The 1985–86 Vancouver Canucks season was the team's 16th in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Off-season

Changes were the order of the day after a disastrous 1984-85 campaign. Gone were Vice-President, General Manager, and Head Coach Harry Neale and Associate Coach Ron Smith. Assistant GM Jack Gordon was promoted to GM and Director of Hockey Operations and 1982

Jack Adams Trophy The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." The league's Coach of the Year award has been presented 47 times to 39 coaches. The winner is selecte ...

winner Tom Watt was brought in to coach. The team would undergo a cosmetic change as well, altering their jerseys so that the big "V" on the front was replaced by the team logo, while smaller "V"s appeared on the shoulders. In the Entry Draft, the Canucks took 6'3" right-winger

Jim Sandlak James Sandlak, Jr. (born December 12, 1966) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who spent 11 seasons in the National Hockey League and was known as "the House" due to his large stature. Playing career Sandlak played major junior w ...

with the fourth overall pick. He would play 23 games for the team in the season, collecting four points.

Regular season

Stan Smyl became the first Canuck to reach the 200-goal plateau on November 22 in a 6-5 loss to New Jersey.

Richard Brodeur Richard "King Richard", "Kermit" Brodeur (born September 15, 1952), is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. Brodeur was born in Longueuil, Quebec and grew up in Montreal, Quebec. Playing career Brodeur was selected in the 1972 ...

would earn team MVP honours, appearing in a career-high 64 games and keeping the Canucks in many games they had no business being in. On February 28, he registered his 100th win as a Canuck in a 3-1 decision over Philadelphia. Sophomore

Petri Skriko Petri Kalevi Skriko (born March 13, 1962) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey player, best remembered for his seasons starring in the NHL for the Vancouver Canucks in the 1980s. He is currently a scout for the Calgary Flames. Playing ca ...

earned career high marks in goals (38) and points (78). His point total led the team but he trailed

Tony Tanti Anthony Tanti (born September 7, 1963) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was a left winger and played the majority of his career in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks. Originally selected 12th overall ...

by one in the goal department. Otherwise, the only thing to keep fan interest was the three-way turtle derby between the Canucks, Jets, and

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

for the final two playoff spots in the Smythe Division, since the Oilers and

Flames A flame (from Latin ''flamma'') is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density they ...

were well ahead of them and had already locked up the top two spots in the division. After a dreadful 20-game stretch in which they went 1-13-6 to drop to 20th overall in the NHL (ahead of only a woeful Detroit squad), the Canucks went 5-4-1 in their last ten to finish tied with Winnipeg for third place in the Smythe with 59 points, while Los Angeles was out with 54. But since the Jets had more wins than the Canucks (26 to 23), Vancouver lost the tiebreaker and claimed fourth place in the Smythe, which meant a first round matchup with the two time defending Stanley Cup champion and Presidents Trophy winning Edmonton Oilers.

Final standings

Schedule and results

Playoffs

The first-round series between the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks was quick and painless. Edmonton annihilated Vancouver in Game One by a 7-3 score. They completed the much-expected sweep with a pair of easy 5-1 victories. In his autobiography, Wayne Gretzky would attribute the Oilers' second-round loss to

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

to the fact that the victory over Vancouver was so easy that it did not seem like they were in the playoffs yet. The Vancouver fans did not help enhance the playoff atmosphere any, as 7,854 (many of whom were clad in blue and orange) showed up for Game Three. It was a worthy reflection of the condition to which the franchise had sunken.

Player statistics

Awards and records

Transactions

Draft picks

Vancouver's draft picks at the

1985 NHL Entry Draft The 1985 NHL Entry Draft was the 23rd NHL Entry Draft. It was the first draft outside Montreal. The event was held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario, and attended by 7,000 fans. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams sele ...

held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

Farm teams

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:1985-86 Vancouver Canucks season Vancouver Canucks seasons Vancouver C Vancouver