5 random players you forgot were on the Vancouver Canucks

Some of the notably forgotten Vancouver Canucks alums include players who were almost in the winning lineup for one of Vancouver’s Stanley Cup Final losses.

The Vancouver Canucks are the NHL’s only non-Original Six team with multiple Game 7 losses in the Stanley Cup Final. Of those who have reached at least three championship rounds, they are the only one without a banner.

From a half-full angle, those dubious distinctions mean the Canucks have logged several smaller and medium-to-large moments of glory through their first half-century. With that said, the constant close-but-not-quite narrative is liable to amplify the what-if wonders.

Smaller examples of those second guesses come through outstanding names with uninspiring output on Vancouver’s all-time roster. If the Canucks share nothing else in common with their long-tenured peers, they have had their bevy of in-and-out players who seemingly sparkled with every other team, but not in British Columbia.

Of the five randomly selected here from that category, one was a victor in one of Vancouver’s most bittersweet postseasons. Another moved on to an off-ice capacity with a team that dumped the Canucks at the halfway mark of its title run.

The other three can outright relate to their shortest-tenured fan base’s dearth of fulfillment from a lack of a Cup. Two of them can even relate to getting within smelling distance of champagne, having both been traded away by an eventual champion at midseason.

But before any springtime stories pop up, this list starts from the goal out with a masked man who had a most uncharacteristic winter coincide with his Canucks term.

Vancouver Canucks: Sean Burke

Record-wise, Burke had his worst stretch during a 16-game stay with the 1997-98 Canucks. He went 2-9-4, thus totaling one-third as many wins as he did during his second-shortest stop to close his career in Los Angeles.

And at least the Kings, like six other teams, got a shutout from Burke. British Columbia’s NHL chapter was the odd team out under that heading.

The forgettable Vancouver stint began with a January 3 trade and ended with a March 4 export. Those two months with the Canucks constituted the cold, empty middle of a long season for Burke. He started it with the Carolina/Hartford organization that had employed him for five-plus years, then ended it in Philadelphia.

And only with the Canucks did he allow more than four goals in a game that year. In fact, he let six in the Vancouver cage on three occasions.

As it happened, Burke sandwiched his two Canuck victories with seven apiece for the Hurricanes and Flyers, making in all 16 in 1997-98. Ultimately, he charged up 324 wins for eight teams in 18 seasons. Other than L.A. and Vancouver, he amassed at least 13 victories for each employer.

With three teams, Burke garnered consideration for hardware. As a rookie in New Jersey, he went 10-1-0 in 13 games. The quality of that relatively small sample size impressed the Calder Trophy panel enough to put him eighth on the award’s 1987-88 leaderboard.

With the 1994-95 Whalers, Burke was No. 8 among Vezina vote getters. He returned to that ballot, as well as the Hart Trophy pool, with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2000-01. The next year, upon posting a career-best 33 wins, he was the Vezina’s second runner-up and fourth in the MVP race.