One of two franchises to begin play in 1970 (along with the Buffalo Sabres), the Vancouver Canucks have had an interesting history, to say the least. In their history, they have had thirteen captains, including one goaltender, and the number of captains in team history is almost twice the number of jersey makeovers.
The first team captain in the NHL existence (they originally played in the old WHL, not to be confused with the WHL that is part of the Canadian Hockey League) was Orland Kurtenbach, who would go on to wear the C until 1974. The 1974-75 season saw the team go without a captain before single seasons of Andre Boudrias and Chris Oddleifson followed. Don Lever would captain the team from 1977 until 1979, and would be succeeded for three seasons by Kevin McCarthy. The 1982-83 season would see Stan Smyl wear the C and despite the Flying V, he would be captain until 1990. The 1990-91 season had Dan Quinn, Doug Lidster, and Trevor Linden share captain duties. Linden would take sole possession of the captain duties in 1991, and would hold the C until the 1997 offseason, when the team signed Mark Messier to be captain. Messier lasted three seasons as captain before re-signing with the New York Rangers in 2000. That would open the door for Markus Naslund to be named captain, and Naslund would wear the C until 2008. Goaltender Roberto Luongo would inherit the captain duties, although NHL rules prohibit any goaltender to wear the C on their jersey, and the alternate captains had to handle the normal captain duties during games, all of which is under the Bill Durnan rule. Luongo would give up the captiancy in 2010, and that role would be handed over to the reigning Hart Trophy winner Henrik Sedin.
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