The Vancouver Canucks teams of the early 2000s were something of an anomaly. At the height of the dead puck era, the West Coast Express played an up-tempo, high-risk/high-reward style that served as a stark contrast to the neutral zone trap system that dominated the period just before the 2004-05 lockout. This was in no small part due to the contributions of defenceman Ed Jovanovski, who clocks in at #23 on our all-time rankings.

Jovanovski arrived in Vancouver under less than ideal circumstances as the centrepiece of the infamous trade that sent Pavel Bure to South Florida. The sordid details of Bure’s departure are too numerous to list in this format, but suffice it to say that his decision to sit out the beginning of the 1998-99 season significantly affected the club’s leverage in trade talks, and the deal was widely panned at the time. Bure’s all-star status and the drama surrounding his departure served to obscure the fact that then-GM Brian Burke actually did relatively well given the situation. Jovanovski played over 200 more games with Vancouver than Bure did with the Panthers and cemented himself as the club’s top offensive defenceman over that span.

At his peak, Jovanovski was the full package: a quick, smooth-skating, physical defender who could put the puck in the net. While his numbers don’t jump off the page as much these days, thanks to a massive increase in league-wide scoring, his three consecutive seasons as the Canucks’ leading scorer from the back end stacked up impressively against his peers. From 2000 to 2004, Jovanovski was one of only 17 defenders to score at above a half-point-per-game pace, and one of only 15 to net more than 40 goals. He led the Canucks in goals in the 2003 playoffs, which marked the height of success for the West Coast Express. He also made an impact on the international stage, assisting on Joe Sakic’s game-winning goal for Team Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“Jovo”, as he was affectionately called by fans, played a run-and-gun style that sometimes put himself well out of position, and was sometimes described as dangerous at both ends of the ice. But anyone who was around for his peak can attest to the fact that while there were a handful of better defencemen during his heyday, almost none were more entertaining.

Our previously ranked top 50 Canucks of all time:

#50 – Curt Fraser
#49 – Dave Babych
#48 – Martin Gelinas
#47 – Chris Oddleifson
#46 – Jannik Hansen
#45 – Ivan Boldirev
#44 – Gary Smith
#43 – Jacob Markstrom
#42 – Orland Kurtenbach
#41 – Harold Snepsts
#40 – Darcy Rota
#39 – Thatcher Demko
#38 – Geoff Courtnall
#37 – Dennis Ververgaert
#36 – Petri Skriko
#35 – Dan Hamhuis
#34 – Doug Lidster
#33 – Patrik Sundstrom
#32 – Brendan Morrison
#31 – Richard Brodeur
#30 – Sami Salo
#29 – André Boudrais
#28 – Kevin Bieksa
#27 – Don Lever
#26 – Bo Horvat
#25 – Brock Boeser
#24 – Dennis Kearns

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