It all started with a punch at an Earl’s parking lot in Winnipeg.

As a fifth-round pick in 2001, Kevin Bieksa was a long shot to make the NHL. Playing all four years at Bowling Green State and posting some solid but unspectacular numbers, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would be an AHL journeyman. But as it would turn out, spilling a beer and then knocking Fedor Fedorov out was enough to earn him another season with the Manitoba Moose.

The 2004-05 season was Bieksa’s first full professional campaign, impressing enough to be elevated to the big club in 2005-06. And after another year of splitting time between the NHL and AHL, the defenceman established himself as an NHL regular with a 12-goal, 42-point performance in a full 82-game 2006-07 season.

In 597 games as a Canuck, Bieksa established himself as not only a point-producing defenceman but a hard-nosed, tough-to-play-against sandpaper presence on the back end. A leader on and off the ice, he finished as the seventh-highest point scorer amongst Vancouver franchise defencemen with 241 points. It could’ve been more had Bieksa not dealt with a litany of injury issues earlier on in his Canuck tenure.

His time in Vancouver also coincided with one of the most successful eras in franchise history. Bieksa was prominently featured on numerous playoff teams, playing a significant role in the Canucks’ top four as they contended year after year. As we know now, those teams fell short – but the sustained excellence that he was part of, the culture that he helped create as Vancouver stood as one of the best teams in the NHL, should not be overlooked or discounted.

And who could forget this?

He might not have put up massive stat lines or dominated at any given point in his career. But Kevin Bieksa was a staple on those late-2000s, early 2010s Vancouver Canuck teams, adding grit and leadership with a solid two-way presence on the back end. It’s a fitting inclusion for him as one of the Canucks’ top 50 players, responsible for one of the most iconic moments in franchise history, to send them to their third Stanley Cup Final.

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

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