The Budweiser NHL Man of the Year Award was sponsored by Anheuser-Busch to award a National Hockey League player based on his sportsmanship and involvement with charitable groups. Every NHL team nominates a player and the winner would be chosen by a panel of judges at the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs and receive $21,000 to donate to their charities. [1] The award lasted from the 1987–88 season until the 1991–92 season. Six years later, the NHL established the NHL Foundation Player Award, which served a similar function until it was merged into the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 2017–18.
Season | Winner | Nationality | Position | Team | Note |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987–88 | Bryan Trottier | ![]() ![]() | Centre | New York Islanders | [2] |
1988–89 | Lanny McDonald | ![]() | Right wing | Calgary Flames | [3] |
1989–90 | Kevin Lowe | ![]() | Defenceman | Edmonton Oilers | [4] |
1990–91 | Kevin Dineen | ![]() | Right wing | Hartford Whalers | [5] |
1991–92 | Ryan Walter | ![]() | Centre | Vancouver Canucks | [6] |
The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. The Canucks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Rick Tocchet is the head coach, Jim Rutherford serves as the president of hockey operations, and Patrik Allvin serves as the general manager.
Trevor John Linden is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former president of hockey operations and alternate governor of the Vancouver Canucks. He spent 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing centre and right wing with four teams: the Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals. Before joining the NHL in 1988, Linden helped the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) win consecutive Memorial Cup championships. In addition to appearing in two NHL All-Star Games, Linden was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic team and participated in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Henrik Lars Sedin is a Swedish ice hockey executive and former centre who played his entire 17-season National Hockey League (NHL) career with the Vancouver Canucks from 2000 to 2018. He additionally served as the Canucks' captain from 2010 until his retirement. Born and raised in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, Sedin and his identical twin brother Daniel played together throughout their careers; the pair were renowned for their effectiveness as a tandem. Henrik, a skilled passer, was known as a playmaker while Daniel was known as a goal-scorer. Sedin tallied 240 goals and 830 assists, for 1,070 points, in 1,330 NHL games, ranking him as the Canucks' all-time leading points scorer.
Pavel Vladimirovich Bure is a Russian former professional ice hockey player who played the right wing position. Nicknamed "the Russian Rocket" for his speed, Bure played for 12 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers between 1991 and 2003. Trained in the Soviet Union, he played three seasons with the Central Red Army team before his NHL career.
Kirk Alan McLean is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and New York Rangers. He played in the style of a stand-up goaltender.
Kenneth Mattias Öhlund is a Swedish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Vancouver Canucks and Tampa Bay Lightning. Öhlund played two seasons in the Swedish Allsvenskan, the second highest tier of hockey in Sweden, with Piteå HC before being selected by the Canucks 13th overall in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. He then joined Luleå HF of the Elitserien, the highest league in Sweden, winning the Le Mat Trophy as league champions in 1996. He began his NHL career with Vancouver in 1997–98, the start of an 11-year tenure with the club in which he became the Canucks' all-time leader in points for a defenceman. Öhlund would play the final two seasons of his professional career with the Tampa Bay Lightning before retiring in 2011. A serious eye injury before his third NHL season was the first of many injuries Öhlund has sustained over his career, and he only played a full season twice in his 13-year NHL career.
Stanley Philip Smyl is a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and former player. He was selected 40th overall by the Vancouver Canucks in the 1978 NHL Amateur Draft and went on to play his entire NHL career with the team until his retirement in 1991. He featured in the 1982 Stanley Cup Finals with the Canucks.
Christopher Robert Higgins is an American former professional ice hockey winger and current Skills and Development coach for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). While playing college hockey, he was selected 14th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. He finished a two-year career with the Yale Bulldogs, earning ECAC Hockey Player of the Year honors as a sophomore, before turning professional for the 2003–04 season. After two seasons with the Canadiens' minor league affiliate, the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League (AHL), he joined the NHL in 2005–06. He recorded three consecutive 20-goal seasons to begin his NHL career before being traded to the New York Rangers in June 2009. After brief stints with the Rangers, Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers, he joined the Vancouver Canucks in February 2011. Internationally, Higgins has competed for the United States in two World Junior Championships and one World Championship (2009).
Alain Vigneault is a Canadian former professional ice hockey coach. Vigneault has previously coached the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers for 19 seasons in the NHL, as well as in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his career with the Canucks, he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach of the year in 2006–07 and became the team's record holder for wins as a coach. Under Vigneault, Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies and made one appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals in (2011). In his first season with New York, he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2014) in 20 years and a Presidents' Trophy in 2015.
Daniel Hamhuis is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted in 2001 by the Nashville Predators.
Andrew James Alberts is an American former professional ice hockey defenseman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Carolina Hurricanes and the Vancouver Canucks. A stay-at-home defenseman, he was known for playing a physical style of game.
William Mitchell is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He is known primarily as a physical defensive defenceman. Mitchell played Junior A in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) and Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) before joining the college ranks with the Clarkson Knights of ECAC Hockey in 1997. He won an ECAC championship with Clarkson in 1999, while also earning playoff MVP and ECAC First Team All-Star honours.
Ryan William Walter is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League. He won the 1986 Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens.
Mason Evan Raymond is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Vancouver Canucks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Calgary Flames and the Anaheim Ducks. He represented Canada in South Korea for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Cody Douglas Hodgson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centreman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award is an annual award presented by the Vancouver Canucks to the player judged to be team's most exciting as voted by the fans. It is one of six annual team awards presented to Canucks players, awarded on the last home game of the regular season. Although the Canucks Media Guide does not recognize any recipients prior to the 1992–93 season, there is record of an annual winner every year since the Canucks' inaugural season in 1970. Prior to the 2013–14 NHL season, the award was simply known as the Most Exciting Player Award.
The Walter "Babe" Pratt Trophy is an annual award presented to the best defenceman on the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). One of six annual team awards presented to Canucks players, it is voted by the team fans and is presented at the last home game of the regular season. The most recent recipient is Quinn Hughes, who won it for the first time in the 2019–20 NHL season.
The West Coast Express was an ice hockey line that played for the National Hockey League's (NHL) Vancouver Canucks from 2002 to 2006. Named after Vancouver's commuter rail service, the line consisted of captain Markus Näslund at left-wing, Brendan Morrison at centre, and Todd Bertuzzi playing right-wing. The West Coast Express was a high scoring line that was considered to be one of the best lines in hockey during its tenure.