CA’s All-Time Greatest Canucks Team – Doug Lidster

Kamloops born Doug Lidster was drafted by his local team in the 7th round of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. Following four years at Colorado College, Lidster joined the Canucks, spending 10 seasons on the Vancouver blue line.

Like Thomas Gradin, Lidster was a good player on some bad Canuck teams. His entire Vancouver career fit snugly in between the Canucks’ first two Cup Final runs in 1982 and 1994. His best season came in 1986-87, in which he racked up 63 points (still a Canucks record among defencemen) on a team that produced only 26 wins.

During his time as a Canuck, Lidster was voted the team’s best defenceman four times. He makes the cut on our Canucks All-Time team.

(Courtesy Hockey Reference)

Through his tenure as a Canuck, Lidster was the backbone of the Canucks defence, but few lasting memories were produced in a decade that saw the Canucks drift between mediocrity and incompetence. In fact, one of the most memorable moments between Lidster and the Canucks took place when he was no longer a member of the team.

Following 10 seasons with the Canucks, Lidster was involved in a set of peculiar circumstances beginning in the summer of 1993. He was shipped to the New York Rangers in exchange for John Vanbriesbrouck (huh?) who the Canucks promptly exposed in the 1993 expansion draft in order to protect Kirk McLean and spare the immortal Kay Whitmore from selection.

You know where this is leading. The swap resulted in Lidster finding himself on the wrong side when the 1994 Stanley Cup Final rolled around. After struggling to maintain a regular roster spot throughout the year, the veteran Lidster earned a steady role in the playoffs, and even had 2 goals against his former team in the Finals. Ultimately of course, the bad guys took Game 7 in New York and Lidster was reminded that where his heart lay didn’t necessarily match the logo on his chest.

“Once we won (the Stanley Cup) and we were shaking hands, I realized that I knew the Canuck players, better than I knew my own teammates,” says Lidster.
“One of the advantages of being a west-coast team, because you travel so much, you have the opportunity to really bond with your teammates. I felt a real camaraderie with (the Canuck players). To win the cup against them was a very bittersweet moment for me.”

(Source)

Despite the hatred that had evolved between the two teams, few Vancouver fans could resist feeling good for one Ranger that night.

*All all-time ranks are among Canucks Defencemen

Doug Lidster was known as an offensively inclined defenceman, though his lack of a truly solid point shot separated him from the league’s best. Nevertheless, he still owns the franchise record for points in a season from a defenceman with 63. The record was borne out of the high flying offense of the 80’s and probably isn’t likely to be broken anytime soon. Christian Ehrhoff is the only Canuck defenceman to reach even 50 points in the last 20 years.

Lidster received the Babe Pratt Trophy as the Canucks best defenceman on 4 separate occasions – three straight seasons from 1985-87 and again in 1991. He was also voted the club’s Unsung Hero in 1985 and was one of the three alternating captains in the year between Stan Smyl’s retirement and the season in which Linden took on the full captaincy.

After retiring in 1999 (following his second Stanley Cup with Dallas), Lidster began a coaching career that most recently landed him in Vancouver, some 21 years after the trade to New York. In this way, Lidster is adding to his legacy with the Canucks. Charged with coaching the Canucks’ defencemen, Lidster earned partial credit for Alex Edler’s bounce back campaign.

In addition to his coaching prowess, Lidster is starting new fashion trends with his fancy lid.