In this edition of the Vancouver Canucks News & Rumors, Henrik and Daniel Sedin, along with Roberto Luongo, headline the 2022 Hockey Hall of Fame class. Additionally, the organization announced more changes to its front office. Lastly, the club announced they re-signed multiple players.
Sedins, Luongo Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its class of 2022 on Monday, and three former Canucks will be inducted. The Sedin twins and Luongo headline the class as first-ballot Hall of Famers. Daniel Alfredsson, Finnish women’s hockey legend Riikka Sallinen and builder Herb Carnegie join the trio as well.
The Sedins joined the Canucks in the 1999 NHL Draft after they were drafted with the second and third overall picks. They spent their entire 17-year careers with the organization and have their numbers retired.
Henrik served as the Canucks’ 13th captain from 2010 to 2018. He scored 240 goals and posted a franchise-leading 1070 points in a franchise-leading 1330 regular-season games. He also holds the franchise lead in assists with 830. Henrik won the Art Ross Trophy and Hart Memorial Trophy in the 2009-10 season after leading the league with 112 points in 82 games. He also won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy twice. As for Daniel, he holds the franchise lead in goals with 393 and is second in points with 1041 in 1306 regular-season games. He won the Art Ross Trophy and the Ted Linsday Award in 2010-11. Both brothers won gold with Sweden at the 2006 Olympics in Italy.
Lastly, Luongo spent eight seasons in Vancouver after being acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers before the 2006-07 season. He played in 448 of his 1044 career games with the club, posting a 252-137-50 record with the team. He had a .919 save percentage and a 2.36 goals-against average. Luongo also had 38 of his 77 shutouts with the club.
The trio join five former Canucks in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Pavel Bure, Igor Larionov, Mark Messier, Cam Neely and Mats Sundin. The Sedins are the first players to play their entire careers with the Canucks to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Canucks Add to Front Office
The Canucks made more changes to their front office on Friday. They promoted Ryan Johnson to assistant to the general manager (GM) and added Scott Young as the director of player personnel, Frank Golden as college free agent scout, Dylan Crawford as a video coach and Dale Tallon as senior advisor and professional scout.
“These individuals bring immense experience and are committed to the vision we have in building the Vancouver Canucks to be a winning franchise,” GM Patrick Allvin said.
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Johnson will continue to manage the organization’s minor league team in Abbotsford, a position he has held since 2017. Young joins the Canucks after a five-year tenure as the director of player development with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Golden also joins the Canucks after an eight-season tenure with Pittsburgh, where he was an amateur scout. Crawford, the son of former Canucks head coach Marc Crawford, spent four seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks as an assistant video coach.
Lastly, Tallon, the biggest name of the additions, brings 22 years of hockey operations experience. He was the GM of the Florida Panthers from 2010-2020, as well as executive vice president of hockey operations from 2010-2017 and president of hockey operations from 2017-2020. Before joining Florida, he worked multiple roles with the Blackhawks, the biggest as the GM from 2005-2009.
Canucks Re-Sign Multiple Players
The Canucks re-signed Sheldon Dries, Guillaume Brisebois and John Stevens on Monday. The club also decided not to bring back defenceman Ashton Sautner.
Dries, 28 years old, signed a two-year deal. He played 11 games with the Canucks last season, scoring two goals and an assist. He played 54 games in Abbotsford, scoring 35 goals and posting 62 points in 54 games. Brisebois, 24, signed a one-year deal with the club. He has played 10 games with Vancouver. He posted two goals and seven points in 26 games in the AHL last season. The Canucks drafted the defenceman with the 66th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. Lastly, Stevens is also 28 years old and signed a one-year deal with the organization. He scored 19 goals and 43 points in 68 games in Abbotsford last season.
As for Sautner, he played 23 games in Vancouver. He’s been a part of the organization since 2015 but was unable to become a permanent member of the main roster.