When it comes to great defencemen who have played in Vancouver, Doug Lidster is a bit of a forgotten hero. His 10 seasons as a Canuck were sandwiched between two Stanley Cup Final appearances that he did not participate in. Well, at least as a Canuck.

The Canucks drafted Lidster in the seventh round (133rd overall) in the 1980 draft. He completed four seasons at Colorado College before going on to play for the Canadian National Team. He made his NHL debut late in the 1983-84 season, suiting up for eight regular-season games and two playoff games. His first NHL point was a playoff assist.

The young man from Kamloops spent the next nine full seasons in Vancouver patrolling the blueline and setting team scoring records for defencemen. He wore the Flying V and the Skate with pride and brought that to the ice. While he would consistently put up 30-35 points, in 1986-87, he set a record that stood for 35 years. Lidster scored 12 goals, a modest amount that was the same as his previous season, and a staggering 51 assists. Those 63 points were not bested until Quinn Hughes scored 68 in the 2021-22 season.

Over those nine seasons, the rearguard played in 666 games, scored 65 goals, recorded 242 assists, and collected 307 points in the regular season. Lidster also appeared in 41 playoff games, scoring two goals and 10 assists.

Here is where Doug Lidster ranks in the Canucks Record Book:
666 Games Played – 5th (defencemen), 11th (overall)
65 Goals – 5th (defencemen), 50th (overall)
242 Assists – 4th (defencemen), 15th (overall)
307 Points – 6th (defencemen, 29th (overall)

For his efforts, he was awarded the Walter “Babe” Pratt Trophy for best Canucks defencemen four times, including three seasons in a row, and won the Fred J. Hume award for unsung hero once.

The right-shot defenceman was a key part of several successful Canucks teams, but missed the zenith that his teammates reached, although he was still on the ice. In the summer of 1993, Lidster was traded to the New York Rangers for goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck. There was soon to be an expansion draft for the Florida Panthers, and Canucks’ GM Pat Quinn wanted to keep his goaltending tandem of Kirk McLean and Kay Whitmore together, so Vanbiesbrouck was acquired with the intention of leaving him exposed. This worked, but as luck would have it, the Canucks faced the Rangers in the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, and every devout Canucks fan knows how that series ended.

The now-Rangers’ defenceman only played in nine playoff games during their Cup run, but did score two goals. To further increase the irony, both of those goals came against the Canucks.

By this point in his career, Doug Lidster was a depth defenceman. He never played a full season again, but did play five more years in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup in his last season with the Dallas Stars.

The BC boy represented his province splendidly. His accomplishments did not go unnoticed, and in 2003, he was inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame.

His career with the Canucks had one final chapter, however. He returned to the organization as an assistant coach when Willie Desjardins was hired as head coach for the 2014-15 season. The former-Canuck turned current Canuck coach’s role was to take charge of the defence. Initially, there was significant success as the Canucks returned to the playoffs. However, their playoff performance was underwhelming, and the following two seasons ended with the Canucks on the outside looking in.

On the ice or behind the bench, Doug Lidster appeared in a playoff game for the Canucks in three different decades. A perfect stat to represent Lidster’s contributions to the Canucks and how he fits into the greater lore of the organization.

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

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