The Vancouver Canucks were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Hockey League, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Inaugurated in 1945 with the PCHL, they became a WHL team with the merger of the PCHL with the Western Canada Senior Hockey League in 1952. The Canucks played 25 seasons in the WHL between 1945 and 1970. In 1970 they joined the National Hockey League along with fellow expansion team, the Buffalo Sabres.
The Vancouver Canucks won six President's/Lester Patrick Cups (the trophy was renamed in 1960 after the death of Lester Patrick), two PCHL titles (1946 and 1948) and four WHL titles (1958, 1960, 1969 and 1970). They were also regular season champions four times. They played home games in the PNE Forum arena at the Pacific National Exhibition in east Vancouver, before moving for their last two seasons into the Pacific Coliseum just to the north.
Five Canucks players have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Andy Bathgate (inducted in 1978) played with Vancouver for four years (1952–54 and 1968–70) and was on the team for their final two championships. In 1969–70, he recorded 108 points in 72 games, earning the George Leader Cup as league MVP. Johnny Bower, Tony Esposito, Allan Stanley and Gump Worsley – all Hall of Fame inductees – have all played one season with the Canucks.
1948–49: Bill Cowley 1949–50: Bill Carse 1950–51: Bill Carse replaced by Murph Chamberlain 1951–52: Murph Chamberlain; replaced by Hugh Currie; replaced by Joe Carveth 1959–61: Art Chapman 1961–62: Phil Maloney (11–35–3); replaced by Hugh Currie (7–13–1) (February 7, 1962) 1962–63: Max McNab 1966–67: Bert Olmstead 1967–68: Jim Gregory 1968–69: Joe Crozier 1969–70: Joe Crozier; replaced by Hal Laycoe
1948–49: Bill Cowley 1949–50: Coleman E. Hall 1950–51: – 1960–61: Coley Hall 1961–62: Art Chapman (temp); replaced by Dave Dauphine (after Nov.) 1962–63: Max McNab 1967–68: Annis Stukus 1968–69: Joe Crozier 1969–70: Joe Crozier; replaced by Bud Poile
1948–61: Coleman E. Hall 1962–63: Fred J. Hume (owner) 1968–69: Cyrus McLean 1969–70: Cyrus McLean; replaced by Thomas K. Scallen
Leader Cup – MVP
Rookie Award
Most Gentlemanly Player – Fred J. Hume Cup
Outstanding Defenseman – Hal Laycoe Cup
Leading Scorer Award
Outstanding Goaltender Award
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Year Player GP Goals Assists Pts PIM Leading scorer 1952–'53 Larry Popein 70 25 44 69 23 Ian MacIntosh, Walt Atanas – 28 1953–'54 Larry Popein 70 34 32 66 22 Larry Popein 1954–'55 Doug Adam 67 30 22 52 53 Doug Adam 1955–'56 Phil Maloney 70 37 58 95 14 Phil Maloney 1956–'57 Phil Maloney 70 43 55 98 8 Phil Maloney 1957–'58 Phil Maloney 70 35 59 94 0 Jack McLeod – 44* 1958–'59 Ted Hampson 66 27 41 68 23 Dan Belisle – 31 1959–'60 Colin Kilburn 70 23 47 70 79 Jim Powers – 30 1960–'61 Bruce Carmichael 70 30 47 77 36 and Dan Belisle – 30 1961–'62 Phil Maloney 70 34 52 86 2 Barrie Ross – 35 1962–'63 Phil Maloney 69 24 61 90 8 Carl "Buddy" Boone – 44* 1963–'64 Phil Maloney 65 28 53 81 38 Carl "Buddy" Boone – 38 1964–'65 Billy McNeill 68 29 59 88 86 and Phil Maloney – 29 1965–'66 Billy McNeill 72 40 62 102 20 Billy McNeill 1966–'67 Gordon Vejprava 71 36 46 82 27 Gordon Vejprava 1967–'68 Phil Maloney 72 22 46 68 6 Bruce Carmichael – 31 1968–'69 Bob Barlow 74 36 48 84 50 Andy Bathgate – 37 1969–'70 Andy Bathgate 72 40 68* 108* 66 Paul Andrea – 44* * – team record Team record for PIM/season – 251, John Arbor, 1969–'70
Year Player GP Goals Assists Pts PIM 1952–'53 Larry Popein 9 5 10 15 0 1953–'54 Charles McCullough 13 5 8 13 0 1954–'55 Phil Maloney 5 2 2 4 0 1955–'56 Phil Maloney 15 8 7 15 4 1957–'58 Phil Maloney 11 8 17* 25* 4 1958–'59 (three players tied with 7 points in 9 games) 1959–'60 Ray Cyr 11 5 11 16 11 1960–'61 Bruce Carmichael 9 3 3 6 2 1962–'63 Phil Maloney 7 2 7 9 0 Robert Kabel 7 5 4 9 2 1964–'65 Phil Maloney 5 1 5 6 0 Billy McNeill 5 2 4 6 0 1965–'66 Larry Cahan 7 4 12 16 4 1966–'67 Bryan Hextall 8 3 5 8 11 1968–'69 Bryan Hextall 8 4 7 11 22 1969–'70 Murray Hall 11 10 11 21 10 Gerry Glover 11 5 16 21 12 * – team record Team record for goals/playoff – 14, Jack McLeod, 1957–'58 Team record for PIM/playoff – 47, Ted McCaskill, 1969–'70
Year Player GP GA EN SO GAA W L T SVS .PC 1952–'53 Emile Francis 70 216 5 3.09 32 28 10 – won Outstanding Goalkeeper 1953–'54 Lorne "Gump" Worsley 70 168 4 2.40 39 24 7 – won Outstanding Goalkeeper 1954–'55 Johnny Bower 63 171 7 2.71 30 25 8 – won Outstanding Goalkeeper 1955–'56 Ray Mikulan 71 181 2.54 – won Outstanding Goalkeeper 1956–'57 Ray Mikulan 71 231 0 4 3.25 1772 .885 1957–'58 Marcel Pelletier 71 173 0 8* 2.43 1749 .910* – won Outstanding Goalkeeper 1958–'59 Bruce Gamble 65 199 2 7 3.06 29 26 20 1630 .891 1959–'60 Hank Bassen 69 172 5 2.45 44 19 6 – won Outstanding Goalkeeper 1960–'61 Claude Evans 53 147 6 2.77 27 23 3 1961–'62 Claude Evans 40 165 2 4.08 11 26 3 Art LaRiviere 23 1962–'63 Gilles Villemure 70 228 5 3.26 35 31 4 1963–'64 Marcel Paille 70 254 2 3.60 26 41 3 1964–'65 Gilles Villemure 60 212 6 3.46 27 26 6 1965–'66 Gilles Villemure 69 223 5 3.20 32 34 3 1966–'67 Don Simmons 72 213 1 7 2.95 38 32 2 1967–'68 Tony Esposito 63 199 0 4 3.20 25 33 4 Jean-Guy Morissette 11 58 0 0 5.45 1 8 1 1968–'69 George Gardner 53 154 2 2 3.01 25 18 9 Charlie Hodge 13 32 1 0 2.54 7 2 4 Al Millar 12 34 0 0 3.52 4 4 1 1969–'70 George Gardner 60 171 0 3 2.88 41 14 6 – won Outstanding Goalkeeper Lynn Zimmerman 13 48 0 0 3.78