The National Hockey League have begun announcing teams’ quarter-century teams, ranging from 2000-2025. Unfortunately for Vancouver Canucks fans, they will have to wait until January 23rd for their team to be released.

We’ve already covered who the locks are for this quarter-century team. If you haven’t seen it yet catch up here.

But who are the potential snubs? Well, first, we have to estimate who the top two teams are going to be.

Here is our best prediction for who will be the Canucks’ quarter-century:

First Team:

Second Team:

There are certainly some notable names left off this list that undoubtedly deserve consideration for this team. So, here are the top five projected snubs based on our list:

This was a tough decision to leave off the list, as he was one of, if not the best, power forward in Canucks history.

Originally drafted by the New York Islanders, Bertuzzi was traded to the Canucks in 1998. He would spend the following eight seasons with the Canucks, scoring 188 goals and 261 assists for 449 points in 518 games. Most of his production in Vancouver did come in 2000, and after that, he tallied his five best seasons, topping out with 46 goals and 51 assists for 97 points in 2003-2004 when he was named to his first of two All-Star appearances.

After his Canucsk tenure, Bertuzzi spent eight seasons playing with the Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames and the Detroit Red Wings. While his best years were spent in Vancouver, he’s not likely to be named to this team as his story goes on much further than the Canucks organization. Also, after the Steve Moore incident, it would be surprising to see the NHL honour Bertuzzi this way.

Now, here’s a guy whose full story is basically only in Vancouver.

Burrows was a fan favourite in Vancouver because of his scoring ability and the pestiness of his game. His journey to becoming a regular NHLer was unique, as he spent 2002-2005 floating through the ECHL before finally getting a shot with the Manitoba Moose.

In his second season with the Moose, Burrows gave Canucks management no choice but to call him up after scoring 12 goals and 30 points in 33 games. And he never looked back.

The undrafted forward spent the following 12 seasons in Vancouver, scoring 193 goals and 191 assists for 384 points in 822 games. Burrows spent his best years playing alongside the Sedin twins, his best season coming in 2009-2010, where he scored 35 goals and 32 assists for 67 points.

While he scored some massive goals in Canucks history, highlighted by his Game 7 overtime goal where he “slayed the dragon” against the Chicago Blackhawks en route to their Stanley Cup Finals run in 2011, Burrows does not have enough of an offensive edge to surpass some of the forwards on the second team.

Like Bertuzzi, this was another difficult decision to cut Salo.

Salo was drafted by the Ottawa Senators and was traded to the Canucks in 2002 in exchange for Peter Schaefer. Salo spent the following nine seasons in Vancouver, scoring 74 goals and 162 assists for 236 points in 566 games.

The Finnish defender was steady eddy on the backend. He consistently logged over 20 minutes of ice time year in and year out for the Canucks. Salo was a trusted defender on the penalty kill for his time with the Canucks and played top-four minutes during their Stanley Cup run.

However, he always played second fiddle to Matthias Öhlund, so to have him over Öhlund for the quarter-century team didn’t seem proper.

Like Burrows, Bieksa is a fan favourite around the Vancouver streets.

Bieksa was drafted by the Canucks in the fifth round of the 2001 draft. He made his Canucks debut in 2005 and spent the following 10 seasons in Vancouver, scoring 56 goals and 185 assists for 241 points in 597 games.

The Canadian defenceman was most known for his intimidation factor. He was a reliable defensive defenceman who wasn’t afraid to throw the body and the first guy to drop the gloves to stand up for a teammate.

If this were a quarter-century fan favourite/Canucks personality team, Bieksa would be first team. However, there are just too many other defenders that overshined him production-wise. The fact that he wasn’t a number-one defenceman on this team at any point during his tenure has to result in him being off the list, despite how memorable he was.

Now, we had to pick a goalie. And the Canucks have been littered with solid goaltending for the majority of the quarter-century – let’s not talk about the condition of the crease before Roberto Luongo arrived.

Speaking of Luongo, Markstrom was acquired from the Florida Panthers in exchange for Luongo in 2014. Markstom spent the following four seasons serving as the backup to Ryan Miller – who was also a consideration for the snubs list – before taking over as the starter in the 2017-2018 season. As a starter, Markstrom held a 74-65-20 record, with a 2.74 goals against average and a .914 save percentage.

While he posted great numbers despite a porous Canucks roster in front of him, given he only played three seasons as a starter takes him off the quarter-century list. Thatcher Demko earns the spot over him, considering he has been the Canucks starter since Markstrom left in 2020 and his second-place finish for the Vezina trophy last season.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Who do you have for the Canucks’ quarter-century team? Disagree with any of our snubs? Let us know in the comments below!