1976–77 Vancouver Canucks season

The 1976–77 Vancouver Canucks season was the team's seventh in the NHL. The Canucks failed to reach the playoffs. Phil Maloney, the team's general manager and head coach, was replaced mid-season as head coach by Orland Kurtenbach, the first captain of the Canucks.

1976–77 Vancouver Canucks
Division4th Norris
Conference8th Campbell
1976–77 record25–42–13
Home record13–21–6
Road record12–21–7
Goals for235
Goals against294
Team information
General ManagerPhil Maloney
CoachPhil Maloney (9–23–3)
Orland Kurtenbach (16–19–10)
CaptainChris Oddleifson
Alternate captainsDon Lever
Dennis Kearns
ArenaPacific Coliseum
Average attendance15,547
Team leaders
GoalsRick Blight (28)
AssistsDennis Kearns (55)
PointsRick Blight (68)
Penalty minutesHarold Snepsts (149)
WinsCesare Maniago (17)
Goals against averageCesare Maniago (3.36)

Off-season

The Canucks made a complete change in the goal department for the 1976–77 season. On August 23, disgruntled Gary Smith was traded to Minnesota for veteran Cesare Maniago. Born and raised in Trail, Maniago became the first home-grown British Columbian to be a Canucks regular. In September, Ken Lockett signed as a free-agent with San Diego of the World Hockey Association. The back-up job was inherited by Curt Ridley. Both goalies would see plenty of rubber. The retirement of Andre Boudrias meant that the captaincy was available and Chris Oddleifson filled the vacancy.

Regular season

Sophomore right-winger Rick Blight scored four goals in a 9–5 loss in Pittsburgh on opening night and continued to lead the team in scoring throughout the season, finishing with 68 points. The loss was a sign of things to come, as the Canucks won only five of their first 24 games. After a 5–4 home loss to Montreal on December 20, Phil Maloney decided that he needed more time to concentrate on his General Manager duties and called up ex-Canuck captain Orland Kurtenbach from Tulsa of the Central League to coach the remainder of the season. He started off with a 3–2 win in Los Angeles before winning only one of his next eight.

In the middle of that streak was a game that did not count but garnered considerable attention. The Canucks hosted the Soviet club Spartak Moscow on December 28 at the Pacific Coliseum.  Rick Blight scored twice and Curt Ridley picked up a shutout as the Canucks won 2–0 before a jubilant full house. On January 25 there was another special event at the Coliseum—the NHL All-Star Game. Harold Snepsts represented the Canucks in the mid-season classic, which was won 4–3 by the Wales Conference.

But the team stumbled along until March, perhaps partly due to the infrequent play of rugged defenseman Mike Robitaille, who was having back problems. Then in a February 11 game against Pittsburgh, which the Canucks won 3–2, Robitaille came out of the penalty box and was blind-sided by Penguins tough-guy Dennis Owchar. Robitaille suffered a spinal injury and never played again. He later sued the Canucks for forcing him to play hurt, misdiagnosing his injuries, and making slanderous comments about him (calling him a "head case" and a hypochondriac) and was awarded $540,000 by the Supreme Court of B.C. in 1978.

With 17 games to play, there seemed to be no hope of salvaging the season, as the Canucks trailed Chicago for the third and final Smythe Division playoff spot by 15 points. But Vancouver went 8–3–6, which included a 10-game unbeaten streak (5–0–5). Chicago, meanwhile, took a nose dive and went 3–13–1 to finish up. The Canucks won both key meetings with the Black Hawks during that stretch. Unfortunately, they had to come from too far behind and a 6–3 home loss to Colorado in game number 79 eliminated them from playoff contention. They then won 6–3 over Minnesota in the finale to finish with 63 points, causing them to miss the final playoff spot to the Hawks on a tiebreaker (26–25 in wins).

Besides Blight's fine season, Dennis Kearns upped his franchise record for defensemen to 55 assists and set a new record with 60 points. But Kearns was also often the victim of the Coliseum boo-birds for his apparent lack of physical play and a tendency to make bad gambles. In any event, it was apparent that the modest success of the previous couple of seasons had gone for naught and that it was once again back to the drawing board.

Final standings
Smythe Division
GP W L T GF GA PTS
St. Louis Blues803239923927673
Minnesota North Stars8023391824031064
Chicago Black Hawks8026431124029863
Vancouver Canucks8025421323529463
Colorado Rockies8020461422630754

[1]Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Note: Teams that qualified for the playoffs are highlighted in bold.

Schedule and results
No. R Date Score Opponent Record
1LOctober 6, 19765–9@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)0–1–0
2LOctober 9, 19760–3@ Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)0–2–0
3LOctober 10, 19761–5@ Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)0–3–0
4WOctober 13, 19764–1Washington Capitals (1976–77)1–3–0
5LOctober 16, 19763–6St. Louis Blues (1976–77)1–4–0
6LOctober 19, 19761–6@ New York Islanders (1976–77)1–5–0
7LOctober 20, 19760–4@ Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)1–6–0
8WOctober 22, 19765–3@ Atlanta Flames (1976–77)2–6–0
9WOctober 24, 19765–4@ New York Rangers (1976–77)3–6–0
10LOctober 26, 19762–5@ St. Louis Blues (1976–77)3–7–0
11WOctober 28, 19763–1Cleveland Barons (1976–77)4–7–0
12TOctober 30, 19763–3Atlanta Flames (1976–77)4–7–1
13LNovember 1, 19762–3New York Islanders (1976–77)4–8–1
14LNovember 3, 19761–6New York Rangers (1976–77)4–9–1
15WNovember 5, 19764–1Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)5–9–1
16LNovember 7, 19761–3@ Boston Bruins (1976–77)5–10–1
17LNovember 9, 19762–4@ Washington Capitals (1976–77)5–11–1
18LNovember 11, 19764–6@ Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)5–12–1
19LNovember 13, 19760–3Toronto Maple Leafs (1976–77)5–13–1
20LNovember 17, 19762–3Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)5–14–1
21LNovember 19, 19764–6New York Islanders (1976–77)5–15–1
22LNovember 22, 19762–3New York Rangers (1976–77)5–16–1
23TNovember 24, 19764–4@ Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)5–16–2
24LNovember 25, 19762–4@ Boston Bruins (1976–77)5–17–2
25WNovember 27, 19764–3Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)6–17–2
26LDecember 1, 19762–5Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)6–18–2
27LDecember 3, 19762–3@ Colorado Rockies (1976–77)6–19–2
28WDecember 5, 19764–2@ Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)7–19–2
29LDecember 7, 19763–4@ Washington Capitals (1976–77)7–20–2
30WDecember 8, 19764–3@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1976–77)8–20–2
31TDecember 11, 19764–4Colorado Rockies (1976–77)8–20–3
32LDecember 14, 19763–6Buffalo Sabres (1976–77)8–21–3
33LDecember 16, 19763–7@ Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)8–22–3
34WDecember 18, 19763–1@ Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)9–22–3
35LDecember 20, 19764–5Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)9–23–3
36WDecember 22, 19763–2@ Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)10–23–3
37LDecember 23, 19762–4St. Louis Blues (1976–77)10–24–3
38LDecember 27, 19761–5Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)10–25–3
39LDecember 29, 19761–8Boston Bruins (1976–77)10–26–3
40WJanuary 1, 19775–1@ New York Islanders (1976–77)11–26–3
41LJanuary 2, 19773–5@ New York Rangers (1976–77)11–27–3
42TJanuary 4, 19772–2@ Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)11–27–4
43LJanuary 5, 19771–4@ Atlanta Flames (1976–77)11–28–4
44LJanuary 7, 19774–8@ Cleveland Barons (1976–77)11–29–4
45WJanuary 8, 19775–2@ St. Louis Blues (1976–77)12–29–4
46WJanuary 12, 19775–3Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)13–29–4
47LJanuary 15, 19772–4Cleveland Barons (1976–77)13–30–4
48LJanuary 19, 19770–3Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)13–31–4
49LJanuary 21, 19771–3Toronto Maple Leafs (1976–77)13–32–4
50WJanuary 23, 19776–2New York Rangers (1976–77)14–32–4
51TJanuary 27, 19771–1Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)14–32–5
52WJanuary 29, 19774–3Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)15–32–5
53LFebruary 3, 19774–6Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)15–33–5
54TFebruary 5, 19775–5@ Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)15–33–6
55LFebruary 6, 19772–3@ Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)15–34–6
56LFebruary 9, 19770–6@ Montreal Canadiens (1976–77)15–35–6
57WFebruary 11, 19773–2Pittsburgh Penguins (1976–77)16–35–6
58LFebruary 14, 19771–2New York Islanders (1976–77)16–36–6
59LFebruary 16, 19773–7Boston Bruins (1976–77)16–37–6
60WFebruary 19, 19775–1Atlanta Flames (1976–77)17–37–6
61LFebruary 21, 19770–4St. Louis Blues (1976–77)17–38–6
62TFebruary 24, 19772–2@ Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)17–38–7
63LFebruary 26, 19770–3@ Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)17–39–7
64WFebruary 27, 19774–3@ Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)18–39–7
65WMarch 2, 19772–1@ Atlanta Flames (1976–77)19–39–7
66LMarch 3, 19772–5@ Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)19–40–7
67TMarch 5, 19774–4@ Toronto Maple Leafs (1976–77)19–40–8
68WMarch 9, 19775–2Washington Capitals (1976–77)20–40–8
69WMarch 10, 19775–0Chicago Black Hawks (1976–77)21–40–8
70TMarch 12, 19772–2Colorado Rockies (1976–77)21–40–9
71WMarch 13, 19776–2@ Colorado Rockies (1976–77)22–40–9
72WMarch 15, 19777–1Detroit Red Wings (1976–77)23–40–9
73TMarch 19, 19774–4@ St. Louis Blues (1976–77)23–40–10
74WMarch 20, 19774–1@ Colorado Rockies (1976–77)24–40–10
75TMarch 22, 19774–4Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)24–40–11
76TMarch 25, 19774–4@ Cleveland Barons (1976–77)24–40–12
77LMarch 26, 19773–9@ Philadelphia Flyers (1976–77)24–41–12
78TMarch 29, 19773–3Los Angeles Kings (1976–77)24–41–13
79LApril 1, 19773–6Colorado Rockies (1976–77)24–42–13
80WApril 3, 19776–3Minnesota North Stars (1976–77)25–42–13

Playoffs

Player statistics

Awards and records

Transactions

Roster

Draft picks

Vancouver's picks at the 1976 NHL Entry Draft. The draft was at the NHL office in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Round # Player Nationality College/Junior/Club Team (League)
2 26 Bob Manno (D)  Canada St. Catharines Black Hawks (OHA)
3 44 Rob Flockhart (LW)  Canada Kamloops Chiefs (WCHL)
4 62 Elmer Ray (LW)  Canada Calgary Centennials (WCHL)
5 80 Rick Durston (LW)  Canada Victoria Cougars (WCHL)
6 98 Rob Tudor (C)  Canada Regina Pats (WCHL)
7 114 Brad Rhiness (C)  Canada Kingston Canadians (OHA)
8 122 Stu Ostlund (C)  Canada Michigan Tech Huskies (NCAA)

See also

References
  1. Dinger, Ralph, ed. (2011). The National Hockey League Official Guide & Record Book 2012. Dan Diamond & Associates. p. 151. ISBN 9781894801225.
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