NHL Trivia: Vancouver Canucks Retired Numbers

The Vancouver Canucks have just four numbers that have been retired and permanently raised to the rafters. However, there are three other numbers that have been taken out of circulation. The last player to be honoured in this fashion was Pavel Bure in 2013. Bure's number 10 now hangs from the rafters of the Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Interestingly, Bure switched to number 96 for the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons. Esa Tikkanen wore number 10 for parts of those two years. Tikkanen was traded to the Canucks shortly into to the 1995-96 season and was then shipped to the New York Rangers near the end of the 1996-97 season. Pavel is the only one of the four players to have a spot in the Hockey Hall of Fame, inducted in 2012.

Test and expand your hockey trivia knowledge with these four questions regarding the retired jersey numbers of the Vancouver Canucks, etc.

Q. Number 12 is retired by the Canucks in honour of what player?

A. Stan Smyl played his entire NHL career, from 1978-79 to 1990-91, in a Vancouver Canucks uniform. Smyl was team captain from 1982 to 1990 and had his number retired in the fall of 1991. Stan won the Cylcone Taylor Award as team MVP on three occasions.

An Alberta boy, Smyl played his junior hockey in the Vancouver area for the New Westminster Bruins. He was team captain and Memorial Cup champion with the Bruins in his final two years, 1976-77 and 1977-78. Stan then stayed in the area after retiring as a player and is still with the Canucks organization today.

Q. What two numbers have been taken out of circulation in honour of fallen hockey heroes that left too soon?

A. Number 11 was worn by Wayne Maki, a Canuck from 1970 to 1973. Maki died of brain cancer in 1974. The number 11 has since been worn by one other Vancouver player, Mark Messier. During the summer after his first partial season with the Canucks, Luc Bourdon succumbed to injuries resulting from a motorcycle accident. Bourdon’s number 28 has since been taken out of circulation. There is a third number, 99, that has been taken out of circulation by every team in the NHL in honour of Wayne Gretzky.

Q. Number 16 is retired in honour of what long time Canuck?

A. Trevor Linden played nineteen seasons in the NHL, the majority in a Canucks jersey. Linden began his career with Vancouver in 1988-89 after being the second overall pick in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, behind just Mike Modano who was selected by the Minnesota North Stars. Along the way, Linden played for the New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals before returning to Vancouver to finish out his NHL career. Number 16 was retired in December of 2008.

Interestingly, like Smyl, Linden is an Alberta boy and like Smyl, Trevor won consecutive Memorial Cup championships. However, it was with a team in Alberta, the Medicine Hat Tigers.

Q. Before Pavel Bure, who was the most recent Vancouver player to have his number retired by the club?

A. Number 19 belonging to Markus Naslund was retired in December, 2010. Naslund was originally the 16^th overall pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. Markus played with Vancouver from 1995-96 to 2007-08. He played one more season in the NHL with the New York Rangers before retiring.

He was the Ted Lindsay Award winner in 2002-03. Perhaps the truer measure of the league's MVP over the Hart Trophy, simply because it's an award selected by the players. That year, Naslund finished second in goal scoring with 48, behind Milan Hejduk of the Colorado Avalanche. Markus finished two points behind Peter Forsberg of the Avalanche in the race for the Art Ross Trophy with 104 points.

When Naslund went to the Rangers, he wore number 91. At the time Scott Gomez was wearing 19 for New York and Markus lost the battle for the number.

1 NHL Rule Change To Bring Back Offence

Gary Bettman rolled into town in February of 1993 as the first ever Commissioner of the National Hockey League. Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins was the Art Ross Trophy winner in that 1992-93 season with 160 points. Since, the Art Ross Trophy winner has, with the exception of a few blips, scored less and less.

This year, Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars won the award with just 87 points. That is the lowest total since Stan Mikita of the Chicago Blackhawks equalled that mark back in 1967-68.

Each and every year, the NHL's brain trust meets, frantically coming up with goofy ideas meant to increase offence. Almost every year, there are tweaks to the rules that do nothing to increase offence and, quite frankly, make a mockery of the game.

Well, one simple rule change has the potential to bring back some goal scoring. It wouldn't actually be a new rule. It would simply be reverting back to the way things were before the 1956-57 NHL season. I propose the league makes this change but with a twist.

As someone who has played hockey for the past 40 or so years and a who is Canadian, I do not like Gary Bettman. He may have rescued the NHL from financial disaster but he has done little for the actual game. The NHL that exists today is for idiots with short attention spans who are entertained by anything but what is actually going on on the ice.

However, the tweak I'm proposing might meet Bettman's approval because it is bastardized from basketball, Little Gary's first love.

The Two Minute Major

Well, it was never called the 'two minute major' in the olden days, just a minor penalty. Before the 1956-57 season, when a player was put in the box for a minor infraction, he remained for the full two minutes, regardless of how many goals his opponents scored.

The rule was changed to its present form because of the ridiculous success of the 1955-56 MontrealCanadiens. The numbers were crazy with the Habs accounting for more than a quarter of the entire league's power play goals. At the request of the other five teams, the rule was changed to allow the penalized player to leave the box before the two minutes were up if his team was scored upon.

I say, it's time to go back to a full two minute penalty. But, as mentioned, with a twist.

Fouling Out

I propose that the two minute major doesn't come into effect right from the start of the game. Stealing sort of from basketball, once a player has been called on his third minor of the game, then the rule goes into effect. Also, once a team is called for its fifth minor of the game, the hard two minutes apply. These numbers are arbitrary but you get the picture.

It has been suggested before, I believe by Stan Fischler, that the two minute major return but for certain types of calls like high sticking. That's not a bad idea, either.

One other twist ties in the two minute major and the penalty shot rule. I have issues with the penalty shot rule. Currently, which team is really at an advantage when a penalty shot is called? It's a one shot chance to beat a goalie who is wearing today's oversized equipment. Would not there be almost a better chance of scoring over two minutes with a man advantage? The numbers are actually not that far apart.

Of course, this goes back to Bettman trying to sell the game to people who don't play the game and don't know a thing about the game. 'The most exciting play in sport', it has been dubbed. Bullshit. In a time when half the games end in a shootout anyway, the penalty shot is nothing but a free timeout for both clubs.

Here's what I think. They NHL should allow a team to either accept or decline the penalty shot. If they decline, they get the two minute major, regardless of whether the offending player or team has 'fouled out'.

And Another Thing...

Want to make the game more exciting? Want to make teams play for the win in regulation time? Two things.

1. Do a shootout at the start of every game.
2. Make each game a proper three point game.

Fans love shootouts, no matter how impure they are. Run a shootout before each and every game to determine who will win in the case of a tie after the overtime. This means one team will have a reason to be in the lead from the get-go. There will be no dogging and playing for the point. If the game is decided in regulation or overtime, then the shootout means nothing but the entertainment it provided.

Item number two would probably eliminate the need for item number one. Most leagues in Europe play with a proper three points per game system. The IIHF World Championships are based on this. Before the days of overtime and shootouts during the regular season, each and every game was worth the same, two points. If a team won, they got both points. If there was a tie, each team got a point. Each and every game was valued exactly the same.

Then came overtime and shootouts. Now, some games are worth two points and some games are worth three. This is wrong. It just doesn't make any logical sense. Each game should be three points. Three points go to the winner and none to the loser if the game is decided in regulation. The split is two points / one point if the game is decided in extra time.

5 to Score 7 Goals in a Single WHL Game

On five occasions in the history of the Western Hockey League a player has scored seven goals in a single game. Two of the five went on to lengthy NHL careers. One scored all seven of his team’s goals in a 7-4 victory. The last time the feat was accomplished was on October 2, 1990.

Brian Propp – Brandon Wheat Kings

Brian Propp of the Brandon Wheat Kings was the first WHL player to score seven in a game. On January 25, 1977 Propp scored just over half of his team’s goals as they defeated the Portland Winter Hawks 12-6.

Brian was in his first of three seasons with the Wheat Kings. He scored 55 goals that season, then went on to have seasons of 70 and 94 goals. Propp was the fourteenth overall pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1979. His NHL career consisted of over 1,000 regular season games between 1979-80 and 1993-94 with the Flyers, Boston Bruins, Minnesota North Stars and Hartford Whalers.

Ray Ferraro – Brandon Wheat Kings

Ray Ferraro was the next to score seven in a game. Ferraro also played for the Brandon Wheat Kings and scored his seven on January 5, 1984 as the Wheat Kings downed the Prince Albert Raiders 15-4. That year, Ray set the current WHL record for most points in a single season with an incredible 108. Despite the performance in the that 1983-84 season, Ray was denied the CHL Player of the Year honours because of a guy called Mario Lemieux playing in the QMJHL.

Ferraro was a fifth round pick of the Hartford Whalers in 1982, before he’d played a game in the WHL. He proceeded to play 1,258 regular season games in the NHL between 1984-85 and 2001-02 with the Whalers, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Atlanta Thrashers and St. Louis Blues.

Mark Mackay – Moose Jaw Warriors

The following season, Mark Mackay of the Moose Jaw Warriors scored seven on December 19, 1984 as the Warriors downed the Wheat Kings 12-3. 1984-85 was Mackay’s only year in the WHL. He scored 66 goals and assisted on 74 for 140 points in 71 games. Mark was awarded the Jim Piggott Trophy as WHL rookie of the year. The following season, Mackay was in Germany where he played out his professional hockey career.

Dennis Holland – Portland Winterhawks

Dennis Holland of the Portland Winterhawks scored seven on November 23, 1988 as the Winterhawks downed the Kamloops Blazers 10-5. 1988-89 was the fourth of four seasons Holland spent with Portland. He finished the season with 82 goals and 167 points in 69 games and led the WHL in goal scoring and points, earning the Bob Clarke Trophy. He averaged over two points per game during his WHL career with 429 in 209.

Dennis was a third round pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 1987 but never played in the NHL. He wrapped up his pro hockey career after the 1997-98 season after stints in the AHL, IHL, ECHL and three seasons in Germany.

Kimbi Daniels – Swift Current Broncos

Kimbi Daniels was the last, and most impressive, of the seven goal club. Daniels scored all seven goals for the Swift Current Broncos on October 2, 1990 as the Broncos beat the Medicine Hat Tigers 7-4. It was the third of five seasons in the WHL for Kimbi and he totalled 54 goals on the year.

The Philadelphia Flyers picked up Daniels in the third round of the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. He played 27 games with the Flyers, all while he was still a junior in the WHL. He never caught on in the NHL but did play 500 games in the ECHL, contributing 504 points.