The Canuck Way
Fansided

Top 5 Vancouver Canucks draft picks that turned out to be steals

By David Quadrelli

2000 Season: Pavel Bure slapshot. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images)
2000 Season: Pavel Bure slapshot. (Photo by Bruce Bennett Studios/Getty Images) /
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LANDOVER, MD – JANUARY 5: Doug Lidster #3 of the Vancouver Canucks looks on during a hockey game against the Washington Capitals on January 5, 1990 at the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD – JANUARY 5: Doug Lidster #3 of the Vancouver Canucks looks on during a hockey game against the Washington Capitals on January 5, 1990 at the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

4. Doug Lidster

Doug Lidster was selected in the seventh round at 133rd overall of the 1980 NHL Entry Draft. Reigning from Kamloops, British Columbia, Lidster played hockey with the Colorado College Men’s team before making his debut for the Canucks in the 1983-84 season. In that season, Lidster played eight games and didn’t record a point.

In his next full season with the Canucks in 1984-85, Lidster showed signs of offensive prowess, recording six goals and 24 assists in 78 games. Lidster’s best offensive season of his career came in 1986-87, where he scored 12 goals and picked up 51 assists, good for 63 points overall, in 80 games.

This from the Hockey Hall of Fame website:

"Doug Lidster was a superior offensive defenceman who played nearly 900 games for three different clubs. He was an excellent quarterback on the power play and constantly helped his team’s transition game with his ability to carry the puck out of his own zone."

Ironically enough, Lidster was traded to the New York Rangers prior to the 1993-94 season, in exchange for goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, who was then selected by the Florida Panthers in the expansion draft with the first overall selection.

Lidster would go on to help the Rangers defeat the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Finals of 1994, where Lidster scored two goals. Despite this, Lidster remains a Canucks legend. Lidster played a total of 16 seasons in the NHL, and served as an assistant coach for the Canucks from 2014-15. Not bad at all for a kid from Kamloops who was taken in the seventh round.

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