The best waiver wire finds in Vancouver Canucks history
The Vancouver Canucks will be keeping a close eye on the waiver wire when it opens later this week.
According to Thomas Drance at The Athletic, the Canucks won’t be looking in the free agent bargain bin ahead of the 2026-27 season. Instead, they’ll be looking to exploit their prime position on the priority list to pick up some players off waivers.
After finishing last in the NHL, the Canucks will have first pick off the waiver wire from when it opens on Sept. 17 until the start of the regular season.
“It’s a great opportunity,” said general manager Ryan Johnson to Drance. “If we’re able to add something in any position that we see fits with the vision and may bring us value on this journey that we’re going on, yeah, we’re going to be ready.”
While most of the players available on waivers are there for a reason — they’re not good enough to play in the NHL — teams can occasionally find a hidden gem, and there could be some interesting young players available this year.
The Canucks have had some success with waivers throughout history. Here are a few of their biggest hits.
Martin Gelinas
Martin Gelinas helped take the Canucks to Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
The Canucks’ biggest waiver wire success came back in 1994.
Martin Gelinas was picked seventh overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, just five picks after the Canucks took Trevor Linden. But just two months later, he was heading to the Edmonton Oilers as part of the biggest trade in NHL history.
Getting traded for Wayne Gretzky set expectations calamitously high for Gelinas and, when he failed to meet those expectations, the Oilers traded him to the Quebec Nordiques.
Gelinas didn’t last long in Quebec — after 12 points in 31 games, the Nordiques placed him on waivers, where he was claimed by the Canucks.
Gelinas played an important depth role for the Canucks in the 1994 run to the Stanley Cup Final, including a game-winning goal against the Dallas Stars and the game-tying goal that sent Game 1 against the New York Rangers to overtime.
We won’t talk about the goal he didn’t score.
But it was in subsequent seasons that Gelinas finally found his game. He scored 30 goals in the 1995-96 season, then followed that up with 35 goals in 74 games in the 1996-97 season.
Gelinas played parts of five seasons in Vancouver, finishing with 90 goals and 171 points in 258 games with the Canucks.
Brian Glynn
Another 1994 waiver wire pickup, Brian Glynn was a smart acquisition by Pat Quinn.
The 6’4” journeyman defenceman was a second-round pick by the Calgary Flames in 1986, but bounced between the NHL and the minors before he was traded to the Minnesota North Stars, where he was part of their 1991 run to the Stanley Cup Final.
Glynn was then traded to the Edmonton Oilers, then to the Ottawa Senators, where he was placed on waivers midway through the 1993-94 season.
That’s when the Canucks nabbed Glynn, who only appeared in 16 regular-season games for the Canucks, but then played 17 games in the playoffs, stepping in for the injured Dana Murzyn.
There’s an argument to be made that without Glynn’s solid defensive game, the Canucks might never have reached the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. Glynn played the stay-at-home role alongside Jyrki Lumme and was plus-5 in the playoffs.
That was Glynn’s only season with the Canucks, but it was an impactful one.
Kyle Wellwood
Kyle “Man Possessed” Wellwood was a savvy late-round pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs, who selected him in the fifth round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
Wellwood was a bright spot on a struggling Leafs team, including a season where he had 42 points in 48 games, but injuries derailed his development, leading to the Leafs waiving Wellwood ahead of the 2008-09 season.
The Canucks claimed Wellwood but, after failing his initial fitness test, the Canucks also waived Wellwood after just one game.
Wellwood was sent down to the Manitoba Moose in the AHL, where he would have put the Moose over the limit for veteran players. Before he could look for opportunities to play in Europe, Wellwood was called back up to the Canucks because of injuries. He had to clear re-entry waivers, but once again went unclaimed.
The Canucks could be glad of that, as Wellwood became a solid depth contributor for the rest of the 2008-09 season, tallying 18 goals and 27 points. While a far cry from his near point-per-game play from a few seasons prior, it was enough to earn Wellwood a one-year contract with the Canucks, though he had to go to arbitration to get it.
Wellwood was again a solid third-line centre for the Canucks, with an underrated defensive game to go with his 14 goals.
Wellwood was at his best in the playoffs, where he had 13 points in 22 games in 2009 and 2010.
Ultimately, the Canucks opted to sign Manny Malhotra as their third-line centre ahead of the 2010-11 season — hard to argue with that decision — and let Wellwood go to free agency, but that’s still a decent couple of seasons for a waiver wire pickup.
Jeff Cowan, Dale Weise, and the rest
There aren’t many major hits for the Canucks on the waiver wire, which is to be expected. There were a few other decent finds, however.
For instance, without waivers, the Canucks never would have had Cowan the Bra-barian.
Jeff Cowan was claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings during the 2006-07 season. The fourth-line forward was mostly a grinder who rarely put up points, but had one stretch where he scored an improbable six goals in four games.
When Cowan tallied his fifth goal off a ridiculous pass by Jan Bulis, someone in the crowd showed their appreciation by throwing a bra — presumably theirs — on the ice and “Cowan the Bra-barian” was born.
The Canucks claimed Dale Weise ahead of the 2011-12 season, and he was a solid role player on the fourth line for parts of three seasons with the Canucks.
Weise will mostly be remembered, however, for his season in the Netherlands during the 2012 lockout, where he racked up 22 goals and 48 points in 19 games and earned the nickname “The Dutch Gretzky.”
Tom Sestito may not have been the most talented player, but he stuck with the Canucks for parts of three seasons after he was claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers. In the 2013-14 season, Sestito was one of the league’s top enforcers, leading the league in penalty minutes with 213.
Along the way, Sestito had a brief run on the top power-play unit with the Sedins as a net-front presence, earning the nickname “Top Sixtito.”
Finally, Ryan Stanton deserves a shoutout, as he played two seasons with the Canucks after being claimed off waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the 2013-14 season. That’s better than most waiver claims can say.
Unlike Cowan, Weise, and Sestito, Stanton did not get a cool nickname.