The 2006–07 Vancouver Canucks season was the Canucks' 37th NHL season.
The season began on the heels of a blockbuster trade involving goaltender Roberto Luongo and Lukas Krajicek coming to Vancouver in exchange for Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Auld and Bryan Allen. The acquisition of Luongo combined with the salary increases of the Sedin twins meant that the Canucks were too close to salary cap and as a result, saw names such as Ed Jovanovski, Anson Carter, Nolan Baumgartner, Jarkko Ruutu and Wade Brookbank lost to free agency.
In addition to the departures of high-profile players such as Bertuzzi, Jovanovski and Carter, general manager Dave Nonis had fired Marc Crawford as head coach after the 2005–06 season, and replaced him with Alain Vigneault. The team also added players such as Jan Bulis, Taylor Pyatt, Marc Chouinard and Willie Mitchell, players who many thought are not as highly skilled as the ones who had recently departed. Despite the arrival of Luongo, many hockey analysts and fans predicted before the season began that the team would either miss the playoffs, or at best battle for the last playoff spots as 7th or 8th seed in the Western Conference. However, a few did foresee that the addition of a high-calibre goaltender in Luongo would propel the Canucks into the top three of the conference.[1]
Under such skepticism, the team played mediocre hockey from October to the Christmas break, and received criticism due to the team's lack of scoring during this period. However, after the Christmas break, the team had settled down on Vigneault's coaching system, and played stellar hockey from that point on, exceeding the expectations of fans, analysts and critics alike. On April 7, 2007, the Canucks defeated the San Jose Sharks by a score of 4–3 in overtime to clinch the Northwest Division title; their second in the past three seasons. Not only did the team win a division title, this season was known for many milestones, such as Taylor Pyatt setting career high in points, and Alain Vigneault setting a new franchise record for wins as a head coach. Also, second-year player Kevin Bieksa had emerged as a top-four defenceman on the team throughout the season.
On January 9, 2007, the NHL announced that Roberto Luongo had been voted by the fans to start in goal in the 2007 All-Star Game in Dallas. Aside from Luongo's selection into the All-Star Game, the first half of the season was also noted for the "Vote for Rory" internet campaign. The campaign was aimed at getting defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick voted into the 2007 All-Star Game, while mocking the NHL system of internet voting which encouraged people to vote as many times as they liked.
For the first time in franchise history, the Canucks ended the regular season with the league's best penalty killing record, with an 86.9% efficiency.
With the division title and third seed in the conference, the Canucks faced off against the Dallas Stars in the Western Quarterfinals. The Canucks first game back in the playoffs was a long one. On April 11, 2007, the Canucks set a franchise record with a quadruple OT win in Game 1. The game was the longest in Canucks history and the sixth longest in league history. Also in this game the Canucks set a record for shots against, allowing 76. The Canucks won this seven-game series despite the fact that every Dallas victory was a shutout for goalie Marty Turco.
The goal scoring woes continued in the second round against Brian Burke's Anaheim Ducks and the Canucks could not score more than two goals in a game. Although Trevor Linden experienced a resurgence and tied for the team lead for scoring in the playoffs, the Sedin twins could not escape the Ducks' tight checking. The third period of Game 4 was a pivotal point as the Canucks could not protect a 2–0 third-period at home and lost in overtime. In the deciding Game 5 in Anaheim, call-up rookie Jannik Hansen attempted to move the puck from the Canucks' zone, but was caught by a thunderous hit by Rob Niedermayer. The puck then went to his brother Scott, right at the blue line, who fired a wrist shot on net. Roberto Luongo, engaged with a referee over whether the puck had cleared the zone, failed to track the puck, which ended up in the back of the net and ended the Canucks' season.[2]
The Canucks finished the regular season with the League's best penalty-kill percentage, at 86.93%.[3]
Note: CR = Conference rank; GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime/shootout loss; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; PIM = Penalties in minutes; Pts = Points
Bolded teams qualified for the playoffs.
bold - qualified for playoffs, y - division title, z - best conference record
CE - Central Division, NW - Northwest Division, PA - Pacific Division
The Vancouver Canucks ended the 2006–07 regular season as the Western Conference's third seed.
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Vancouver. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
*Denotes player traded by Vancouver midway through the season. Stats reflect time with Canucks only.
Note: GP = Games played; Min = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; OT = Overtime/shootout losses; GA = Goals against; SO = Shutouts; Sv% = Save percentage; GAA = Goals against average
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Vancouver. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.
Vancouver's picks at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver, British Columbia.[6]
AHL affiliate that is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and their home arena is the MTS Centre. The team has been affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks since the 2000–01 AHL season. In the 2006–07 AHL season, Manitoba finished in 1st place in the North Division, it was the franchises first regular season divisional championship in history. In addition, Mike Keane won the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award for Sportsmanship, Perseverance and overall dedication to hockey. In the playoffs, the Manitoba Moose defeated the Grand Rapids Griffins, 4 games to 3, in the first round. However, Manitoba would eventually be eliminated by the Hamilton Bulldogs, 4 games to 2, in the second round of the playoffs.
ECHL affiliate that is based in Victoria, British Columbia and their home arena is the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. This is the first year that the franchise has been affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks in its three-year existence. In the 2006–07 ECHL season, the Salmon Kings established their first winning record by going on a nine-game winning streak to end the regular season. The Salmon Kings finished 7th overall in the National Conference and made their first playoff appearance against the Alaska Aces in the National Quarterfinal. The Salmon Kings would win Game 1 by a score of 3–2, however, the Aces would win 4 of the next 5 games to win the series 4–2, eliminating Salmon Kings from the playoffs.
Luongo returned and continued to stop everything until Niedermayer blasted one in from the left point 4:30 into the second overtime after his brother, Rob Niedermayer, leveled Canucks wing Jannik Hansen with a thunderous check.