played in the Pacific Coast Hockey League [PCHL] and the Western Hockey League [WHL]), the team has reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1982, 1994, and 2011, yet failed to secure a Stanley Cup win. The Canucks play out of the Rogers Arena (formerly known as the General Motors Place).

The Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks home arena.

The Vancouver Canucks are one of the NHL's expansion franchises. The team had sought to enter the NHL in 1967, when the NHL doubled in size. Vancouver's bid was the only bid from a Canadian team in the 1967 expansion, but their initial bid for that season was rejected by the NHL, both due to the quality of the proposal and to resistance to Canadian expansion by the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, both of which did not wish to split the lucrative television revenues from CBC's Hockey Night in Canada program. There were also rumors at the time that Toronto Maple Leafs' owners Stafford Smythe and Harold Ballard were still mad at the city of Vancouver after voters rejected their bid to build a new arena downtown in 1964.

With owners who still wanted to enter the NHL, Vancouver attempted in 1968 to purchase the struggling Oakland Seals and relocate the franchise to Vancouver. However, the NHL wanted to avoid the embarrassment of one of their new expansion franchises relocating so quickly and, in turn, promised Vancouver it would be awarded a franchise in the next expansion. That moment came in 1969, when the NHL's board of governors announced an expansion from twelve to fourteen teams, offering expansion to Buffalo (Sabres) and Vancouver.

Vancouver paid a $6 million expansion fee, up from $2 million in 1967, to play in the 1970–1971 season. Further, the franchise was not awarded to Cy McLean and Ed Sweeney, who were behind the original 1967 bid for the city. Instead, it was awarded to Tom Scallen, who owned Medicor, a Minnesota company following the construction of the Pacific Coliseum.

The original "Stick-in-Rink" Jersey the Canucks entered the NHL with.

Prior to joining the NHL, the Vancouver Canucks of the PCHL and WHL used a logo of a figure of a lumberjack with a hockey stick skating in white, blue, and red colors and would be nicknamed "Johnny Canuck" (a similar logo is now used by the Abbotsford Canucks). However, once entering the NHL, the Canucks redesigned their logo into something more elegant and stylish. Later known as the "stick-in-rink," the logo was designed by Joe Borobudur and had a blue oval (shaped like a standard hockey rink) with a white and green border, which was broken by a white hockey stick to form a general "C" shape.

The logo, when introduced, used a dark blue background for the rink on the white jerseys, and the dark color jerseys used a white background for the rink. Further, the jersey stripes on the sleeve initially had a "V" shape cut into them, which would later be removed. The overall jersey design used a blue, green, and white color palette with simplified striping and sleeving, which the Canucks returned to in 2006.

The Canucks "Flying V" jersey.

In one of the more talked-about uniform changes in NHL history, the Canucks ditched their iconic blue, green, and white color scheme in favor of a black, gold, and orange color scheme. More dramatically, the team moved the new "skate" logo (in which the word "Canucks" formed a skate and was designed to look to be in motion) moved to the jersey's sleeve. In place of a logo on the front of the jersey was a giant "V" shaped in red and gold stripes on the black jersey and red and black stripes on the gold jersey.

The giant "V" lent the jersey its "flying V" name (along with V-shaped bands on the sleeves intended to look like rank markers), but the jersey has also been considered similar to the gowns worn by graduates, and the jersey has often since been included in lists of the ugliest jerseys in the history of North American professional sports. In 1985, the jersey was redesigned to remove the giant "V" and place the logo on the front of the jersey, and it used simplified striping on the bottom and sleeves of the jerseys.

The first "Skate" jersey of the Vancouver Canucks.

Initially, the jersey used a gold background for home games and a black jersey for away. In 1989, this changed to the more classic white and black jersey scheme, with a similar sleeving pattern. In 1995–1996, as part of the NHL's third-jersey program, which leaned heavily on the new sublimation jersey technology, the Vancouver Canucks introduced a red and black jersey, which used a sublimated colored stripe across its chest, which was reminiscent of the "V" jersey.

The first Orca jersey and logo.

In 1997, the Canucks underwent another drastic change to their logo and jersey. Gone were the vibrant black, orange, and gold colors in favor of maroon, silver, navy blue, and sky blue. And the "skate" logo gave way to the new Orca logo (a nod to the team's new parent company, Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment). The Orca is depicted in the logo as breaking through ice and curved to shape a "C." The jerseys used navy blue for the away jersey and white for home, with angled stripes on the lower third of the sleeves and three bands across the bottom of the jersey. In 2001, the team introduced an alternate jersey, which used sublimation technique to fade from navy blue at the top to maroon at the bottom and included maroon shoulders and maroon lower third of the sleeves. The jerseys would also introduce a "stick-in-rink" logo (in the maroon, navy, and silver color scheme) to the shoulders later.

In 2007, with Reebok entering as the NHL's single uniform supplier, the Canucks underwent yet another major redesign of their jersey. This time, however, the team did not redesign their logo. Instead, the logo went through a minor change, removing the red from the original Orca logo and leaving it in shades of dark blue and silver. Further, the team added a "VANCOUVER" wordmark above the Orca in a sans-serif font, which was reminiscent of the original "stick-in-rink" logo. The team changed color schemes back to the original blue, green, and white with the Orca logo, creating a simplified and more classic look for their jerseys.

The second iteration of the Orca jersey and logo, which was redesigned to the team's original colors.

Evoking the original "stick-in-rink" jersey, the Orca on the Canucks jersey broke through white ice on the dark home jersey and broke through dark blue ice on the white away jersey. The jersey had a single, green stripe banded in white along the bottom and on the sleeves, and the "stick-in-rink" logo remained on the shoulder of the jersey, albeit in the white, green, and blue color scheme. The white, away jersey used the same stripe on the jersey but ended in a dark blue three-quarter sleeve as well.

The third iteration of the Orca jersey.

In the third installment of the Orca logo, the Canucks removed the "Vancouver" wordmark from both the home and away jerseys. Otherwise, the jersey and logo remained unchanged, but the removal of the wordmark created an overall cleaner jersey impression while maintaining the team's iconic color scheme.

Since 1911, before the foundation of the NHL, the Vancouver area has been home to professional hockey. That first team, known as the Vancouver Millionaires, was one of the original three teams in the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA). The PCHA was founded in 1911 by Lester and Frank Patrick, who would institute a series of rule changes, which, in turn, made the game of hockey more exciting. These changes included adding the blue line, line changes, the forward pass, and allowing a goalie to leave their feet to make a save. They also drew some star players of the era to the new league.

The Vancouver Millionaires.

From 1914 to 1921, the Stanley Cup was awarded to the winner of a five-game series between the champions of the National Hockey Association (NHA, predecessor to the NHL) and the PCHA. The Millionaires played for the Stanley Cup five times but were only able to win it in 1914–1915 when, led by legendary Fred "Cyclone" Taylor, the Millionaires were able to complete a three-game sweep of the Ottawa Senators. In 1922–1923, the Millionaires changed their name to the Maroons. After the PCHA disbanded in 1924, the Maroons played in the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL) and, once the WCHL was disbanded, they played in the Western Hockey League (WHL) before both were disbanded in 1926.

In 1945, the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL) was founded, and Vancouver formed a team to compete in the new league, named the Cancuks. The Canucks would claim two championships in the PCHL before the league was renamed the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1952–1953. In the WHL, the Canucks were able to secure another four titles, including back-to-back championships in 1968–1969 and 1969–1970. These were, coincidentally, the team's final two years in the WHL. Five players of this period would later be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with franchise owner Fred Hume.

As noted above, the Canucks did not have a smooth entry into the National Hockey League. But in 1970, once established as an expansion franchise, the Canucks played their first home game on October 9 in the Pacific Coliseum, which had been built in 1968 to support the Vancouver expansion bid. The team accumulated 56 points in that first season, for a sixth-place finish in the seven-team East Division. By 1974, Medicor transferred ownership of the Canucks to a group of Vancouver businessmen headed by Frank Griffiths. That same season, 1974–1975, the team had its first winning season with 86 points and their first Smythe Division Championship.

Following the relative success of 1974-1975, the team resumed its mediocre play. Although the team reached the playoffs in four of the seasons from 1976 to 1981, each time the team reached the playoffs, they were defeated in the preliminary round. This ended in 1982, when the Canucks made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Finals and proved the pundits right, that once in the playoffs, anything can happen.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Canucks met the Calgary Flames. This came after finishing the season with only 77 points. However, the Canucks surprised the Flames, defeating them in a three-game sweep and moving on to face the Los Angeles Kings. The Kings had defeated the Edmonton Oilers the round before in one of the greater upsets in NHL history, as Edmonton was a powerhouse team, but once again, the Canucks surprised their opponent and took the series four games to one. In another round of upsets, the Canucks faced the Chicago Blackhawks, who upset the Minnesota North Stars in the opening round. With the North Stars and Oilers previously upset, the Canucks had a conference title that could be won without having to face the titans of their conference.

Roger Neilson and the Canucks players wave white towels for "mercy" from the officials.

Not looking to waste time, the Canucks dispatched the Blackhawks in five games. Although, during the series against the Blackhawks, an infamous event occurred in which the Canucks coach, Roger Neilson, became fed up with what he felt was a poor performance of the on-ice officials in the game and placed a white towel on the end of a hockey stick and waved it in a gesture mocking surrender. The players on the Canucks bench followed suit. And, in the next game in the series, white towels were given to fans who cheered by waving them over their heads, a tradition that has stuck across hockey.

The Stanley Cup Final was set. The Canucks would face the juggernaut New York Islanders. Reaching the final made the Canucks the first team from Western Canada to play for the Stanley Cup in fifty-six years, with the last team to reach that point being the Victoria Cougars. These Islanders were on the precipice of establishing an NHL dynasty, but in the 1981–1982 season, the Islanders had led the NHL in regular season points and only lost four games in the playoffs. The Vancouver Canucks were outmatched, and they were swept in the Stanley Cup Final.

Vancouver rookie Pavel Bure, dubbed the "Russian Rocket" for his scoring prowess.

The team's improbable playoff run in 1982 seemed like the kind of event a team could build upon. Instead, the Canucks quickly declined. They made the playoffs in the next two seasons only to be defeated in the opening round by the Calgary Flames both times. Following these early-round exits, the next six seasons saw the Canucks miss the playoffs four times, suffering early exits against the Edmonton Oilers in 1986 and Calgary Flames in 1989. Both of the Alberta-based teams were at the pinnacle of their success during this period. With the mediocre results, the Canucks would engage in a rebuilding program under new general manager Pat Quinn in 1988.

This rebuild began well, with the drafting of Pavel Bure in 1989. In Bure's first season with the Canucks, the 1991–1992 season, Bure won the Calder Trophy as the top rookie in the NHL and became one of the most electric scorers in Canucks' franchise history. Nicknamed the "Russian Rocket," Bure recorded back-to-back 60-goal campaigns in his second and third seasons in the league. This scoring prowess helped the Vancouver Canucks win their division in 1991-1992 and finish with the fourth-best record in the league. The following season, the Canucks had one of their best seasons, recording 101 points in eighty-four games. However, in both seasons, the Canucks fell in the division finals in the playoffs.

Canucks longtime captain and fan-favorite Trevor Linden.

In 1993–1994, led by Bure and captain Trevor Linden, the Canucks finished the 1993–1994 season with 85 points, which was enough for seventh in the conference and to get the team into the postseason. The first round of the playoffs saw them match up against the Calgary Flames once more, and they lost three straight games to fall 3 games to 1 in the series. The Canucks changed the series around, clawing their way back in to win the final three games in overtime each time. The next two rounds did not pose the Canucks as much of a problem, as they beat both the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs 4 games to 1.

Vancouver was now set to face the New York Rangers—led by Brian Leetch and Mark Messier—for the Stanley Cup Final. In a repeat of the Canucks first round, they quickly fell behind 3 games to 1 in the series. The Canucks fought back, winning the next two games to tie the series, bringing the New York Rangers to a game seven. In game seven, the Canucks fell short. They were unable to complete the series comeback for a second time that playoffs and lost the game 3-2 to lose their chance at the Stanley Cup.

Image from Vancouver's 1994 Stanley Cup riot.

For the first, but not the last time, the loss in game seven triggered a riot in downtown Vancouver (known as the 1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot) in which an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 people converged on Downtown Vancouver, where an altercation with police officers attempting to provide medical assistance to someone in the crowd led to tear gas being used to disperse the crowd. The riot saw windows along Robson Street broken, including those of many major retailers, such as Eaton's department store. The tear gas wafted through the open windows of residents of the area, but St. Paul's Hospital placed guards who refused entrance to their emergency room to anyone suffering from tear gas. The total damage of the riot was estimated at CAD $1.1 million.

Following the loss in the Stanley Cup finals, the Vancouver Canucks would disappoint with a .500 record in the lockout-shortened 1994–1995 season (their final season in the Pacific Coliseum) and finished two games below .500 in 1995–1996. Despite the lack of regular season success, the Canucks made the playoffs in both seasons only to be bounced early. And after a season-ending injury to Pavel Bure during the 1996–1997 season, which led to the Canucks missing the playoffs despite strong performances from players like Martin Gelinas and Alexander Mogilny.

Arguably the most-hated player to play for the Canucks, Mark Messier.

In the 1997 off-season, the Canucks decided to pursue and sign free agent Mark Messier to a contract. The five-year contract was worth $6 million per season, which included a $2 million buyout option in its third year. The Canucks were in a hurry to sign Messier and offered him a hand-written contract (which is not the norm), sometimes referred to as a "napkin" contract. Messier came into a relatively good (on paper) Canucks team, and he had a reputation as one of the best leaders in the NHL and capable of vaulting a team to the Stanley Cup playoffs, if not to the trophy itself, through his leadership and on-ice play. At the point he signed on in Vancouver, Messier was a beloved player for the fans of the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers, two franchises that had earned Stanley Cups with him on their rosters.

Instead, Messier would become one of the most hated Canucks players in Vancouver. Despite the joy in the Canucks market at the signing of Mark Messier, it soured almost immediately when he donned his number 11 jersey. Messier had worn 11 his entire career, but in Vancouver, the number had been unofficially retired in honor of the late Wayne Maki, who had been lost to a battle with brain cancer in 1974. This was one thing, which could perhaps be forgiven since Messier had worn his number 11 his entire career, but then he was given the captaincy of the Canucks, which meant long-time captain and fan favorite Trevor Linden was stripped of the captaincy.

The season started poorly, with rumors of locker room squabbles between Messier and other personalities beginning early. This led to the firing of longtime Canucks general manager Pat Quinn in November of that season. Before a new general manager was found, ownership at the time fired head coach Tom Renney and replaced him with Mike Keenan on the advice of Messier. Because the Canucks had not replaced their general manager at the time, Mike Keenan became the acting general manager.

Another antagonist of Vancouver Canuck's fan lore, coach and interim GM Mike Keenan.

Then came the real fun. Keenan began trading players, leading to beloved players like Kirk McLean, Dave Babych, Martin Gelinas, Mike Sillinger, Grant Ledyard, Lonny Bohonos, and Gino Dojick being traded away. These trades were all intended to mend the rift in the locker room, but Keenan fell squarely on Messier's side of the rift, which in turn led to Trevor Linden ( beloved longtime captain and face of the Canucks franchise) being traded in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and a third-round pick that would turn into Jarkko Ruutu (a trade that would work for Vancouver in time, but was not enjoyed by the fanbase). Keenan, in turn, acquired Sean Burke, Geoff Sanderson, and Enrico Ciccone, who would all be shipped out later that season. The Canucks finished the season with the third - record in the NHL.

Brian Burke was hired as a general manager in the summer of 1998. Keenan was retained as the coach until January 1999, when he was fired and replaced by Marc Crawford. By 2000, the team triggered the buyout clause in Messier's contract, and Mark Messier returned to the New York Rangers. Pavel Bure held out in contract negotiations in 1999 and was eventually traded to the Florida Panthers, where, curiously, he advocated for the Panthers to hire Mike Keenan (despite many players in Vancouver disliking him as a coach).

The final nail in the coffin came in 2005 when Mark Messier sued the Vancouver Canucks. The suit was based around a clause in his hastily written contract, which offered him a salary bonus if the franchise increased in value during his time playing for them. The clause at no point considered inflation, and in 2012, Mark Messier was awarded a $6 million settlement for the grievance.

The Brian Burke era, although short, (he lasted from 1998 to 2004) set up the Canucks for their next run at the Stanley Cup. Once replacing Keenan with Crawford, shipping off Pavel Bure, and buying out Messier, some previously struggling players began to become key contributors for the team, most notably Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi. During the 1999–2000 season, Burke traded Mogilny for forwards Denis Pederson and Brendan Morrison and Naslund was selected to replace Messier as team captain.

Twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin were both drafted by the Canucks in 1999.

One of Brian Burke's most important moves as a general manager for the Vancouver Canucks came at the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. Burke was intent on drafting the young Sedin twins, Swedish phenoms, in the draft, which took some deft maneuvering from Burke to achieve. He began by trading Brian McCabe. Acquired previously in the Trevor Linden trade under Mike Keenan, McCabe had become a strong defenseman admired by several organizations. Burke traded the defenseman to the Chicago Blackhawks for their first-round pick, which was number four in the draft. Now Burke had two top-five picks but need assurance neither the Tampa Bay Lightning or then Atlanta Thrashers would select one of the Sedins.

Burke traded the club's number four selection and two later-round selections to the Lightning for their first overall pick. He sent the first overall pick to Atlanta for the assurance they would not pick a Sedin, leaving the Canucks with the second and third overall picks. The Thrashers selected Patrik Stefan (who has come to be known as one of the biggest draft busts in NHL history), allowing the Canucks to Draft Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

The pieces were in place to put together one of Vancouver's best lines in franchise history. Named the "West Coast Express" after a Vancouver rail service of the same name, the line saw power forward Todd Bertuzzi and high-scoring Markus Naslund centered by Brendan Morrison. Over the next few years, with the line together, Naslund would individually compete for the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Art Ross Trophy, the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, and win the Lester B. Pearson Award as one of the top goal scorers in the NHL. Bertuzzi would also become a top-five scorer in the league. And, to help the younger Vancouver Canucks roster out, Burke traded for ex-captain Trevor Linden.

The West Coast Express from right to left, Todd Bertuzzi, Markus Naslund, and Brendan Morrison.

Behind this strong top line, and with the former captain and fan-favorite back, the Canucks fought for their division title through the 2002–2003 season, losing it on the last day of the regular season to the Colorado Avalanche. They set a franchise record with a ten-game win streak. This led to the team making the 2003 playoffs as the fourth seed in the Western Conference. They would meet and defeat the St. Louis Blues in the first round, marking the Canucks' first playoff series win in eight years. But, in the second round, the Canucks would lose to the Minnesota Wild.

The next season, 2003–2004, saw the Canucks receive major media attention for a violent on-ice attack. During the regular season series with the Colorado Avalanche, Avalanche forward Steve Moore landed a vicious hit on Markus Naslund. In the following game, vowing retaliation for the hit, Bertuzzi went after Moore, grabbed the Avalanche forward from behind, and punched him in the head. Moore fell to the ice, with Bertuzzi landing on top of him, which fractured three vertebrae in Moore's neck, to go with multiple facial cuts and a concussion. Bertuzzi was suspended until the start of the 2005–2006 season by both the NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and he faced legal action in British Columbia, while Moore filed civil lawsuits against Bertuzzi and the Canucks organization in Colorado and Ontario.

The Canucks finished the season with their first division title win (then the Northwest Division) and entered the playoffs facing the Calgary Flames. They lost in the first round, and Brian Burke's contract would not be renewed, with assistant general manager and director of hockey operations, Dave Nonis, tapped to replace Burke, becoming the youngest general manager in team history at thirty-seven.

Following the 2004–2005 NHL lockout, the Canucks entered the 2005–2006 season began with a lot of promise for the Vancouver Canucks. Some pundits and analysts picked them as Stanley Cup favorites, while free agent acquisitions, such as Anson Carter and Richard Park, signed for the season, suggested the team was ready to make a deep playoff push. However, the season would not play out that way. Instead, it was a disappointing season, with the Canucks finishing ninth in their conference and losing a playoff position to the Edmonton Oilers. The disappointment of the season was characterized by under-achieving players. The "West Coast Express" line was expected to produce higher point totals under the league's new rules—many of which had been introduced to help increase offense in the league as it had been plummeting for years. Instead, Morrison had a career-high in penalty minutes, at 84, and his wingers, Bertuzzi and Naslund, had a combined -37 plus-minus rating. Instead, the team's highest-scoring line was the second line of Carter and the Sedin twins.

At the end of the season, the Canucks fired Marc Crawford and replaced him with Alain Vigneault, who had previously been the coach of Vancouver's AHL affiliate. Three days after Vigneault's hiring, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, and Alex Auld were traded to the Florida Panthers for Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek, and a sixth-round draft pick which turned into Sergei Shirokov in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Roberto Luongo, who had been a fan-favorite in Florida and a top goaltender in the league, was surprised by the trade to Vancouver but signed a 4-year $27 million contract with the Canucks, which made him one of the highest-paid goaltenders in the league. The acquisition of Luongo also allowed the Canucks to trade their previous starting goaltender, Dan Cloutier, who fetched the team a second-round draft pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and a conditional pick in 2009.

Roberto Luongo served as the Vancouver Canucks' starting goaltender for years.

The Canucks entered the 2006–2007 season with almost a new team after the off-season, with the Sedin twins set to take over the leadership and offensive push for the team. This would prove well for the team, as they won the Northwest Division title for the second time in three seasons and earned Luongo the second-most single-season wins for a goaltender, just behind New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur. The team lurched into the 2007 playoffs with a quadruple-overtime win against the Dallas Stars, their first-round opponents. The game was the longest in club history and sixth-longest in league history, with the Canucks setting a record for shots against at the time, allowing 76. The Canucks won the series despite a lack of goal-scoring, with Stars goalie Marty Turco recording three shutouts in the series and becoming the only goalie to earn three shutouts and lose a series. In the second round, however, the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Anaheim Ducks, who were now led by ex-Canuck general manager Brian Burke and who would go on to win the Stanley Cup. For his efforts, Alain Vigneault won the Jack Adams Award for best coach in the league for helping turn the Canucks around.

Trying to pick up in the 2007–2008 season where the last season ended did not go well, as key injuries to defensemen Sami Salo and Lukas Krajicek in training camp were compounded by an injury to Kevin Bieksa on November 1 when he was cut by a skate blade. The team traded left-winger Matt Cooke to the Washington Capitals for left-winger Matt Pettinger at the trade deadline. Injuries followed the Canucks as they were without Mattias Ohlund to a bone chip in his knee, rookie forward Mason Raymond was lost to an MCL sprain, and Brendan Morrison was lost to an ACL tear. The Canucks limped to the end of the season, losing seven of their final eight games to miss the playoffs for the second time in three years. In the final game of the season, Trevor Linden received a standing ovation—despite a 7-1 loss to the Calgary Flames—as he had announced his retirement earlier in the season.

Star forward Mats Sundin.

In April of 2008, after the season was done, the Canucks replaced general manager Dave Nonis with former player agent Mike Gillis. The 2008 off-season further saw the Canucks lose several players, including the tragic death of prospect Luc Bourdon, who had been picked tenth overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft in a motorcycle crash near his hometown of Shippigan, New Brunswick. Trevor Linden was lost to retirement, while team captain and all-time leading scorer Markus Naslund was lost to free agency, where he signed with the New York Rangers. Brendan Morrison was similarly lost to free agency, and he signed with the Anaheim Ducks. In their place, Mike Gillis signed unrestricted free agent Pavol Demitra and traded for Steve Bernier from the Buffalo Sabres. Similarly, Gillis was able to sign former Toronto Maple Leafs forwards Kyle Wellwood and Mats Sundin (Sundin did not join in the off-season, but would sign the deal in December 2008 for the season).

Further, going into the 2008–2009 season, with the departure of former captain Trevor Linden and captain Markus Naslund, the team had to name a new team captain. Mike Gillis chose Roberto Luongo, marking the first time since the 1947 Montreal Canadiens named Bill Durnan team captain that an NHL team named a goaltender captain. On December 17, 2008, the Canucks retired their second jersey, hanging Trevor Linden's number 16 beside Stan Smyl's number 12. The team went on to have a winning season, winning the Northwest Division and finishing third in the Western Conference. The Canucks swept their first-round series against the St. Louis Blues (the first sweep in franchise history) to line up against the Chicago Blackhawks. However, the second series failed to live up to the Canucks expectations, with the Blackhawks taking the series in six games.

The Canucks went into the 2009–2010 season hoping to build on the previous season's success while facing one of the longest road trips in NHL history, looking at fourteen games over six weeks as a result of Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics. The team, however, overcame the adversity to finish first in their division once more and third in the Western Conference. Henrik Sedin was the top-scoring player for the Canucks and became the first player in Canucks' franchise history to win the Art Ross Trophy, scoring 112 points through the season. The Canucks went into the playoffs with high expectations and were able to defeat their first-round opponent, Los Angeles Kings, in six games, but once again, they faced the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round, and once more, they lost in six games.

Henrik Sedin after being named Canucks' captain.

Heading into the 2010–2011 season, the Canucks announced Henrik Sedin as the team's new captain, replacing Roberto Luongo, who relinquished the captaincy during the off-season (the NHL rules no longer allow goaltenders to be team captains). This was the Canucks' fortieth anniversary season, and the team celebrated with a series of one-off jerseys against teams they had classic games with throughout their history. Similarly, the Canucks celebrated with a "Ring of Honor", which is a permanent in-arena display to commemorate their most significant players over franchise history. Further, the Canucks honored their former captain, Markus Naslund, by retiring his number, 19, after he had retired from the league.

The team finished the season first overall in the league with 54 wins and 117 points and won the Presidents' Trophy. Numerous players had career years, including Daniel Sedin, who won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer with 104 points and marking the first time in NHL history two brothers won the award in back-to-back years. Meanwhile, Ryan Kesler tied Daniel Sedin in goals scored with 41, while goaltenders Roberto Luongo and backup Cory Schneider captured the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals. The team entered the playoffs as the best team in the league.

Canucks' during their first-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks.

They faced the eighth-seeded Blackhawks, their nemesis of the previous few playoffs, with the Canucks taking an early 3-to-nothing series lead before the Blackhawks came back to win three straight games and force a game seven. The series seemed to be going the way of the Blackhawks once again as game seven entered overtime before Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows scored his second goal of the game following a failed clearing attempt by Blackhawks defenseman Chris Campoli. In the next series, the Canucks played the Nashville Predators in the second round, and the Canucks were able to dispatch them in six games before they faced the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals, a series the Canucks were able to win in five games.

Canucks and Bruins player battle for a loose puck during their 2011 Stanley Cup Finals series.

The Canucks once again advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, the first time since 1994, where they faced the Boston Bruins. The Canucks won the first two games of the series, by a 1-0 score in game one and a 3-2 score in game two after 11 seconds of overtime. However, the second game saw some bad blood grow between the teams, with accusations against players being traded. As the series shifted to Boston, the Bruins roared back into the series with an 8-1 victory and a game with more fireworks as the Canucks' Aaron Rome was suspended for a hit on Bruins' Nathan Horton that resulted in Horton leaving the ice on a stretcher. And a 4-0 victory in game two, a game which involved 66 penalty minutes and with the teams' hatred of each other growing.

Game five saw the series go back to Vancouver, where the Bruins failed to remember how to score, and the Canucks winning with a 1-0 score. But, with game six back in Boston, the Bruins' offense came out of hibernation, and the team scored 5 goals to win 5–2 and force a seventh game. Game six was another contest of penalties, with Boston's Brad Marchand and Shawn Thornton and Vancouver's Daniel Sedin and Maxim Lapierre receiving 10-minute misconducts in the third period. This set up a game seven back in Vancouver, which looked good for the Canucks, who had been able to win at home throughout the series. However, the Bruins came roaring out to score four goals, with Marchand and Patrice Bergeron each scoring twice, to defeat the Canucks 4-0 and win the Stanley Cup for the first time in thirty-nine years. While the Canucks found themselves once more runner-up for the Cup.

A car is set on fire during 2011 Stanley Cup riot.

For the second time, following a close series loss, a riot broke out in downtown Vancouver. With the important game, the Canucks had set up a fan zone outside of the arena with large televisions set up to allow fans to watch the game, and an estimated 100,000 people crowded the area. As the game came to a close, people began throwing objects at the screens, Bruins flags and Canucks jerseys were set afire, vehicles were overturned, and there were calls for a riot. Other reports suggested fist fights broke out around portable toilets, while people began jumping on a car that had been flipped before it was set on fire. A second car was later set fire as well. Two police cars in the area were also set afire at the time. Riot police were eventually called out and were able to push the riot out of the fan zone, though it ended up in the same area as the 1994 riot, and storefronts were once more attacked and damaged.

A famous photo of a couple kissing during 2011 Stanley Cup riots.

By midnight, the majority of the crowd had dispersed. The police closed many of the affected areas and closed lanes so people could not leave the area. Further, the Vancouver Police were able to arrest 101 people during the riots, with 85 arrested for breach of peace, 8 for public intoxication, and 8 for breaking and entering, assault, or theft. At least 104 people were injured during the incident, with at least 4 people stabbed and 9 police officers injured, which resulted in 887 charges brought against 301 people by 2015. The next day, thousands of volunteers went downtown to clean up the damage to the city. The riots caused an estimated $4.2 million in damages and losses. It also touched off a media firestorm as news coverage ran of the riots and various prominent publications published editorials critical of the riots and its participants.

John Tortorella behind the Canucks' bench.

Post-2011, the Canucks limped through the next few seasons. The 2011–2012 season saw the Canucks continue their strong production, clinching the Presidents' Trophy for the second consecutive season, only to be eliminated by the eventual Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. The next season, 2012–2013, saw a lockout as the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired. The shortened season, which came out of the lockout, saw the Canucks finish their fifth consecutive Northwest Division title but were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the San Jose Sharks. Seeking change, Alain Vigneault was fired and replaced by John Tortorella.

Vancouver versus Ottawa during their heritage classic game in 2014.

The following season is often summarized by a single game: the Canucks played an NHL outdoor game on March 2, 2014, against the Ottawa Senators, in which Tortorella started the game with the backup goaltender rather than starter Roberto Luongo. The Canucks went on to lose the game, and the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in six years. Luongo was traded back to the Panthers during the season, which did not help their record, and Mike Gillis was fired and replaced as general manager by Jim Benning, and John Tortorella was replaced by Willie Desjardins.

Jim Benning had previously worked as an assistant general manager of the 2011 Boston Bruins, who had beat the Vancouver Canucks in another example of "if you can't beat them, join them" thinking (see Mark Messier above for the first prominent example). Canucks fans were hungry to return to the playoffs and get another crack at the Stanley Cup, especially as they were still carried by the Sedin twins. The new management group started with a series of changes, including trading defenseman Jason Garrison to the Tampa Bay Lightning, while signing free agents Ryan Miller and Radim Vrbata. The 2014–2015 season did not disappoint the fans, as they reached the 100-point plateau for the ninth time in franchise history and reached the playoffs again. However, the first round saw the Canucks line up against the Calgary Flames, and the Canucks would go on to lose the series in six games.

The team headed into the 2016–2017 season with high hopes; however, as the season progressed, the team began to slump, and voices around the team suggested it was time to consider a rebuild. Instead, Benning looked toward a retool (the difference between rebuild and retool with a rebuild seeing a team sell off top players for various draft picks; a retool sees some players traded for picks, and other players traded for other players, to change the overall mix). This saw trades that sent Alexandre Burrows and Jannik Hansen to other teams, while the Canucks' 2015 first-round pick, Brock Boeser, made his NHL debut. Willie Desjardins and his coaching staff were released at the end of the season, replaced by Travis Green, who had previously coached the team's AHL affiliate.

Jim Benning during his tenure as general manager of Vancouver Canucks.

By the 2017–2018 season, fans were voicing discontent with Jim Benning. The team was not improving on the ice, while fan favorites or hopeful prospects. These included the following trades:

• Sven Bartschi, who was acquired as a struggling prospect from the Calgary Flames, and who would continue to struggle in Vancouver; Rasmus Andersson was the draft pick used to acquire Bartschi, as he was used to pick a top-pairing defenseman, who Vancouver could have used more than a struggling forward.
• Zack Kassian for Brandon Prust, with Kassian not being a great player, but he was big and strong and not afraid to throw hits. He was traded for an older, experienced defenseman in Prust, who would flame out in Vancouver and not play again after the 2016–2017 season (all while the Canucks struggled with team toughness)
• Clendening for Gustav Forsling, a trade where Benning gave up on prospect Gustav Forsling and traded him for Adam Clendening, also a young prospect, but where Clendening would be traded toward the end of the season for veteran Brandon Sutter. Forsling has gone on to become an integral player for the Florida Panthers;
• While attempting to address the lack of team toughness, Benning acquired Erik Gudbrandson from the Panthers for Jared McCann, another draft pick Benning was impatient with, while Gudbrandson would struggle to fit in with the Canucks due to a lack of foot speed.

The team entered the 2017–2018 season without high expectations, and the season was a poor year for the Canucks. In the season, rookie Brock Boeser was a lone bright spot for the team who was able, despite an injury late in the season, to put up 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games, which placed him second in the race for the Calder Memorial Trophy awarded to the rookie of the year. The Canucks' Daniel and Henrik Sedin announced their retirement that season, playing their final game on April 7, 2018, against the Edmonton Oilers. Following the poor season, Trevor Linden stepped down as president of hockey operations. The 2018–2019 season did not offer Canucks much more, with the sole bright spot being another rookie, Elias Pettersson, who broke the record for points by a rookie, set by Ivan Hlinka in 1981–1982 and matched by Pavel Bure in 1991–1992, finishing with 66 points to lead all NHL rookies and good to win the Calder Trophy.

The Canucks entered the 2019–2020 season celebrating fifty seasons in the NHL. This included a ceremony on the home opening game, in which Bo Horvat was named the fourteenth captain in team history after a season without a captain following the retirement of Henrik Sedin. The 2019–2020 season also saw the rookie campaign of defenseman Quinn Hughes, who had been selected in the 2018 NHL Entry Draft. Hughes finished the regular season with 8 goals and 45 assists for 53 points in 68 games to finish second place in Calder Memorial Trophy voting, which marked the Canucks as the first team to have a top two Calder Trophy finalist three years in a row since the Toronto Maple Leafs, who did it from 1957 to 1959. On February 12, 2020, Daniel and Henrik Sedin's numbers, 22 and 33 respectively, were retired.

Canucks player celebrates a goal against the Wild during the play-in round.

The 2019–2020 season was suspended at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the league sought to return to play to hold the playoffs, they devised a "bubble" scheme in which the twenty-four teams, which were considered to have a legitimate chance to have fought for a playoff spot in the remainder of the season, were invited to play in a play-in round. The Canucks were one such team where, by points percentage, they were invited to play in the play-in round of the NHL bubble. This play-in round gave them a chance to vault themselves into the playoffs, were they to defeat the Minnesota Wild. And defeat the Minnesota Wild they did, winning a close series three games to one.

Whether the play-in round counts as a playoff series depends on who is asked, but officially they did not, and therefore it would not be until the Canucks faced the defending Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues and defeated those Blues in six games that they would win their first playoff round in nine years. These first two series wins were built on the back of goaltender Jacob Markstrom. However, in the next round, the Canucks faced the Vegas Golden Knights, during which series Jacob Markstrom would be injured. Markstrom had not only been the team's best player in the previous two series but had arguably been the team's most valuable player of the season. Rookie Thatcher Demko, previously hailed as the goaltender of the future, relieved injured Markstrom and had a coming out party, shutting out the Vegas Golden Knights, and pushing the Golden Knights to the brink of elimination before Vegas rallied to win the series in game seven.

Canucks players celebrate a goal during the 2021-22 NHL season.

The Canucks entered the 2021–2022 NHL season, playing in the all-Canadian division, with high expectations. The new, revamped, rebuilt, and retooled core of the team, which sported the skill and stardom of Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, Elias Pettersson, and Thatcher Demko had earned their playoff experience, and, in the words of pundits and analysts, learned how to win in the league. Not only that, they had beaten two legitimate perennial playoff contenders (one coming off a Cup win) while pushing the eventual 2023 Stanley Cup champions to the brink of elimination. The fanbase, however, was split, with some pushing the Canucks as a playoff team capable of competing for the Stanley Cup; the other portion continued to have concerns over general manager Jim Benning and head coach Travis Green, whose performance behind the bench had not warmed fans to him.

Whether the hope was unfettered or cautiously optimistic, no one without hindsight expected the beginning to the season the Canucks had. They started the season with a woeful 4-9-3 record, good for the third-worst points percentage in the league (.344) at the sixteen-game mark. But, unlike during the Mark Messier era, when they fired general manager Pat Quinn at the sixteen-game mark, and head coach Tom Renney at the nineteen-game mark, It would take twenty-five games before Canucks ownership fired general manager Jim Benning, head coach Travis Green, and his coaching staff. On the same day, Bruce Boudreau was named head coach. However, the move to hire a coach before a general manager was criticized by some, as it was believed to set up a conflict between an incoming general manager with the head coach they had not chosen themselves, and had many echoes of that previous Mike Keenan/Mark Messier era.

A few days after the hiring of Bruce Boudreau, the Vancouver Canucks announced the hiring of Jim Rutherford to be the president of hockey operations and interim general manager. This was seen as a reworking of the front office of the Canucks, which had not had a significant change in almost a decade. While this was going on, Bruce Boudreau began to turn the team around on the ice, recovering the season and getting the Canucks players to play a more mature, controlled game. This saw the team surge to post a 32-15-10 record and miss the playoffs by only five points. While still disappointing, the Canucks fans had something to look forward to for the next season.

On January 26, 2022, Jim Rutherford hired Patrik Allvin, the second European and first Swedish-born individual to be named general manager of an NHL team. Previously, Allvin had worked as an assistant general manager in the Pittsburgh Penguins, where Jim Rutherford had been the general manager, and the two had a previous working relationship they renewed in the Canucks organization. Allvin came in to the Canucks sold as a good evaluator of players and talent, capable of finding players other general managers may not find, including with players in Europe.

A Canucks fan holds a sign with the infamous "Bruce, there it is" slogan for head coach Bruce Boudreau.

Despite missing the playoffs, the strong second half of the season under Bruce Boudreau was enough for Rutherford and Allvin to keep the coach on. This was in part as Bruce Boudreau had become a fan favorite, with chants of "Bruce, there it is" raining down on home wins. However, the beginning of the 2022–2023 season, the first in which Rutherford and Allvin would be able to place their mark on the roster, would start with a thud. Boudreau and the Canucks went winless through the first seven games of the season, setting a franchise record, before they won their first game of the season to bring the team's record to 1-5-2. With that win, Boudreau became the twenty-second coach in NHL history to reach 600 wins, with only the great Scotty Bowman reaching the 600-win mark faster.

Because the team failed to rally in the way they had the previous season, and knowing Bruce Boudreau was not a coach selected by Rutherford and Allvin, speculation that Boudreau's time behind the Canucks bench would be finished soon went rampant. This was not helped by whispers and rumors that, behind the scenes, Rutherford and Allvin were looking for a new bench boss. It soon became an open secret, and one that was described as despicable as everyone knew by January that TNT analyst (and former NHL player) Rick Tocchet would take over coaching duties from Boudreau, but it would not happen immediately as Tocchet could not get out of his contract with TNT. Further, the date was set and soon became known when Tocchet would take over, which coincided with an easy stretch of hockey games that would give the coach a good chance to win a number of those games, further endearing him to fanbase. This set up a situation in which Boudreau knew he would be fired, and he was sent off by fans with the "Bruce, there it is" chants.

Quinn Hughes during press conference naming him captain of the Canucks.

As expected, Rick Tocchet took over the Canucks in late January, 2023, and was able to coach the Canucks to a decent record. During that period, Allvin and Rutherford had a chance to change the team's look, which began with a trade of Bo Horvat, the Canucks captain, to the New York Islanders in exhange for Anthony Beauvillier, prospect Aatu Raty, and a conditional first-round pick in 2023 (with the condition being it was top-12 protected). Similar changes were made in the off-season as the Canucks added defenseman Filip Hronek, Pius Suter, Teddy Blueger, Carson Soucy, and Ian Cole as role players to support the team's star players. And the team named Quinn Hughes the next captain.

Going into the 2023-24 NHL season, Rick Tocchet preached a style of play he called predictable but effectie, with an emphasis on up-tempo play which included quicker defensive reactions in the neutral zone and stronger puck battles along the boards. Vancouver jumped to a surprising and dominant beginning to the season, posting an 8-2-1 record in their first eleven games of the season, before jumping out to 35-12-6 record by fifty-three games and good, at that point in the season, to be at the top of their division and to be named as one of the best teams in the league.