A lot of players have put on a Vancouver Canucks uniform in over half a century of hockey, and some are bound to be forgotten in the history retellings. And those odds increase tenfold when you play for a team for less than a season.

Of the many Canucks that’ve slipped people’s minds over the years, quite a few had exceptional or long NHL careers elsewhere. Some have won Stanley Cups, others have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and some have even played for the same team twice!

Today we’ll be looking at just five of those players, each of which were Canucks for less than a full season, and how they fared during their short time here and beyond.

Of the 820 games played in his 15-year NHL career, Joey Kocur played exactly seven of them in a Vancouver Canucks uniform.

Kocur came to Vancouver through a trade with the New York Rangers in March of 1996, two years after being part of the 1994 edition that beat the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final. Originally a 1983 draft pick of the Red Wings, Kocur spent his first seven seasons in Detroit and six in New York as a fourth-line grinder who racked up fights with ferocity.

In his handful of games with the Canucks, Kocur notched a single assist to go with 19 penalty minutes. Five of those PIMs came during this fight with the LA Kings’ Barry Potomski.

Kocur would also play Game 1 of the ’96 playoffs against the Colorado Avalanche before being scratched for the remainder of the series. The Canucks let Kocur walk in free agency, and his NHL career appeared over until the Red Wings decided to bring him back for a second stint in December. By the time he retired in 1999, Kocur had two more Stanley Cup rings from the Wings’ victories in 1997 and 1998. Oh, and another 200+ PIMs.

From the moment he was traded to the Canucks, Sean Burke was set up for a hard time.

After a decade split between the pipes in New Jersey and Hartford (plus half a season when they relocated to Carolina), Burke was dealt to Vancouver in a trade that sent fan-favourite goalie Kirk McLean back to the Hurricanes. Burke suddenly found himself on a Mike Keenan managed team in flux, and the goaltenders routinely took the brunt of it.

Burke played 16 games between January 3rd and March 2nd, pitching a record of 2-9-4 and a rough save percentage of .876%. Feeling immediate buyer’s remorse, Keenan quickly shipped Burke back out to Philadelphia for Garth Snow, launching the Goalie Graveyard that plagued the Canucks for the next decade. Burke would end up faring much better in his future stops, including five seasons with the Coyotes, but he provided one fun clip during his time with Vancouver in the form of a couple of fights against Matthew Barnaby and Steve Shields.

Burke wasn’t the only player in the Kirk McLean trade who ended up leaving quickly.

Geoff Sanderson spent his first eight seasons with Hartford-turned-Carolina, scoring 196 goals to go with 173 assists. His nine games with the 1997-98 Canucks were a lot less successful; he earned just three assists before being shipped to Buffalo just a month later in exchange for Brad May and a third-round pick. From there, Sanderson bounced around the league, with stops in Columbus, Arizona, Philadelphia, and Edmonton.

But that wasn’t the end of Sanderson’s time in Vancouver! Under different management in March 2004, the Canucks reacquired him from the Blue Jackets as they geared up for the playoffs. This time, Sanderson improved on his previous stint, playing 13 games and scoring seven points. He’d add another two points in their first-round loss against Calgary before ending up as a waiver claim in June by… the Columbus Blue Jackets. They really took the phrase “short-term rental” seriously in the pre-lockout era.

Fun fact: I tried to find a highlight from Sanderson’s two turns with the Canucks, and YouTube didn’t have a single one listed! If you or someone you know has any information, please contact the CanucksArmy tip line.

At first, there was hesitation in putting Mats Sundin on this list, but then we realized there are 15-year-olds who weren’t alive the last time he put on a Canucks uniform. That made me feel old, and now you have to feel old too!

Sundin was 37 years old when he signed with the Canucks midway through the 2008-09 season for $8.6 million, having played the best seasons of his career for the Quebec Nordiques and Toronto Maple Leafs, where he’d cemented his legacy as a future Hockey Hall of Famer. Rookie GM Mike Gillis’ active pursuit of Sundin was more than just about adding a gifted scorer and leader, it was about sending a message to the rest of the NHL that Vancouver was a destination for stars.

It took some time for Sundin to shake the rust off from missing the first 41 games of the year, but he ended the campaign with 28 points and was a point-per-game player through eight playoff games.

Sundin’s time on the Canucks was short but extremely impactful. Ryan Kesler has credited Sundin with raising his game during their time on a line together, and multiple former Canucks highlighted his impact on the team’s confidence and swagger over their next few years as Stanley Cup favourites; not a bad legacy for half a season!

On the flip side, the Canucks next veteran free agent signing didn’t fare quite as well as Sundin.

Mathieu Schnieder had a long and fruitful career of 21 years as an NHL defenceman, including a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993 and two Olympics with the Americans in 1998 and 2006. But his time in Vancouver was anything but.

Vancouver was Schneider’s ninth NHL team when he signed a one-year deal worth $1.5 million in the summer of 2009 after an offseason shoulder surgery kept him out of the lineup until October 25th. Schneider was signed to be a power play anchor for the roster, but the much younger Christian Ehrhoff quickly usurped his role, resulting in Schneider ending up as a healthy scratch 11 times between October and December. Unhappy with his ice time, Schneider left the team on December 20th and was waived to the AHL until the Canucks could find a trade for him. He was eventually dealt to the Phoenix Coyotes in March, where he played the final eight games of his career.

At least we’ll always have his first Canuck goal against one of his former employers.