On March 14th, 2011, the Vancouver Canucks celebrated the legendary career of one of the best defencemen in franchise history.
Now, how does one go about making a decision like this, one that carries so much magnitude and historical depth, you might ask? When it comes to curating a list of such memorable blueliners, there are a myriad of factors to be considered.
Some will look at puck-moving abilities, quickness and point totals, whereas others will make note of intimidating size and grit. A few might even search for players that had just the right combination of offensive and defensive prowess.
No matter what attribute you’re focusing on, conversations like these will often turn into heated arguments, and there’s bound to be discrepancies between personal opinions and stances.
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But, every so often, a team will discover a player whose contributions go above and beyond on-ice statistics, and, as a result, their status with the franchise is unanimously immortalized as one of the very best.
For the Canucks, that player was none other than Harold Snepsts, who was rightfully inducted into the Ring of Honour during the team’s 40th anniversary celebrations just over a decade ago.
The early days of Snepsts’ NHL career
After playing two seasons of junior hockey with the Edmonton Oil Kings, where he put up 75 points and 394 PIM, Snepsts was selected 59th overall by the Canucks in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft.
At the time, the 19-year-old was regarded as one of the most rugged, stay-at-home blueliners of his draft class, and he lived up to the physical expectation right away. After an impressive training camp that same year, Snepsts was able to crack the line-up, making his NHL debut against the Atlanta Flames on October 9th, 1974.
Snepsts would go on to play 27 games in his rookie campaign, notching three points and 30 PIM. As many Canucks fans know, this was just the beginning for Snepsts.
The following season, he led the team in PIM with 125 to go along with 78 games played and plus 11 rating, which both ranked second amongst Vancouver defencemen. More importantly, he was establishing himself as a towering mainstay on the blueline, treating both fans and coaches alike to an early preview of his soon-to-be excellent career.
Snepsts remained with Vancouver for eight more seasons, continuing to be one of the club leaders in games played, time on ice, hits and PIM. His hard-hitting, error-free and defensively-sound style of hockey made him the team’s most effective blueliner, and, as a result, he was awarded the Walter “Babe” Pratt Trophy for best defenceman on four different occasions between 1978 and 1982. He was also awarded the Fred J. Hume Award as the team’s unsung hero in 1979.
In addition to his growing accolades in Vancouver, Snepsts was making splashes throughout the league as well, which included All-Star appearances and the improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1982.