NHL to Announce Vancouver Canucks Quarter Century Teams on January 21
The National Hockey League (NHL) has revealed that it will announce the Vancouver Canucks Quarter Century Teams on January 21, 2025. This initiative is part of a larger campaign to honour the NHL’s top players from the past 25 years, celebrating excellence and sparking fan debates across the hockey world.
Honoring 25 Years of Excellence
According to the NHL: “The league will honour its best players from the past quarter century through a selection process and celebration of Quarter Century Teams. The campaign will unfold in three phases, each accompanied by robust content across all NHL platforms to highlight the selections and encourage fan engagement in the debate.”
The process begins at the Discover NHL Winter Classic later this month and will continue daily into January. For each franchise, the league will unveil both a First Quarter Century Team and a Second Quarter Century Team.
Selection Criteria
Each team will feature:
- Three forwards
- Two defensemen
- One goaltender
A panel of media members, retired players, and team-specific executives will select these teams. Importantly, players eligible for consideration must have appeared in at least one game for their respective teams since January 1, 2000.
This initiative is not an all-time roster project, meaning Canucks legends like Pavel Bure will not be included. Instead, the focus is on players who have made an impact over the past 25 years.
Projected Picks for the Canucks
It’s widely expected that members of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final team will feature prominently in the First Quarter Century Team, with certain players essentially locked in for selection:
- Daniel Sedin
- Henrik Sedin
- Roberto Luongo
These three players, all inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, were instrumental in the Canucks’ success during the early 2010s.
On defence, Quinn Hughes is a likely inclusion. As arguably the greatest defenseman in franchise history, Hughes has transformed the Canucks’ blue line and is expected to headline the defense for the First Quarter Century Team.
Room for Debate
Beyond the obvious selections, the remaining slots promise to ignite lively debates among fans. With positional flexibility—center versus wing, for example—not being a major concern, fans could argue for lineups that include:
- Ryan Kesler
- Elias Pettersson
- JT Miller
On defense, there’s fierce competition for the remaining spots, with notable names like:
- Alex Edler
- Mattias Ohlund
- Ed Jovanovski
- Sami Salo
At least one of these defensemen will likely be left off the First Team, leaving fans to deliberate who deserves the honors most.
A Broader NHL Celebration
The Canucks are just one part of this larger league-wide initiative. The Quarter Century Teams for the remaining 31 NHL franchises will be unveiled between December 30, 2024, and January 31, 2025. Fans are especially eager to see how teams like the Seattle Kraken, a newer franchise, approach this exercise.
The unveiling of the Vancouver Canucks Quarter Century Teams promises to celebrate the team’s rich history over the past 25 years while encouraging fans to engage in spirited discussions. Whether it’s about goaltending greatness, offensive firepower, or defensive consistency, the debates will surely add another layer of excitement for Canucks fans as they reflect on the team’s journey.
Mark your calendars for January 21, 2025, and let the countdown to these historic announcements begin!
