It’s challenging to peg a player who played with seven different teams over 19 NHL seasons to a specific team; however, the best play of his career came in Vancouver.

Gelinas was selected seventh overall in the 1988 NHL draft by the Los Angeles Kings. However, the Shawnigan, Quebec native would never wear the Kings crest. Under two months after the draft, Gelinas was one of the centre pieces in the most shocking trade in hockey, when the Edmonton Oilers sent Wayne Gretzky to the Kings.

The full trade details were as follows: Gelinas, Jimmy Carson, and three first-round picks – 1989 (Jason Miller), 1991 (Martin Rucinsky), and 1993 (Nick Stadjuhar) – to the Oilers, in exchange for Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski, and Marty McSorley.

In his rookie campaign in Edmonton, Gelinas would take home his one and only Stanley Cup, despite making it to the Finals four times. His next coming three seasons later, once he joined the Canucks.

After being traded to the Quebec Nordiques, Gelinas was put on waivers just 31 games into the season, when the Canucks claimed him in the middle of the 1993-1994 season. The winger made a substantial impact immediately after joining the team, scoring three goals and five points throughout the first three games in Vancouver. On the season, Gelinas played just 31 games, tallying eight goals and eight assists for 16 points.

Gelinas helped the Canucks not only make the playoffs but also have considerable success in the postseason. He scored five goals and four assists for nine points through 24 playoff games. However, he went cold as his production slowed down in the Stanley Cup Finals, where Gelinas tallied just one goal (Game 1) en route to Vancouver’s 4-3 series loss to the New York Rangers. Gelinas had his Game 7 cut short, as he would suffer an injury in Game 7 when Rangers defenceman Brian Leetch hip-checked the forward.

His first full season with the Canucks was cut short due to a lockout. However, Gelinas still proved to be a solid depth contributor, scoring 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points in 46 games. But it was the 1995-1996 season where Gelinas finally broke out.

Gelinas finally popped offensively and played to the potential at which he was drafted seventh overall. Earning a promotion to a line with Trevor Linden and Alexander Mogilny, Gelinas provided the speed and forechecking ability to help be a facilitator on that line. While he finished far behind his linemates in points, Gelinas finally hit the 30-goal threshold, adding 26 assists for 56 points in 81 games.

While he may not have translated that strong season to a successful playoff run (two points in a six-game losing effort to the Colorado Avalanche), Gelinas only grew from his breakout campaign the following season.

In 1996-1997, Gelinas played most of his time with new linemates, Mike Ridley and Pavel Bure. Gelinas continued his speedy style of play to break his season-high in goals, which he set the previous season, with 35. He added 33 assists to bring his point total to 68 in only 74 games. The Canucks failed to make the playoffs that year, but it was by far the personal best season of Gelinas’ career.

Gelinas would last just 24 games in a Canucks sweater the following season (four goals and eight points) before being shipped to Carolina, along with goaltender Kirk McLean, in exchange for Sean Burke, Enrico Ciconne, and Geoff Sanderson.

The stretch from 1995-1997 was the best two seasons of hockey that Gelinas played at the professional level.

Throughout his lengthy career, Gelinas spent five seasons with the Oilers, Canucks and Hurricanes. Of these teams, Gelinas finished with the highest points per game (0.67) with the Canucks, which earns him #48 on the Canucks top 50 players all-time list.

Our previously ranked top 50 Canucks of all-time:

#50 – Curt Fraser
#49 – Dave Babych

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