Canucks Advent Day 12: Top 25 Players Of The 2010’s

Overtime Heroics Editorial

1382 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.

14. Jacob Markstrom (2014 – Present)

Canucks’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) pouncing on the puck | Photo Credits: vancourier.com

Statistics: 205 GP, 84 W, 85 L, 26 OTL, .912 SV %, 2.72 GAA

Jacob Markstrom came to the Vancouver Canucks in a trade during spring 2014. This trade saw Vancouver lose their franchise goaltender in the process. Markstrom joined the roster at the young age of 24 and has since grown into a legitimate starter. The road to success for the Swedish netminder has been long and hard. Nonentheless, he is still working as hard as ever trying to help this young team reach the playoffs.

Before joining Vancouver, Markstrom had played a mere 43 games for the Florida Panthers in his first four seasons. Soon after, Markstrom would spend his first full season with the organization on the Utica Comets. His first season on Vancouver’s AHL affiliate saw him post an impressive 22-7-2 record. As a result, this would pave the way for his NHL career to finally begin the following season.

From 2015 to 2017 Markstrom would act as Vancouver’s backup goaltender. In his first two seasons as a legitimized NHL backup he had a record of 23-25-7. Furthermore, these years were tough for the team as a whole as they weren’t able to crack the playoffs. With this being said, Markstrom was able to serve as a backup to Ryan Miller. Miller is a former All-Star and Vezina winner. Being able to work under and learn from someone as talented as Miller would’ve ingrained many important lessons into the maturing netminder.

Canucks’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom (25) making a glove save | Photo Credits: NHL.com

At the start of the 2017-18 season Markstrom was finally given the starting position. Vancouver would once again rank as one of the worst teams in the league, but the experience was invaluable for Markstrom. Granted, Markstrom would have an unremarkable record of 23-26-7. He was able to have the netminding duties fall squarely on his own shoulders which would serve him well in the future.

Markstrom would finally post a winning record of 28-23-9 during his 2018-19 campaign. Although Vancouver would miss the playoffs, Markstrom’s record may be signs of positive things to come. Currently he has played 19 games and holds a career best 2.72 GAA. The verdict is still up in the air on whether or not Vancouver makes the playoffs this year. With that being said, there is one thing for sure. Markstrom improves each season. If he can keep this up, he just might be able to take Vancouver back to the postseason. Jacob Markstrom has been and is the 14th most impactful Canucks player of the decade.