Back in 1915, long before the Vancouver Canucks entertained local area residents, the Stanley Cup had already visited the area, compliments of the Vancouver Millionaires. The Millionaires were part of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association that was formed by Frank and Lester Patrick. The league later folded paving the road for the Western Canada Hockey League which later changed its name to the Western Hockey League. Players like Cyclone Taylor, Frank Nighbor and Mickey MacKay were the stars of the day. In 1926 the Western Hockey Association played its last game and it wouldn't be until the 1970's that Vancouver would again see an NHL team bearing the name of Vancouver.

The Vancouver franchise may be one of the most politically filled franchises awarded yet. Back in 1965 when the NHL announced it wanted to expand into 6 new cities, Vancouver wanted to be part of the expansion. The mayor at the time, William Rathie said he would build a new $12 million arena with the help of provincial and federal support. At the last minute, the provincial government said it would only contribute a third of the funds, but only if the federal government would contribute half. The federal government would not provide any funding for the project. The partnership of legendary broadcaster Foster Hewitt and Cyrus McLean, president of B.C. Tel were going to purchase the minor league Canucks from Fred Hume. But the presentation to the NHL Board of Governors did not go well and their proposal was turned down.

Part of the reasoning may have been Toronto Maple Leaf owner Stafford Smythe who had proposed to build a new arena just the year before for $1.00 on city owned land, but he was turned down. He vowed that Vancouver would not get into the NHL as long as he owned a team. At the same time, James D. Norris, owner of the Chicago Black Hawks wanted some of his friends, Frank McMahon, Max Bell and Red Dutton, to get the Vancouver franchise. Meanwhile Harry Terry, the president of the Pacific National Exhibition had vowed to build a new arena on the exhibition grounds. He had already secured commitments from 3 levels of government for funding, and on January 8, 1968 the Pacific Coliseum opened to the Ice Capades. A month later 16,511 fans, the largest crowd to watch a game in Canada, watched the Montreal Oldtimers and Western All Stars square off.

When the second NHL expansion rolled around in 1970-71, things in the Vancouver had changed substantially. Foster Hewitt and Cyrus MacLean were not as prominent, and the minor league Canucks were now owned by the Medicor Group led by Tom Scallen. The Buffalo Sabres and Vancouver Canucks were admitted to the NHL for the 1970-71 season.

The first order of business was to select a general manager. Norman "Bud" Poile, former general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers was chosen, and he in turn named Hal Laycoe, formerly of the LA Kings as the first coach. In the expansion draft the Canucks first selection was Boston Bruin Gary Doak, followed by Orland Kurtenbach, Ray Cullen and Rosaire Paiement. Also selected were Wayne Maki, Marc Reaume, Len Lunde and George Gardner. The pool of players selected in the 1970 draft had scored a total of 37 goals between them in the 1969-70 season, hardly what you would call a goal scoring powerhouse. In the entry draft of that same year, the Canucks selected Dale Tallon and Jim Hargreaves as their first two selections.

An so on October 9, 1970, the Canucks opened up against the LA Kings to what was thought to be a full house, but lost the home opener 3-2. The first goal for the Canucks was scored by Barry Wilkins in the third period against Denis DeJordy. Pat Quinn also received the Canucks first misconduct. Quinn would later go on to coach the Canucks to within one game of the Stanley Cup. The Canucks Ticket Manager had miscalculated and there were still close to 1000 seats left in the stands. Needless to say there was an immediate vacancy created. However, for their second home game, the Coliseum was sold out as the Canucks registered their first home win against the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3. Their final season tally saw a 24-46-6 record, finishing 6th in the Eastern Division.

The same finish befell the Canucks for the next 3 years, but by their 4th season they vaulted into first place, only to lose to the Montreal Canadiens in the Quarter Finals. The team went through coaching and ownership changes for the next few years. Their management was were indicted on embezzlement charges and coaching problems saw 7 coaches come and go in the first 7 years. The club was purchased by the Griffiths family. Harry Neale was hired as coach in 1978 and later supported by Roger Neilson.

By 1982 the Canucks had made it all the way to the Stanley Cup. In a protest against the referee's poor performance Neilson and his players raised white towels in a gesture of surrender. The team was fined $10,000, and in the next game in Vancouver almost all of the fans brought white towels to the game to wave at the officials. The Canucks defeated the Chicago Blackhawks and advanced to the finals only to be swept by the New York Islanders.

What goes up must eventually come down, but it didn't take the Canucks long to step out of contention for the Stanley Cup. Although they continued to make the playoffs off and on for the next few seasons, they never contended for the Cup again. A bright spot was Patrick Sundstrom who had 7 points in a game to set a new club record for the most points in a game, as well as the most assists in a single game.

Trevor Linden was selected in the 1988 Entry Draft and entered the league the following season as the youngest player. He was the runner up for the Calder Cup behind Brian Leetch, and goalie Kirk McLean established himself as one of the top goaltenders in the league. In July of 1989 the Canucks signed Igor Larionov and drafted the "Russian Rocket", Pavel Bure. Bure joined the Canucks for the 1991-92 season and immediately broke Trevor Linden's scoring record with 34 goals and became the first Canuck to receive a post season award, winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. The Canucks finished 1st in the Smythe Division, the first time since the 1973-74 season.

The following season Bure continued to improve, setting a new team record for goals with 60, and for total points, 110. He also was the first Canuck selected to the All Star Game. In the following season, Bure equalled his 60 goal performance. He led his team to a second place finish in the Smythe Division with a 41-40-3 record, the third best point total in club history up until that time. The Canucks went onto post season play eliminating the Calgary Flames in 7, and Dallas in 5. They went on to eliminate the Toronto Maple Leafs in 5, and faced the New York Rangers in the Finals. It was almost fitting that these two team faced each other because the Canucks had never won a cup, and the Rangers had not won a Cup since 1940. The Rangers were eventually victorious in a 7 game series.

In March of 1995, John McCaw purchased controlling interests in the Canucks, who had also gained control of the NBA Vancouver Grizzlies and of the new $163 Million General Motors Place. Their first game in their new arena was a 5-3 loss to Detroit. In that same season, 1995-96, Alexander Mogilny became only the second player in franchise history to score 50 goals.

At the end of the 1995-96 season Tom Renney, former Canadian national team coach was hired as coach. Renney triead to implement the "weak side lock" system, but the players did not respond, and finished out of the playoffs. The following season saw the birth of a new team logo and logo, as well as the acquisition of free agent Mark Messier. Messier took over the captaincy and tried to instil confidence in his team mates. Despite these moves, the 1997-98 season saw the Canucks plummet to 7th place with a 25-43-14 record, one of their poorest seasons ever. Needless to say, Pat Quinn was fired and Tom Renney soon followed, to be replaced by Mike Keenan.

Keenan was having problems with Linden and traded him to New York, and Brian Burke returned to the club as the new general manager. Messier signed back with the New York Rangers as a free agent in July of 2000, and Marc Crawford has taken over the coaching duties, and Brian Burke remains the general manager. Players like Bure, and 1999 draft picks the Sedin twins as well as Markus Naslund and Andrew Cassels will be the future of the Canucks.