The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1970. The Canucks play their home games in GM Place. The Canucks have twice made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but lost both series to each of the New York teams: the Islanders in 1982, and the Rangers in 1994.
The 2005-06 season began with much promise, with some hockey analysts picking the Canucks as Stanley Cup favourites. Under new general manager Dave Nonis, free agent activity in the summer prior to the 2005-06 season saw players such as Anson Carter and Richard Park arrive in Vancouver. However, the team failed to meet expectations and completed the regular season in a disappointing 9th place in their Conference — narrowly missing a playoff position to the Edmonton Oilers, which caused some debate about the effect of the point awarded for an overtime or shootout loss, recently instituted by the NHL. The season was characterized by under-achieving play, most notably in the first line of Näslund, Bertuzzi, and Brendan Morrison, which was expected to produce higher point totals under the new league rules. Morrison had a career-high 84 penalty minutes. Meanwhile, his wingers, Bertuzzi and Näslund, had a combined -37 in Plus/Minus Rating. Vancouver's highest-scoring line was the second line of Carter and the Sedin twins.
On April 25, 2006, the Canucks fired Crawford; he was hired by the Los Angeles Kings. Alain Vigneault, who had just coached Vancouver's American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, to a 102-point season, was hired as his replacement on June 20, 2006. Netminder Dan Cloutier also went to Los Angeles.
The re-building of the Canucks continued just three days after Vigneault's hiring, when Nonis completed a blockbuster trade with the Florida Panthers, trading Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen and Alex Auld for Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek and a sixth-round draft pick (Sergei Shirokov) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Florida fan-favourite Luongo initially claimed to be "surprised" with being traded. Luongo later signed a long-term 4-year, $27-million deal with the Canucks which includes a "no-trade clause" after the first year, tying the Chicago Blackhawks' Nikolai Khabibulin as the highest paid goaltender in the National Hockey League and showing the Canucks' clear intention of making Luongo a franchise goalie.
On September 12, 2006, the Philadelphia Flyers offered restricted free agent Ryan Kesler a one-year, $1.9 million dollar contract, forcing the Canucks to either match the offer or lose his rights. Kesler, the Canucks' first-round draft pick in 2003, scored 10 goals and had 13 assists in 82 games for the Canucks in 2005-06. The offer was considered high for a young player with relatively low stats, and Bobby Clarke, the now ex-general manager of the Flyers, received criticism for the move. The Canucks matched the offer on September 14, 2006. The offer made by the Flyers was the first offer sheet extended to a restricted free agent in eight years, and the first following the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
On April 7, 2007, the Canucks won the Northwest Division title for the 2nd time in three seasons with an overtime win over the San Jose Sharks. The win also gave goalie Roberto Luongo his 47th of the season, tying him for the previous single-season win record with Bernie Parent, which had been eclipsed in the same season by New Jersey Devils netminder Martin Brodeur.
On April 11th, 2007, the Canucks set a franchise record with a quadruple-overtime win in the opening game of round one of the playoffs against the Dallas Stars. The game was the longest in Canucks history and the sixth longest in league history. Also in this game, the Canucks set a record for shots against, allowing 76. The Canucks won the series in seven games despite a lack of goal-scoring; Stars goalie Marty Turco recorded three shutouts in the series. Advancing to the second round, the team was defeated by the eventual Stanley Cup-winning Anaheim Ducks.