While we’re mere days away from the NHL releasing the Vancouver Canucks’ quarter-century team and the trade deadline under two months away, we thought it would be a fun exercise to take a trip down memory lane and go through the best trades the Canucks made over the past quarter-century.

The Canucks made 157 trades from 2000 to present day. There have been some blockbuster trades, some involving big names coming to Vancouver and some departing the Pacific Northwest.

Here are the six best trades made by the Canucks over the past quarter-century.

1. Roberto Luongo

To Vancouver: Roberto Luongo, Lukas Krajicek and a 2006 sixth-round pick (Sergei Shirokov)

To Florida: Alex Auld, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan Allen, and a 2007 conditional sixth round pick (not exercised)

It’s not often that you make a trade for a Hall of Fame goaltender, but the Canucks managed to do this when they acquired Luongo on June 23rd, 2006.

Luongo went on to play eight seasons with the Canucks, playing 448 games and setting the franchise record in wins (252) and shutouts (38). The Canadian netminder was considered one of the league’s top goaltenders during his time in Vancouver, being solid in the crease for the Canucks during his entire tenure. He was recognized for his efforts with a second-place Vezina trophy in the 2006-2007 season, holding a 47-22-6 record, with a 2.28 goals against average and a .921% save percentage.

Not only was this a massive trade for what Luongo did in a Canucks uniform, but none of the pieces going back to the Panthers attributed much to the team.

Alex Auld spent one season with the Panthers, and it was a struggle. Coming off a decent 2005-06 campaign with Vancouver, Auld had a disappointing debut year in Florida. He started just 25 games, holding a record of 7-13-5, with a 3.35 goals against average and a .888% save percentage.

Todd Bertuzzi would play just seven games for the Panthers, scoring one goal and six assists for seven points with a minus-four rating. Bertuzzi suffered a herniated disc in his back and would miss the following five months. During his absence, the Panthers traded him to the Detroit Red Wings.

Byran Allen, by far, spent the most time with the Panthers. He spent the following five seasons in Florida, playing 284 games, recording 14 goals and 53 assists for 67 points with a plus-one rating.

Had Vancouver not made this trade to acquire Luongo, who knows how different the 2006-2012 era of Canucks hockey would have played out.

2. JT Miller

To Vancouver: JT Miller

To Tampa Bay Lightning: Marek Mazanec, 2019 third-round pick (Hugo Alnefelt) and a 2020 first-round pick (traded to the New Jersey Devils for Blake Coleman, drafted Shakir Mukhamadullin)

Since being traded, JT Miller has been an offensive dynamo for the Canucks. Miller has scored 151 goals and 280 assists for 431 points in 397 games in a Canucks sweater and currently sits 11th all-time in Canucks scoring. Last season was his best season in Vancouver, scoring 37 goals and 66 assists for 103 points, which is good for the seventh-best season in franchise history.

The Canucks acquired Mark Mazanec was acquired from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2020 seventh-round pick. Mazanec played 10 games with the Manitoba Moose in the 2018-2019 season but never played a game for the Lightning organization. The following season, he went overseas to play in the Czech league, and is currently still there today.

Alnefelt spent most of his time in North America playing for the Syracuse Crunch in the AHL. He did make his NHL debut in the 2021-22 season, however, he played just one period and allowed three goals on 10 shots against the Florida Panthers. He is now playing for the HV71 Jonkoping in the SHL, where he has a 3-11 record with a 3.20 goals against average and a .895% save percentage.

The 2020 first-round pick was quickly traded to the New Jersey Devils, along with Nolan Foote, in exchange for Blake Coleman. Coleman spent the following two seasons with the Lightning, scoring 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points and was a solid third-line scoring option for the back-to-back Stanley Cup-winning teams.

Trading for a 100-point scorer and a player over a point-per-game over his six seasons in Vancouver for two goaltenders who have played one game in the NHL between the two and a first-round pick who they quickly swapped seems like a win in our books.

3. Alex Edler

To Vancouver: 2004 third-round pick (Alex Edler)

To Dallas: 2005 third-round pick (Richard Clune)

Now, Alex Edler himself was never traded. But the pick taken to draft Alex Edler was acquired from the Dallas Stars. The trade was made on the draft for Day 2 of the 2004 draft. The pick was 91st overall, which was picked 26th in the third round. The Canucks must have loved the player, as they traded their 2005 third-round pick, which ended up being nearly 20 picks better.

However, the player the Stars drafted, Richard Clune, did not pan out at the NHL level.

Clune played 139 NHL games, spending five seasons in the league, scoring seven goals and 15 points for 22 points. The former third-round pick spent two seasons with the Iowa Stars but did not play a game for the Dallas Stars. Clune played one season with the Los Angeles Kings before heading to the Nashville Predators for the following three before his final stop in Toronto with the Maple Leafs in 2015-2016. After that season, Clune played six more seasons in the AHL with the Marlies.

On the other hand, you have Alex Edler, who spent 15 seasons as a Canuck. He set franchise records for defencemen that he currently still holds today. The Swedish defenceman leads the franchise in games played by a defenceman (925), goals (99) and points (409).

Now, all of these records should be broken in relatively short order by current Canuck captain Quinn Hughes, but Edler’s legacy will forever be implemented in the franchise’s history, all because of this trade in 2004.

4. Bo Horvat

To Vancouver: 2013 first-round pick (ninth overall, Bo Horvat)

To New Jersey: Cory Schneider

This seemed to be a win/win for both sides. The Devils desperately needed a goaltender as Martin Brodeur was aging, and the Canucks needed to move on from one of Schneider and Luongo.

When they selected Horvat, they never would have thought they were getting a future captain in the pick, but that’s exactly what they got. Horvat was the successor of Henrik Sedin and captained the team for the following four seasons before being traded to the New York Islanders.

During his time in Vancouver, Horvat 201 goals and 219 assists for 420 points in 621 games. He did all of this while playing with a constant rotation of wingers on his lines throughout his nine seasons with the Canucks. The Canadian centreman was most known for his reliable defensive play, faceoff ability, and screening the Coyotes goaltender for Daniel Sedin’s overtime-winning goal in their final game in Rogers Arena.

Schneider was a solid backup for Luongo, posting numbers as low as 1.96 goals against average and a .937% save percentage in the 2011-12 season, clearly showing he was primed for a starting gig. Once traded, Schneider spent the following seven seasons in New Jersey, finishing with a 115-133-50 record, a 2.50 goals against average and a .915% save percentage with 17 shutouts. Believe it or not, Schneider is second in Devils history in games played by a goaltender with 311, but still trails Martin Brodeur by nearly 1,000.

Both players were major factors to their team, but anytime a team acquires a team captain, it’s a massive win – outside of Mark Messier.

5. Christian Ehrhoff

To Vancouver: Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich

To San Jose: Daniel Rahimi and Patrick White

This is in contention for one of the best trades in terms of what they brought in compared to what they shipped out.

Ehrhoff only spent two seasons with the Canucks, but those were the two best years of his career. The German defenceman played 159 out of a possible 164 games, with back-to-back 14-goal seasons – two of his three seasons where he posted double-digit goal totals – and accumulated 44 and 50 points, respectively. Ehrhoff was solid in both ends of the ice during his time in Vancouver, as he finished his two-year Canucks career with a plus-45 rating.

Lukowich wasn’t much of a factor in this trade, as he played only 13 games in a Canucks uniform, scoring one goal and one assist for two points with a plus-five rating.

The players they shipped out, however, did not play a single game for the San Jose Sharks.

Rahimi spent three seasons with the Manitoba Moose before the trade. And once he was traded, he took his talents overseas and never came back. He spent 2009-2024 playing for various Swedish and Swiss leagues.

White was one of the all-time Canucks first-round busts in the franchise’s history. He was drafted 25th overall in the 2007 draft, spending time with the University of Minnesota until 2011, before heading to Europe to play in Germany, Slovakia, Russia, Austria, Sweden and France before retiring in 2017.

While his tenure with the Canucks was short, this was a big win of a trade for the Canucks, as Ehrhoff was a true offensive weapon on the blue line for the club.

6. Filip Hronek

To Vancouver: Filip Hronek and a 2023 fourth-round pick (Ty Mueller)

To Detroit: 2023 first-round pick (Axel Sandin-Pellikka) and a 2023 second-round pick (Felix Nilsson)

This deal will likely be higher once Hronek’s time in Vancouver is done, but it is very much contingent on how Sandin-Pellikka turns out at the NHL level.

Hronek’s immediate impact has helped the Canucks mightily. He has spent the last two seasons being a steady defensive partner alongside Hughes, leading him to the franchise’s first Norris trophy. The Czech defenceman has scored six goals and 51 assists for 58 points with a plus-46 rating. But his value to the team was put on display when he was out of the Canucks lineup. Outside of Hughes, Hronek is the only reliable puck-moving defenceman the team has while playing the right side.

Sandin-Pellikka is the big piece going the other way. While he hasn’t played an NHL game yet, he’s tearing up the SHL. The offensive defenceman has eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points in 27 games this year and is primed to make his mark at the NHL level as early as this season, at the conclusion of Skelleftea’s season.

The Swedish defenceman put his talents on display on the world stage at the previous World Junior Championships just a few weeks ago. He shared the team lead for goals (4) and points (10) for Team Sweden and walked away with his second Best Defenceman honours in as many seasons.

While Sandin-Pellikka is a right-shot defenceman and looks to be an offensive difference-maker at the next level, with Quinn Hughes on this team, Sandin-Pellikka was always going to play second fiddle had he been on the Canucks. Having a more reliable defensive option that Hughes can rely on and play his game, knowing there’s a safety net behind him, is more valuable to the team.

Honourable Mention

To Vancouver: Chris Higgins

To Florida: Evan Oberg and a 2013 third-round pick (traded back to the Canucks, drafted Cole Cassels)

Now, this is a unique one, and mostly because of the trades that followed this one. As you may have noticed, the Canucks re-acquired the third-round pick from the Panthers and selected the son of former Canuck Andrew Cassels, Cole.

Along with the third-round pick that became Cole Cassels, the Canucks acquired David Booth and Steven Reinprecht in exchange for Marco Sturm and Mikael Samuelsson. Sturm was at the bitter end of his NHL career, where he scored three goals and five points in 42 games with the Panthers in what was his final year in the NHL. Samuelsson would also spend just one year in Florida, scoring 13 goals and 28 points in 45 games.

Oberg never became a full-time NHL regular. He played just five games in his NHL career, four of which were with the Canucks before the trade. He would never play a game with the Panthers, spending most of his time in the AHL before heading overseas to finish out his career in the German league, the DEL.

Higgins was a massive piece to the Canucks during their Stanley Cup run. Mostly playing on Ryan Kesler’s left wing, Higgins played six seasons in Vancouver, scoring 62 goals and 80 assists for 142 points in 314 games. He would retire in 2016 but still remains with the organization, working now as a skills and development coach for the Canucks.

Booth can be described as an Alex Burrows light. He was the same type of hard-nosed, get-under-your-skin type of player who showed flashes of offence. He spent time floating around the middle six during his three-year Canucks career, scoring 26 goals and 25 assists for 51 points in 134 games.

The trade just for Higgins is a win, given his massive contribution and secondary scoring alongside Kesler for the 2011 Stanley Cup run. All the added bonuses while shipping out two veterans is just the icing on the cake for the Canucks.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Which of these trades do you think is the best trade made of the last quarter-century?