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Top 50 Canucks players of all time: #27 – Don Lever
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Jeff Paterson
Aug 15, 2025, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 14, 2025, 18:42 EDT
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Join us this summer as we count down the top 50 Vancouver Canucks players of all time! #27: Don Lever
The first thing you need to know about Don Lever is that he hailed from South Porcupine, Ontario. But there was so much more to the crafty left winger than his strange-sounding hometown. Lever, the Canucks first pick – third overall – in the 1972 NHL Draft, stepped into the lineup right away and became a dependable point producer for the hockey club.
The early expansion years did not yield much in the way of team success, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying by players like Don Lever. By his third NHL season, Lever scored 38 goals and registered 68 points – leading the team in goals and finishing second to André Boudrias in scoring. Lever spent parts of eight seasons with the Canucks early in the team’s existence, making the playoffs on three occasions. For a pair of seasons (1977-79), Lever served as captain of the Canucks.
During his time in Vancouver, Lever finished with 186 goals and registered a total of 407 points. As time has marched on, Lever has maintained a spot in the top 20 in several statistical categories for the organization: games played (17th), goals (13th), assists (20th) and points (16th). Remarkably durable, Lever did not miss a single game over a four-year span from 1973 through 1977. After Vancouver, Lever went on to play for Atlanta, Calgary, Colorado, New Jersey, and finished his career in Buffalo, where he reached the 1,000-game mark for his 15-year career.
After his playing days, Lever had a long run as an assistant coach first in Buffalo and then in St. Louis. He was also a head coach in three American Hockey League cities: Rochester, Hamilton and Chicago. He guided Hamilton to an AHL championship in 2007. Lever’s ties to the Canucks run deeper than his playing days. His brother-in-law is former Canucks head coach Rick Ley.
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

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