5 Canucks from the past 5 years you probably forgot about

Five years ago, the Vancouver Canucks were the second worst team in the NHL. They had 69 points which were only behind the Colorado Avalanche. Colorado had 48 points in the 2016-17 season which was the fewest by a non-expansion team since 1967 and the lowest by a team in the cap era.

But a lot can change in five years. The Avalanche are now the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. The Canucks are better from 2016-17 but are nowhere near the Avalanche’s level yet.

Many players have worn the blue and green jersey for the Canucks in the last five years. Many of course, didn’t last long.

We are going to take a look at five forgotten Canucks players from the past five years. These players have played for them somewhere in between the 2016-17 season and last season. These players weren’t in Vancouver for long but we will look back at their time with the Canucks, where they have played since then and where they are now.

I have done two articles like this one three years ago. I wrote about forgotten Canucks that played for them anywhere between 2009 to 2019. You can read the first part here and the second here.

You might think I’m making these names up but I’m not. These are actual players that played for the Canucks. These aren’t the names of Seinfeld characters or the names of people I went to high school with.

#1: Joseph Cramarossa

Joseph Cramarossa was drafted in the third round, 65th overall in 2011 by the Anaheim Ducks. After years in the OHL, ECHL and AHL, Cramarossa made up the Ducks opening night lineup for the 2016-17 season. But, he was scratched for the opening game against the Dallas Stars and sent back to the San Diego Gulls a day after.

He was called back up over a week later and he made his NHL debut against the Canucks. The Ducks beat them 4-2. Against the Los Angeles Kings on November 1, 2016, he scored his first NHL goal.

On March 1, 2017, the Canucks claimed Cramarossa off waivers. He played 10 games for the Canucks and had no points but nine penalty minutes. Cramarossa is a guy who is physical and can get into fights. That’s kind of what he did in Vancouver. His time with the Canucks ended when he got hurt blocking a shot on March 21 against the Chicago Blackhawks. That resulted in him getting season-ending surgery on his right foot.

Cramarossa went through a PTO with the Calgary Flames in September of 2017 but he spent the whole season with the AHL’s Stockton Heat. He was traded by the Heat on Valentine’s Day 2018 to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for Colin Smith.

The left-winger played 93 games with the AHL penguins until November 20, 2019, when he was traded by Pittsburgh to the Chicago Blackhawks for Graham Knott. Cramarossa did not play for the Blackhawks, instead, he played for the Rockford Icehogs.

Cramarossa spent the last two seasons with the Minnesota Wild organization. He saw NHL action for the first time since 2017 when he played four games with the Wild in the 2020-21 season and played one game last season where he got an assist in a 5-4 late April overtime win by the Wild over the Avalanche. He is signed with the Wild for next year as part of the second year of a two-year contract.

 It also looks like he is into NFTs (Nonrefundable tokens) as he promoted a hockey-themed NFT collection on his Twitter account. NFTs are known for being bad for the environment as they rely on cryptocurrencies that cause carbon emissions.

#2: Philip Larsen

The Canucks traded a conditional fifth-round pick to the Edmonton Oilers for Philip Larsen’s rights in February of 2016. There was the hope that he could improve the Canucks power play. That summer, Larsen signed a one-year deal with Vancouver.

Larsen played for several European teams, (Such as Sweden’s Rögle BK and Frölunda HC ) as well as the Oilers and Stars before joining the Canucks.

Larsen only played 26 games with the Canucks scoring one goal and managing five assists. He struggled in his time with the Canucks and dealt with injuries. That included him being knocked out after being on the receiving end of a big hit by Taylor Hall who was with the New Jersey Devils at the time.

Larsen has not been in the NHL since and after leaving Vancouver, he spent the next five seasons in the KHL with Salavat Yulaev Ufa. Shortly after Russia launched their invasion of Ukraine a few months ago, Larsen left Salavat Yulaev Ufa. He will play for his hometown team Esbjerg Energy next season.

#3: Alexander Burmistrov

Alexander Burmistrov was drafted eighth overall in 2010 by the Atlanta Thrashers who are now the Winnipeg Jets.

He failed to live up to expectations as a top ten draft pick and split time between the St. John Ice Caps of the AHL and the Jets in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. That summer he left Winnipeg for Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL and played two seasons there before returning to the Jets in 2015.

23 games into the 2016-17 season, Burmistrov was put on waivers and claimed by the Arizona Coyotes. He then signed with the Canucks but he only played 24 games receiving very few minutes. On Christmas Eve 2017, his agent, Dan Milstein announced he would be retiring from the NHL.

“He wanted to go back home, no other reason,” Milstein told Rick Dhaliwal after the announcement. “The Canucks were more than accommodating to his request.”

Three days later, it was announced that Burmistrov returned to Ak Bars Kazan. He spent the next two seasons there and then spent two seasons at Salavat Yulaev Ufa. The centre then went back to Ak Bars Kazan in 2020. Burmistrov is still with AK Bars Kazan and that is his fourth stint with them as he first started out in their youth system before coming to the NHL