2002–03 Vancouver Canucks season

Regular season

The Canucks had much success in the regular season as the West Coast Express Line (Brendan Morrison, Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi) played their first full season intact and contributed 67% of the team's goals. The Canucks led all teams in power-play goals scored, with 87. They also set a franchise record with a 10 game win streak in November 2002. As the season wound down, many expected the Canucks to win the Northwest Division title (due to the slow start by division rivals Colorado Avalanche). Despite the chances, the Canucks failed to clinch the Northwest division on the last day of the regular season with a 2-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings coupled with a win by the Colorado Avalanche. Markus Naslund also lost the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy on the last day of the regular season and missed out on tying fellow Swede Hakan Loob as the only Swedish players who have scored 50 goals in a season. Worse, Peter Forsberg also narrowly beat Naslund for the Art Ross Trophy. Naslund publicly came out to apologize to Canuck fans for "choking".

Final standings

Playoffs

Schedule and results

Regular season

|- |1||October 10, 2002||3–0 || align="left"| @ Calgary Flames (2002–03) ||1–0–0–0 || |- |2||October 12, 2002||5–3 || align="left"| San Jose Sharks (2002–03) ||2–0–0–0 || |- |3||October 14, 2002||2–3 || align="left"| Calgary Flames (2002–03) ||2–1–0–0 || |- |4||October 16, 2002||3–6 || align="left"| Boston Bruins (2002–03) ||2–2–0–0 || |- |5||October 18, 2002||2–2 OT|| align="left"| @ Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03) ||2–2–1–0 || |- |6||October 19, 2002||2–2 OT|| align="left"| @ Los Angeles Kings (2002–03) ||2–2–2–0 || |- |7||October 21, 2002||5–2 || align="left"| @ San Jose Sharks (2002–03) ||3–2–2–0 || |- |8||October 24, 2002||2–2 OT|| align="left"| Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–03) ||3–2–3–0 || |- |9||October 26, 2002||1–4 || align="left"| Dallas Stars (2002–03) ||3–3–3–0 || |- |10||October 29, 2002||1–1 OT|| align="left"| Buffalo Sabres (2002–03) ||3–3–4–0 || |- |11||October 31, 2002||1–5 || align="left"| Colorado Avalanche (2002–03) ||3–4–4–0 ||

| Legend:

Playoffs

|- | 1 || April 10 || St. Louis || 6–0 || Vancouver || || Cloutier || 18,514 || Blues lead 1–0 || |- | 2 || April 12 || St. Louis || 1–2 || Vancouver || || Cloutier || 18,514 || Series tied 1–1 || |- | 3 || April 14 || Vancouver || 1–3 || St. Louis || || Cloutier || 19,699 || Blues lead 2–1 || |- | 4 || April 16 || Vancouver || 1–4 || St. Louis || || Cloutier || 19,936 || Blues lead 3–1 || |- | 5 || April 18 || St. Louis || 3–5 || Vancouver || || Cloutier || 18,514 || Blues lead 3–2 || |- | 6 || April 20 || Vancouver || 4–3 || St. Louis || || Cloutier || 19,522 || Series tied 3–3 || |- | 7 || April 22 || St. Louis || 1–4 || Vancouver || || Cloutier || 18,514 || Canucks win 4–3 ||

| Legend:

Player statistics

Scoring

• Position abbreviations: C = Centre; D = Defence; G = Goaltender; LW = Left wing; RW = Right wing
• • = Joined team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, signing) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.*
• • = Left team via a transaction (e.g., trade, waivers, release) during the season. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only.*

Goaltending

Awards and records

Awards

Milestones

Transactions

The Canucks were involved in the following transactions from June 14, 2002, the day after the deciding game of the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals, through June 9, 2003, the day of the deciding game of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals.

Trades

Players acquired

Players lost

Signings

Draft picks

Below are the Vancouver Canucks' selections at the 2002 NHL entry draft which was held on June 22–23, 2002 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.

;Draft notes

• The Canucks' first-round pick was involved in the trade detailed in Note A.
• The New York Islanders' second-round pick (previously acquired by the Washington Capitals) went to the Canucks as the result of a trade on November 10, 2001 that sent the Canucks' 2002 first-round pick and 2003 third-round pick to Washington in exchange for Trevor Linden and this pick.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning's third-round pick (previously acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers) went to the Canucks as the result of a trade on December 17, 2001 that sent Donald Brashear and the Canucks' 2002 sixth-round pick to Philadelphia in exchange for Jan Hlavac and this pick.
• The Canucks' third-round pick went to the Florida Panthers as the result of a trade on May 31, 2001 that sent Alex Auld to Vancouver in exchange for the Canucks' 2001 second-round pick and this pick.
• The Los Angeles Kings' third-round pick went to the Canucks as the result of a trade on February 15, 2001 that sent Felix Potvin to Los Angeles in exchange for this pick.
• The Canucks' sixth-round pick was involved in the trade detailed in Note B.
• The Canucks received a seventh-round pick from the National Hockey League as compensation for Group III free agent Bob Essensa.
• The Canucks received a ninth-round pick from the National Hockey League as compensation for Group III free agent Greg Hawgood.

Notes

References

References

1. "NHL Attendance Report - 2002-03". [[ESPN]].
2. "2002-03 NHL Summary".
3. "2002-03 Vancouver Canucks Schedule".
4. "Art Ross Trophy".
5. "Postseason All-Star Teams".
6. "2003 NHL All-Star Game Rosters".
7. (December 2, 2002). "Dan Cloutier Named NHL Player Of The Month".
8. (February 17, 2003). "Cloutier Named NHL Player of the Week".
9. (February 24, 2003). "Brendan Morrison Named NHL Player of the Week".
10. (March 24, 2003). "Bertuzzi Named NHL Player of the Week".
11. (April 6, 2003). "Canucks Announce 2002-03 Award Winners".
12. "2002-03 NHL Debuts".
13. "Hockey Transactions Search Results".
14. (June 23, 2002). "Canucks Acquire Jeff Farkas From Toronto in Exchange for Josh Holden".
15. (June 25, 2002). "Canucks Deal Bonni to Leafs for Future Considerations".
16. (September 4, 2002). "Canucks Acquire Defenceman Tomas Mojzis from Toronto in exchange for Brad Leeb".
17. (September 21, 2002). "Canucks Acquire Sami Salo from Ottawa in exchange for Peter Schaefer".
18. (November 1, 2002). "Canucks Acquire Langdon and Malik from Carolina in Exchange for Hlavac and Druken".
19. (January 20, 2003). "Canucks Acquire Herperger and Nielsen From Atlanta in Exchange For Farkas".
20. (January 24, 2003). "Canucks Acquire Jokela from New Jersey for Kariya".
21. (February 5, 2003). "Canucks Trade Todd Warriner to Philadelphia for Future Considerations".
22. (March 11, 2003). "Canucks Acquire May From Phoenix For Future Considerations".
23. (July 5, 2002). "Canucks Agree to Terms with Free Agent Goaltender Tyler Moss".
24. (July 10, 2002). "Canucks Sign Free Agent Defenceman Obsut".
25. (July 11, 2002). "Canucks Acquire Free Agent Defenceman Nolan Baumgartner".
26. (October 24, 2002). "Canucks Agree to Terms With Free Agent Forward John Craighead".
27. (November 3, 2002). "Canucks Agree to Terms With Free Agent Forward Mats Lindgren".
28. (July 2, 2002). "NHL FREE-AGENT LIST".
29. {{hockey-reference. t/tezikal01. Alexei Tezikov, retrieved December 9, 2022
30. (July 4, 2002). "SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR THURSDAY, JULY 04+".
31. (October 4, 2002). "Flyers Assign Forwards Mark Greig, Andre Savage and Mike Siklenka To Phantoms".
32. (July 15, 2002). "Jason Strudwick signs with Blackhawks".
33. (August 15, 2002). "+SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR THURSDAY, AUGUST 15+".
34. (October 11, 2002). "+SPORTS TRANSACTIONS FOR FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11+".
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39. (June 27, 2002). "Canucks Exercise Options for Letowski, Skudra and Komarniski".
40. "ARTEM CHUBAROV".
41. "HAROLD DRUKEN".
42. (August 3, 2002). "Morrison, Gauthier win arbitration cases".
43. (September 4, 2002). "Canucks re-sign Steve Kariya".
44. "HERBERT VASILJEVS".
45. (September 12, 2002). "Canucks agree to terms with Helmer".
46. "PAT KAVANAGH".
47. "JEFF FARKAS".
48. "Ryan Ready: Transactions & Injuries".
49. (October 3, 2002). "Canucks Re-Sign Forward Todd Warriner".
50. (October 11, 2002). "Canucks sign junior hockey's top sniper".
51. (January 27, 2003). "Canucks Reach New Agreement With Ed Jovanovski Through 2005-06 Season".
52. (January 27, 2003). "Canucks Reach New Agreement With Trevor Linden Through 2005-06 Season".
53. "2002 NHL Entry Draft Picks at hockeydb.com".
54. "2002 NHL Entry Draft Pick Transactions". Pro Sports Transactions.