It’s safe to say the Vancouver Canucks wouldn’t have been a powerhouse in the Western Conference without the play of top defenceman Alexander Edler.
The 6-foot-3, 214-pound Swede broke through in the 2008-09 season, scoring 10 goals and 37 points as the Canucks won the Northwest Division. From then on, Edler became the Canucks’ power play quarterback and made them a consistent Stanley Cup contender.
But ever since the team made the wrong call to fire head coach Alain Vigneault and replace him with John Tortorella in 2013, things have gone downhill for the franchise.