Canucks Advent Day 11: Top 25 Players Of The 2010’s

Overtime Heroics Editorial

1386 days ago

With Christmas on the horizon and the decade coming to a close, it is the perfect time to rank the best Canucks of the 2010’s. This is the Canucks Advent Calendar.

Each day until Christmas I will rank one player until we have the top 25 of the 2010’s. These Vancouver icons will be ranked on their statistics, impact on the city and overall play during their time with Vancouver. Rankings will be based on the player’s Vancouver tenure during the 2010’s only, prior seasons with the team will make little impact to the rankings.

15. Ryan Miller (2014-2017)

Canucks Advent — Former Canucks’ goaltender Ryan Miller (30) reaching out to glove the puck | Photo Credit: National Post

Statistics: 150 GP, 64 W, 68 L, 16 OTL, .914 SV %, 2.69 GAA

Ryan Miller was Vancouver’s last goalie to help take them to the playoffs. Jim Benning signed in the 2014 off season in attempt to rebuild-on-the-fly. Ryan Miller’s addition to the roster was exciting for all fans. On a three-year deal it was unlikely that the former Vezina winner’s price would come back to bite Vancouver. Although he wasn’t a long-time roster member, Ryan Miller was able to help remedy the short-term situation.

During his inaugural season in the blue and green, Miller was able to post a 29-15-1 record. This was good enough to get his team back into the playoffs. The Canucks had missed the season prior with John Tortorella leading the bench. Unfortunately, Vancouver would ultimately fall to the Calgary Flames in 6 games during the first round. With this being said, a playoff birth was a better result than the prior season. Miller was a big part of that birth during the 2015 season.

In the following season, Vancouver’s age began to show itself. Their key players appeared to be deteriorating due to the aging process. Core members that they used to be able to rely on were a step slower. They weren’t able to find the back of the net as easy as before. At age 35, ‘Father Time’ seemed to be coming for Ryan Miller as well. Although his SV% improved slightly from a .911 to a .916 he wasn’t able to close out games anymore. This is shown on his record of 17-24-9. Vancouver would miss the 2016 playoffs.

Former Canucks’ goaltender Ryan Miller (30) catching his breath at the end of the period | Photo Credit: NHL.com

As a team, many of the issues remain during the next season. Vancouver would lose the majority of their games causing them to finally go into full ‘rebuild mode’. Miller would have another tough season, suffering 29 losses. With that being said, many of the losses can be blamed mainly on a slow offence and unrealieable defence. This would be Miller’s final season in Vancouver.

Ryan Miller was a huge part of Vancouver’s final playoff appearance in 2015. Without a goaltender of his caliber, the postseason may have not been an attainable destination. Although they were not able to make it in the following two seasons, without Miller it could’ve been a lot worse. Miller came to Vancouver to try and help jumpstart an aging organization. With a playoff appearance under his belt and a few hard fought seasons, Ryan Miller is the 15th greatest Canuck of this decade.