The Vancouver Canucks organization was never afraid to make trades. From a long-standing quest to find a goaltender, to making multiple deals to land them the Sedin twins in 1999, it should be no surprise that a vast array of players have blown through Vancouver over the years.
Number 5- Geoff Sanderson
Probably best known for his stint with the Hartford Whalers and later the Columbus Blue Jackets, he suited up for eight different teams in his career. When the Whalers moved from Hartford to Carolina and were renamed the Hurricanes, Sanderson went with them. He played 40 games in Carolina before being dealt to Vancouver in part of a five-man deal highlighted by Kirk McLean and Martin Gelinas on January 2, 1998. He played a whopping nine games with the Canucks before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres one month later on February 4, 1998.
Number 4- Michael Grabner
Grabner was a bit of a late bloomer. He played three-and-a-half seasons with the Canucks minor league team before earning his NHL recall early in the 2009-10 season. He went up and down from the AHL and NHL most of the season, managing to suit up for 20 games scoring 11 points. Grabner was traded to the Florida Panthers at the 2010 NHL draft, but failed to make the team during the preseason and was put on waivers, eventually being claimed by the New York Islanders.
Number 3- Marco Sturm
By the time the 2011-12 season rolled around, Marco Sturm was already 14 seasons into his NHL career. As a free agent, he signed a one-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks. After going pointless in just six games with the Canucks, on October 22, 2011 he was dealt to the Florida Panthers along with Mikael Samuelsson for a third round pick, Steven Reinprecht, and David Booth. He finished out the season with the Panthers before hanging up his skates.
Number 2- Bryan McCabe
Bryan McCabe is probably best known for his tenures with the New York Islanders and the Toronto Maple Leafs, but sandwiched between the two was a short stay with the Vancouver Canucks. He was part of a blockbuster trade on February 6, 1998 that sent Trevor Linden to the Islanders in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a fourth round pick. McCabe finished the 1997-98 season in Vancouver as well as the entire 1998-99 season, combining for 95 total games with eight goals and 25 assists. At the 1999 draft, he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks as part of the Canucks’ master plan to draft both Henrik and Daniel Sedin second and third overall.
Number 1- Sean Burke
Sean Burke suited up for nine different organizations during his 20-year tenure in the NHL, the fourth of which was the Vancouver Canucks. When the 1997-98 season opened up, Burke was apart of the newly relocated Carolina Hurricanes, and on January 3, 1998 he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks for Kirk McLean and Martin Gelinas. He played in 16 games registering a 3.51 goals against average and .876 save percentage. Exactly three months later, he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Garth Snow, thus ending his short stint in Vancouver.
Honorable mentions-
Ossi Vaananen
Signing with the Flyers in 2008, he played in 46 games in Philly. On February 27, 2009 he was placed on waivers to clear cap space for the returning Danny Briere and he was subsequently claimed by the Vancouver Canucks. He found himself as the seventh man in Vancouver and only suited up for three regular season games and three playoff games. His contract expired in the summer of 2009 and he would return to his native Finland for the last six seasons of his career.
Ryan Parent
After flailing within the Flyers organization for four seasons, Ryan Parent was dealt to the Nashville Predators in the summer of 2010. He was traded right before the start of the 2010-11 season to the Vancouver Canucks, never playing a game in Nashville. Parent played four games with the Canucks before being demoted to the AHL, where he would spend the next seven seasons of his career, making his short stay in Vancouver the last games of his NHL career.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
Photo credit: theprovince.com
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