As we near the end of the decade, we’ll attempt to round out and rank all things Canucks over the last 10 years. Here is (in our humble estimation) the all-decade Vancouver Canucks team. 

It’s our last edition of Vancouver Canucks of the 2010s, and what a ride it’s been.

For those that have been reading, we’ve re-lived the tremendous highs and lows of the early part of the decade, the pudgy, uncomfortable middle and the uncertain but hopeful end.

As we’ve already ranked the best players by each position over the decade, assembling an all-decade team should be a breeze, right?

Well, kinda. We’ll be bending the rules a little bit here and putting some players out of position if we feel it’s a good fit. As always, we’ll be judging these players over their Canucks’ tenure in order to create the all-decade team, but we’ll also seek to put players in appropriate roles. Chris Higgins may be up there on the Canucks’ decade scoring list, but he’s not exactly a no-brainer for the top-six.

Here’s how we think the Canucks’ all-decade team would line up.

Forwards

Daniel Sedin-Henrik Sedin-Elias Pettersson

J.T. Miller-Ryan Kesler-Brock Boeser

Mason Raymond-Bo Horvat-Alex Burrows

Chris Higgins-Manny Malhotra-Jannik Hansen

OK, we’ll admit we took some liberties here.

The first line was always going to consist of the two Sedins and since Elias Pettersson can seemingly do anything, we’d love to see him ride shotgun with the twins in their primes.

The second line is where things get interesting. We couldn’t bump an in-his-prime Ryan Kesler out of the top-six. And while Brock Boeser was something of an obvious pick, half a season of J.T. Miller makes it on here as well. Once we decided that Miller had to be on this team (mostly due to a lack of skill from others), it was hard to rationalize putting him on the lower lines behind players he’s clearly better than. So yeah, 40 games for J.T. Miller gets him on the second line of the Canucks’ all-decade team. That gives you a bit of a look into how things went in the 2010s, especially on the wings.

The third line was then a tad obvious. Bo Horvat is without a doubt the third-best centre of the Canucks’ decade, and if you’ve got him anchoring your third line, you’re in good shape. He’s a two-way player who can provide offence and win matchups. Beside him, Mason Raymond and Alex Burrows bring speed to match Horvat’s hustle as well as the adequate sandpaper. Imagine rolling these three out against the other teams top units and letting the first two lines go to work offensively.

The fourth line is faceoff whiz and current Canucks assistant coach Manny Malhotra between Chris Higgins and Jannik Hansen, making for a trio that can grind you down and win the possession battle with speed and grit.

Sure, it took 10 years, but there’s not a whole lot of holes in the Canucks’ forward group.

Defencemen

Alex Edler-Chris Tanev

Christian Ehrhoff-Kevin Bieksa

Quinn Hughes-Dan Hamhuis

The first pairing is a couple of rearguards that have played together quite a bit over the years in Alex Edler and Chris Tanev. Are these two a little predictable (and maybe a tad underwhelming) as the top pairing? Sure. But overall, no Canucks defencemen have contributed as much to the team over the last decade as these two. And yes, they’ve been quite underrated during their respective times with the club.

Christian Ehrhoff and Kevin Bieksa make sense as a second pairing. Ehrhoff was one of the more offensively inclined players to log time for the Canucks this decade, even if Bieksa himself threw a bit of dirt on him after he left. But the two would be effective, with Ehrhoff throwing pucks at the net and Bieksa being hard to play against.

And finally, in maybe the best pairing of three, Quinn Hughes and Dan Hamuis would be a perfect balance of offence and defence, of puck-moving prowess and reliability. We’re bending the rules a bit in that Hughes and Hamhuis are both left-handed and most coaches wouldn’t dare pair them. But hey, Hamhuis in his prime was solid enough to play either side, so we’re going with it.

Goalies

Roberto Luongo

Jacob Markstrom

No real conversation here. The two winningest goalies of the decade are no-brainers. Luongo at his best was the class of the NHL and Markstrom’s play in the last year and a half has forced his way into that conversation too.

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