# 2008–09 Vancouver Canucks season

The 2008–09 Vancouver Canucks season was the 39th season in the National Hockey League.

## Season events
### Off-season

On June 17, 2008, the Canucks named Ryan Walter as an assistant coach. He joined head coach Alain Vigneault and assistant coach Rick Bowness on the Canucks' coaching staff. Walter, 50, played in 1,003 NHL games over 15 seasons with Washington, Montreal, and Vancouver, scoring 264 goals and 382 assists. He won the Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1986. A native of New Westminster, British Columbia, Walter was the second overall pick by the Washington Capitals in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft.
The Canucks lost two key veterans to free agency. Markus Naslund, the Canucks' captain for the previous seven seasons, signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the New York Rangers, while Pitt Meadows native Brendan Morrison signed a one-year, $2.75 million contract with the Anaheim Ducks.
The Canucks also lost a promising young defenceman in Luc Bourdon, who died in a motorcycle accident in his hometown of Shippagan, New Brunswick. The Canucks honoured Bourdon with a tribute in the season opener, October 9, against the Calgary Flames.
Among the Canucks' roster additions was Steve Bernier, who was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres for a second- and third-round draft pick, and Pavol Demitra, who signed a two-year, $8 million contract.
The Canucks announced on September 4, 2008, that they will honour Linden in a pre-game ceremony on December 17, 2008 before a game against the Edmonton Oilers. His jersey number, 16, will be retired by the team, joining former captain Stan Smyl as the second Canuck to have his number retired.

### Pre-season

The Canucks' 2008 pre-season began on September 12 with the opening of their annual prospects training camp. The camp consisted of 22 players and was held in Vancouver, British Columbia at both General Motors Place and the University of British Columbia campus, as well as in Camrose, Alberta. The prospect camp was then followed by the main training camp, held over two days beginning September 20 in Whistler, British Columbia.
On September 30, 2008, the Canucks named Roberto Luongo as the twelfth captain in team history, with Luongo becoming only the seventh goaltender in NHL history to be named team captain. NHL rules prevent goaltenders from physically wearing the captain's letter "C", however, they do not prevent goaltenders from being named captain. The Canucks also named Willie Mitchell, Mattias Ohlund, and Ryan Kesler as alternate captains. Mitchell assumed the duties of dealing with officials during games, while Ohlund took faceoffs and performed other ceremonial duties.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Northwest Division :
| | | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | y – Vancouver Canucks | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 246 | 220 | 100 |
| 2 | Calgary Flames | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 254 | 248 | 98 |
| 3 | Minnesota Wild | 82 | 40 | 33 | 9 | 219 | 200 | 89 |
| 4 | Edmonton Oilers | 82 | 38 | 35 | 9 | 234 | 248 | 85 |
| 5 | Colorado Avalanche | 82 | 32 | 45 | 5 | 199 | 257 | 69 |

### Conference standings

Western Conference :
| R | | Div | GP | W | L | OTL | GF | GA | Pts |
| 1 | p – San Jose Sharks | PA | 82 | 53 | 18 | 11 | 257 | 204 | 117 |
| 2 | y – Detroit Red Wings | CE | 82 | 51 | 21 | 10 | 295 | 244 | 112 |
| 3 | y – Vancouver Canucks | NW | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 246 | 220 | 100 |
| 4 | Chicago Blackhawks | CE | 82 | 46 | 24 | 12 | 264 | 216 | 104 |
| 5 | Calgary Flames | NW | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 254 | 248 | 98 |
| 6 | St. Louis Blues | CE | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 233 | 233 | 92 |
| 7 | Columbus Blue Jackets | CE | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 226 | 230 | 92 |
| 8 | Anaheim Ducks | PA | 82 | 42 | 33 | 7 | 245 | 238 | 91 |
| 8.5 ||||||||||
| 9 | Minnesota Wild | NW | 82 | 40 | 33 | 9 | 219 | 200 | 89 |
| 10 | Nashville Predators | CE | 82 | 40 | 34 | 8 | 213 | 233 | 88 |
| 11 | Edmonton Oilers | NW | 82 | 38 | 35 | 9 | 234 | 248 | 85 |
| 12 | Dallas Stars | PA | 82 | 36 | 35 | 11 | 230 | 257 | 83 |
| 13 | Phoenix Coyotes | PA | 82 | 36 | 39 | 7 | 208 | 252 | 79 |
| 14 | Los Angeles Kings | PA | 82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 207 | 234 | 79 |
| 15 | Colorado Avalanche | NW | 82 | 32 | 45 | 5 | 199 | 257 | 69 |
bold – qualified for playoffs, y – division winner, p – Presidents' Trophy winner CE – Central Division, NW – Northwest Division, PA – Pacific Division

## Schedule and results
### Regular season

2008–09 Game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

2009 Stanley Cup playoffs :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/- = Plus/Minus; PIM = Penalty Minutes
Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| Daniel Sedin | 82 | 31 | 51 | 82 | +24 | 36 |
| Henrik Sedin | 82 | 22 | 60 | 82 | +22 | 48 |
| Ryan Kesler | 82 | 26 | 33 | 59 | +8 | 61 |
| Pavol Demitra | 69 | 20 | 33 | 53 | +6 | 20 |
| Alex Burrows | 82 | 28 | 23 | 51 | +23 | 150 |
| Kevin Bieksa | 72 | 11 | 32 | 43 | -4 | 97 |
| Alexander Edler | 80 | 10 | 27 | 37 | +11 | 54 |
| Steve Bernier | 81 | 15 | 17 | 32 | +4 | 27 |
| Mats Sundin | 41 | 9 | 19 | 28 | -5 | 28 |
| Kyle Wellwood | 74 | 18 | 9 | 27 | +2 | 4 |
| Mattias Ohlund | 82 | 6 | 19 | 25 | +14 | 105 |
| Sami Salo | 60 | 5 | 20 | 25 | +5 | 26 |
| Mason Raymond | 72 | 11 | 12 | 23 | +2 | 24 |
| Willie Mitchell | 82 | 3 | 20 | 23 | +29 | 59 |
| Jannik Hansen | 55 | 6 | 15 | 21 | +5 | 37 |
| Taylor Pyatt | 69 | 10 | 9 | 19 | 0 | 43 |
| Shane O'Brien$^†$ | 76 | 0 | 10 | 10 | +6 | 196 |
| Ryan Johnson | 62 | 2 | 7 | 9 | +1 | 12 |
| Darcy Hordichuk | 73 | 4 | 1 | 5 | +1 | 109 |
| Jason Jaffray | 14 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 14 |
| Rick Rypien | 12 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -3 | 19 |
| Rob Davison | 23 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -4 | 51 |
| Jason Krog | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Ossi Vaananen$^†$ | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Alexandre Bolduc | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 4 |
| Lawrence Nycholat$^‡$ | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 6 |
| Mike Brown$^‡$ | 20 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -5 | 85 |
| Michel Ouellet | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM |
| Henrik Sedin | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +2 | 2 |
| Daniel Sedin | 10 | 4 | 6 | 10 | +4 | 8 |
| Mats Sundin | 8 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -1 | 2 |
| Alexander Edler | 10 | 1 | 7 | 8 | -2 | 6 |
| Sami Salo | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| Kyle Wellwood | 10 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -1 | 0 |
| Kevin Bieksa | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | +3 | 14 |
| Alex Burrows | 10 | 3 | 1 | 4 | +3 | 20 |
| Steve Bernier | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 7 |
| Ryan Kesler | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 14 |
| Mason Raymond | 10 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 2 |
| Pavol Demitra | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -2 | 2 |
| Mattias Ohlund | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +5 | 6 |
| Ryan Johnson | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Shane O'Brien | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -3 | 24 |
| Willie Mitchell | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 22 |
| Rick Rypien | 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 40 |
| Darcy Hordichuk | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 14 |
| Jannik Hansen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ossi Vaananen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Taylor Pyatt | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 2 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV | Sv% | SO |
| Roberto Luongo | 54 | 3181 | 33 | 13 | 7 | 124 | 2.34 | 1542 | 1418 | .920 | 9 |
| Curtis Sanford | 19 | 973 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 42 | 2.59 | 448 | 406 | .906 | 1 |
| Jason LaBarbera$^†$ | 9 | 451 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 2.66 | 235 | 215 | .915 | 0 |
| Cory Schneider | 8 | 355 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 20 | 3.38 | 162 | 142 | .877 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | Min | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV | Sv% | SO |
| Roberto Luongo | 10 | 618 | 6 | 4 | 26 | 2.52 | 304 | 278 | .914 | 1 |
$^†$Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Vancouver. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only. $^‡$Denotes player no longer with the team. Stats reflect time with Canucks only.

## Awards and records
### Awards

* Daniel Sedin was named the NHL's first star of the week for the week ending October 12, 2008.
* Roberto Luongo was named the NHL's first star of the week for the week ending November 9, 2008.
* Henrik Sedin was named the NHL's second star of the week for the week ending November 23, 2008.
* Roberto Luongo was named to the Western Conference roster for the 57th National Hockey League All-Star Game in Montreal.
* Daniel Sedin was named the NHL's second star of the week for the week ending March 29, 2009.
* Henrik Sedin was named the NHL's second star of the month for March.
* Roberto Luongo was named the NHL's first star of the week for the week ending April 12, 2009.

### Records

* Roberto Luongo set a franchise record for consecutive shutout minutes with 242:36 on November 12, 2008 versus the Colorado Avalanche.
* The Canucks set a franchise record for consecutive home losses with 7 on January 18, 2009 versus the Columbus Blue Jackets.
* Mattias Ohlund set a franchise record for the most points scored by a defenceman with 322 points on March 15, 2009 versus the Colorado Avalanche.
* The Canucks set a franchise record for consecutive home wins with 11 on March 19, 2009 versus the St. Louis Blues.
* Roberto Luongo set a franchise record for most shutouts in a season with 8 on April 9, 2009 versus the Los Angeles Kings, and ended the season with one more, for a total of 9 shutouts and tying Kirk McLean for the all-time franchise lead in shutouts.

### Milestones

Regular Season :
| Player | Milestone | Reached |
| Pavol Demitra | 700th point | October 11, 2008 |
| Alexander Edler | 100th game | October 13, 2008 |
| Jannik Hansen | 1st goal | October 16, 2008 |
| Roberto Luongo | 200th win | October 16, 2008 |
| Alain Vigneault | 200th win | October 16, 2008 |
| Jason Krog | 200th game | October 25, 2008 |
| Roberto Luongo | 500th game | October 31, 2008 |
| Mattias Ohlund | 700th game | November 2, 2008 |
| Henrik Sedin | 300th assist | November 4, 2008 |
| Kyle Wellwood | 200th game | November 12, 2008 |
| Rob Davison | 200th game | November 20, 2008 |
| Daniel Sedin | 400th point | November 24, 2008 |
| Alexandre Bolduc | 1st game | November 27, 2008 |
| Henrik Sedin | 400th point | November 27, 2008 |
| Steve Bernier | 200th game | November 29, 2008 |
| Cory Schneider | 1st game | November 29, 2008 |
| Steve Bernier | 100th point | December 4, 2008 |
| Cory Schneider | 1st win | December 5, 2008 |
| Curtis Sanford | 100th game | December 17, 2008 |
| Ryan Kesler | 100th point | December 22, 2008 |
| Henrik Sedin | 600th game | December 26, 2008 |
| Jason LaBarbera | 100th game | January 2, 2009 |
| Daniel Sedin | 600th game | January 2, 2009 |
| Alexandre Bolduc | 1st point 1st assist | January 4, 2009 |
| Shane O'Brien | 200th game | January 7, 2009 |
| Willie Mitchell | 500th game | January 10, 2009 |
| Taylor Pyatt | 500th game | January 13, 2009 |
| Willie Mitchell | 100th point | January 18, 2009 |
| Henrik Sedin | 100th goal | March 13, 2009 |
| Alain Vigneault | 500th game | March 19, 2009 |
| Pavol Demitra | 300th goal | March 31, 2009 |
| Alex Burrows | 100th point | April 2, 2009 |

## Transactions
### Trades

| June 4, 2008 | To Vancouver CanucksSteve Bernier | To Buffalo Sabres3rd-round pick in 2009 – Brayden McNabb 2nd-round pick in 2010 – Petr Straka |
| September 2, 2008 | To Vancouver CanucksLawrence Nycholat | To Ottawa SenatorsRyan Shannon |
| October 6, 2008 | To Vancouver CanucksShane O'Brien Michel Ouellet | To Tampa Bay LightningLukas Krajicek Juraj Simek |
| December 9, 2008 | To Vancouver CanucksConditional pick in 2009 | To Chicago BlackhawksJimmy Sharrow |
| December 30, 2008 | To Vancouver CanucksJason LaBarbera | To Los Angeles Kings7th-round pick in 2009 – Jordan Samuels-Thomas |
| February 4, 2009 | To Vancouver CanucksNathan McIver | To Anaheim DucksMike Brown |

### Free agents acquired

| Player | Former team | Contract terms |
| Darcy Hordichuk | Carolina Hurricanes | Three-year, $2.25-million |
| Ryan Johnson | St. Louis Blues | Two-year, $2.3-million |
| Nolan Baumgartner | Dallas Stars | Two-way deal, $1.2-million |
| Mark Cullen | Detroit Red Wings | One-year, $500,000 |
| Pavol Demitra | Minnesota Wild | Two-year, $8-million |
| Rob Davison | New York Islanders | One-year, $560,000 |
| Jason Krog | Atlanta Thrashers | One-year, $700,000 |
| Mats Sundin | Toronto Maple Leafs | One-year, $5-million |

### Free agents lost

| Player | New team | Contract Terms |
| Drew MacIntyre | Nashville Predators | |
| Markus Naslund | New York Rangers | Two-year, $8-million |
| Brendan Morrison | Anaheim Ducks | One-year, $2.75-million |
| Mike Weaver | St. Louis Blues | |
| Brad Isbister | Ottawa Senators | Two-way deal |
| Trevor Linden | | Retired |

### Received from waivers

| Player | From |
| Kyle Wellwood | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Ossi Vaananen | Philadelphia Flyers |

### Lost on waivers

| Player | New Team |
| Nathan McIver | Anaheim Ducks |
| Matt Pettinger | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Lawrence Nycholat | Calgary Flames |

### Draft picks

Vancouver's picks at the 2008 NHL Entry Draft in Ottawa, Ontario.
| Round | # | Player | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
| 1 | 10 | Cody Hodgson (C) | Canada | Brampton Battalion (OHL) |
| 2 | 41 | Yann Sauve (D) | Canada | Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL) |
| 5 | 131 | Prab Rai (C) | Canada | Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) |
| 6 | 161 | Mats Frøshaug (C) | Norway | Linköpings HC Jr. (Sweden) |
| 7 | 191 | Morgan Clark (G) | Canada | Red Deer Rebels (WHL) |

## 7th Canuck

On October 25, 2008, the Canucks retired the jersey number '7' in honour of the fans, the "seventh Canuck". Originally, the plan was to have a randomly selected season ticket holder unveil the banner before every home game and have it raised to the rafters, but after the first game it was abandoned.

## Farm teams
### Manitoba Moose

The Canucks' AHL affiliate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Moose' home arena is the MTS Centre. The team has been affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks since the 2000–01 AHL season.

### Victoria Salmon Kings

The Canucks' ECHL affiliate based in Victoria, British Columbia. The Salmon Kings' home arena is the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. The team has been affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks since the 2006–07 ECHL season.