1983–84 Vancouver Canucks season

The 1983–84 Vancouver Canucks season was the team's 14th in the National Hockey League (NHL).

1983–84 Vancouver Canucks
Division3rd Smythe
Conference4th Campbell
1983–84 record32–39–9
Home record20–16–4
Road record12–23–5
Goals for306
Goals against328
Team information
General managerHarry Neale
CoachRoger Neilson (17–28–6)
Harry Neale (15–11–3)
CaptainStan Smyl
Alternate captainsDoug Halward
Rick Lanz
ArenaPacific Coliseum
Average attendance13,626
Team leaders
GoalsTony Tanti (45)
AssistsPatrik Sundstrom (53)
PointsPatrik Sundstrom (91)
Penalty minutesTiger Williams (294)
WinsJohn Garrett (14)
Goals against averageFrank Caprice (3.39)

Offseason

The Canucks had the ninth overall pick in the Entry Draft and chose right-winger Cam Neely, who had just led the Portland Winterhawks to the Memorial Cup Championship. Neely tallied 31 points and 57 penalty minutes in 56 games his rookie season.

Regular season

The second game of the season was a wild, shoot-out affair, with the Canucks beating the Minnesota North Stars 10–9. Patrik Sundstrom scored the winning goal to go along with five assists in the game. His right winger, Tony Tanti, scored twice and added three helpers. Two nights later, in a 7–4 win over Toronto, Tanti scored three goals, all assisted by Sundstrom. The two would combine for a large piece of the Canucks' offense this season and, along with Dave "Tiger" Williams on left wing, quickly establish themselves as the club's number one line. Tanti finished with a club-record 45 goals while Sundstrom tallied six assists and seven points (both club records) in a 9–5 win in Pittsburgh on February 29, helping him in establishing a club record of 91 points. Williams again led the NHL in penalty minutes, racking up 294.

On December 10, injuries to Richard Brodeur and John Garrett forced the Canucks to give rookie goalie Frank Caprice his first NHL start against the mighty Edmonton Oilers on Hockey Night In Canada. Things didn't look good to start, when Pat Hughes beat him to the five-hole at the 16 second mark, but after that he stopped 41 of 42 shots, many coming off of the sticks of future Hall-of-Famers, and earned the game's First Star in a 3–2 victory. Caprice then backstopped the Canucks to two more victories before suffering his first loss December 18 in Buffalo by a 3–2 score.

That game in Buffalo began an awful 3–14–2 slide. During that miserable stretch, the Canucks managed a 3–3 tie in Los Angeles on January 4, the game in which Thomas Gradin registered his 408th point as a Canuck to pass Don Lever as the club's all-time leading scorer. In the next three games, the Canucks lost in Minnesota, Chicago, and St. Louis by identical 2–0 scores, marking the first time that the team has been shut out in three consecutive games. They did score 4 in the next game they played, though, in a 6-4 loss at the Washington Capitals, to end the goal drought at 223 minutes and 10 seconds, which stood for 32 years as the franchise record. On January 26, following a game in which the Canucks lost 6–4 to Edmonton after leading 4–2 (Wayne Gretzky recorded a point in his 51st straight game—the last game of his NHL record scoring streak), Roger Neilson was fired as coach. GM Harry Neale took over for the remainder of the season.

The club won its first game under Neale, 4–0 over Philadelphia, thanks to a great performance by Brodeur and two points from Jean-Marc Lanthier in his NHL debut. They played respectably in the last 29 games (15–11–3) and finished with 73 points—in a tie for third place with Winnipeg. The Canucks, with more wins (32–31), won the tiebreaker and drew Calgary, again, as a first-round playoff opponent.

Final standings
Smythe Division
GP W L T GF GA PTS
Edmonton Oilers8057185446314119
Calgary Flames8034321431131482
Vancouver Canucks803239930632873
Winnipeg Jets8031381134037473
Los Angeles Kings8023441330937659

[1]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against
Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1LOctober 5, 19833–5Calgary Flames (1983–84)0–1–0
2WOctober 7, 198310–9Minnesota North Stars (1983–84)1–1–0
3WOctober 9, 19837–4Toronto Maple Leafs (1983–84)2–1–0
4LOctober 11, 19832–3@ St. Louis Blues (1983–84)2–2–0
5LOctober 12, 19831–2@ Chicago Black Hawks (1983–84)2–3–0
6LOctober 15, 19834–5@ Montreal Canadiens (1983–84)2–4–0
7LOctober 19, 19837–10Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)2–5–0
8WOctober 21, 19835–4New Jersey Devils (1983–84)3–5–0
9TOctober 22, 19835–5 OT@ Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)3–5–1
10WOctober 25, 19837–1St. Louis Blues (1983–84)4–5–1
11WOctober 28, 19835–4 OTHartford Whalers (1983–84)5–5–1
12LOctober 30, 19833–4 OT@ Calgary Flames (1983–84)5–6–1
13LNovember 1, 19833–6@ New York Islanders (1983–84)5–7–1
14LNovember 4, 19834–5 OT@ Washington Capitals (1983–84)5–8–1
15WNovember 5, 19833–2@ Detroit Red Wings (1983–84)6–8–1
16LNovember 9, 19832–7Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)6–9–1
17WNovember 11, 19834–2Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)7–9–1
18WNovember 13, 19834–3Montreal Canadiens (1983–84)8–9–1
19LNovember 16, 19832–5@ Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)8–10–1
20LNovember 18, 19832–5Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)8–11–1
21WNovember 20, 19838–3Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)9–11–1
22WNovember 23, 19834–1@ Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)10–11–1
23LNovember 26, 19834–5Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)10–12–1
24TNovember 28, 19833–3 OT@ New York Rangers (1983–84)10–12–2
25WNovember 30, 19836–2@ Hartford Whalers (1983–84)11–12–2
26LDecember 1, 19831–7@ Boston Bruins (1983–84)11–13–2
27TDecember 3, 19835–5 OT@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1983–84)11–13–3
28LDecember 6, 19832–5New York Islanders (1983–84)11–14–3
29LDecember 7, 19834–5@ Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)11–15–3
30WDecember 10, 19833–2Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)12–15–3
31WDecember 13, 19836–2Quebec Nordiques (1983–84)13–15–3
32WDecember 16, 19835–3Calgary Flames (1983–84)14–15–3
33LDecember 18, 19832–3@ Buffalo Sabres (1983–84)14–16–3
34LDecember 20, 19834–6@ Quebec Nordiques (1983–84)14–17–3
35WDecember 21, 19839–5@ Detroit Red Wings (1983–84)15–17–3
36LDecember 26, 19834–5 OTLos Angeles Kings (1983–84)15–18–3
37LDecember 28, 19832–4Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)15–19–3
38LDecember 30, 19831–5@ Calgary Flames (1983–84)15–20–3
39TDecember 31, 19835–5 OTBoston Bruins (1983–84)15–20–4
40WJanuary 3, 19844–3@ Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)16–20–4
41TJanuary 4, 19843–3 OT@ Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)16–20–5
42LJanuary 7, 19840–2@ Minnesota North Stars (1983–84)16–21–5
43LJanuary 8, 19840–2@ Chicago Black Hawks (1983–84)16–22–5
44LJanuary 10, 19840–2@ St. Louis Blues (1983–84)16–23–5
45LJanuary 13, 19844–6Washington Capitals (1983–84)16–24–5
46WJanuary 15, 19845–0Hartford Whalers (1983–84)17–24–5
47LJanuary 17, 19841–5Buffalo Sabres (1983–84)17–25–5
48LJanuary 18, 19845–7@ Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)17–26–5
49TJanuary 20, 19846–6 OT@ Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)17–26–6
50LJanuary 22, 19844–6@ Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)17–27–6
51LJanuary 25, 19844–6Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)17–28–6
52WJanuary 27, 19844–0Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)18–28–6
53WJanuary 29, 19843–2New Jersey Devils (1983–84)19–28–6
54LFebruary 2, 19842–4@ Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)19–29–6
55LFebruary 4, 19844–5New York Rangers (1983–84)19–30–6
56LFebruary 5, 19842–4@ Calgary Flames (1983–84)19–31–6
57WFebruary 7, 19844–2@ Quebec Nordiques (1983–84)20–31–6
58WFebruary 9, 19847–6@ Montreal Canadiens (1983–84)21–31–6
59LFebruary 11, 19844–6@ New York Islanders (1983–84)21–32–6
60WFebruary 12, 19846–5@ Philadelphia Flyers (1983–84)22–32–6
61LFebruary 17, 19841–4Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)22–33–6
62WFebruary 19, 19845–2Calgary Flames (1983–84)23–33–6
63LFebruary 21, 19842–5Boston Bruins (1983–84)23–34–6
64LFebruary 23, 19842–3 OT@ Calgary Flames (1983–84)23–35–6
65WFebruary 24, 19845–3Los Angeles Kings (1983–84)24–35–6
66TFebruary 26, 19844–4 OTToronto Maple Leafs (1983–84)24–35–7
67WFebruary 28, 19843–2@ Washington Capitals (1983–84)25–35–7
68WFebruary 29, 19849–5@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)26–35–7
69LMarch 2, 19842–4@ New Jersey Devils (1983–84)26–36–7
70WMarch 4, 19845–4@ New York Rangers (1983–84)27–36–7
71WMarch 7, 19844–3Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)28–36–7
72WMarch 9, 19844–3 OTChicago Black Hawks (1983–84)29–36–7
73LMarch 11, 19842–12@ Edmonton Oilers (1983–84)29–37–7
74WMarch 13, 19844–3Pittsburgh Penguins (1983–84)30–37–7
75LMarch 17, 19842–5Buffalo Sabres (1983–84)30–38–7
76LMarch 20, 19843–6Detroit Red Wings (1983–84)30–39–7
77WMarch 23, 19844–3 OT@ Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)31–39–7
78TMarch 25, 19844–4 OTCalgary Flames (1983–84)31–39–8
79WMarch 28, 19845–1Winnipeg Jets (1983–84)32–39–8
80TMarch 30, 19843–3 OTMinnesota North Stars (1983–84)32–39–9

Playoffs

This series between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks followed a similar script as in 1983.

The Flames won the first two games at the Saddledome by 4-2 and 5-3 scores before the series shifted to Vancouver. In the third game, Doug Halward became the fifth defenseman ever to register a playoff hat-trick (and the first Canuck player to do so) as the Canucks thrashed the Flames 7-0; Brodeur got the shutout. Game Four was a one-sided affair in favour of the Flames in which Paul Reinhart became the sixth defenseman to record a playoff hat-trick. 5-1 was the score.

Draft picks

Vancouver's draft picks at the 1983 NHL Entry Draft held at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec.

Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club Team (League)
19Cam Neely CanadaPortland Winter Hawks (WHL)
230David Bruce CanadaKitchener Rangers (OHL)
350Scott Tottle CanadaPeterborough Petes (OHL)
470Tim Lorenz CanadaPortland Winter Hawks (WHL)
590Doug Quinn CanadaNanaimo Islanders (WHL)
6110Dave Lowry CanadaLondon Knights (OHL)
7130Terry Maki CanadaBrantford Alexanders (OHL)
8150John Labatt United StatesMinnetonka High School (USHS-MN)
9170Allan Measures CanadaCalgary Wranglers (WHL)
10190Roger Grillo United StatesUniversity of Maine (ECAC)
11210Steve Kayser CanadaUniversity of Vermont (ECAC)
12230Jay Mazur CanadaBreck School (USHS-MN)

Farm teams

See also

References
  1. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 152. ISBN 9781894801225.
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