Where Horvat ranks among fastest 20-goal scorers in Canucks history

Dec 6 2022, 8:33 pm

Bo Horvat is having an unbelievable season for the Vancouver Canucks.

And in a contract year, no less.

On pace for a whopping 63 goals, Horvat has also been scoring at an elite clip ever since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach of the Canucks.

During Monday night’s wild affair against the Montreal Canadiens, the Canucks captain registered his 20th goal of the season in just 26 games.

That certainly puts him up there with some of the fastest 20-goal scorers in Canucks history.

Here’s a look at other players in team history who hit the 20-goal mark extremely early in the regular season.

1. Pavel Bure: 20 goals in 19 games (1992-93)

Let’s start with the fastest Canuck to score 20 goals in a season.

Did you expect anyone else but Pavel Bure?

The most electrifying goal scorer in Canucks history registered 34 goals in 65 games during his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season.

Then, during his sophomore campaign in 1992-93, Bure put forth the best early-season offensive effort in team history.

It only took him 19 games to hit the 20-goal mark, which remains a team record to this day.

He had seven multi-goal efforts during those 19 games, including one hat trick and one four-goal game.

Bure finished the season with 60 goals, the first of two times he’d hit that mark with the Canucks.

Although Bure was an offensive force throughout his Canuck career, his next best early-season scoring outburst was when he registered 2o goals in 33 games during 1997-98, his last season in Vancouver.

2. Tony Tanti: 20 goals in 21 games (1983-84)

Back when the Canucks were one of the league’s worst teams during the 1980s, one of the only reasons to tune in was to watch diminutive sniper Tony Tanti.

He burst onto the scene as a sophomore back in 1983-84, when he registered 20 goals in his first 21 games.

What made his feat more impressive is that Tanti just turned 20 years old prior to the start of the 1983-84 season.

His 250 goals currently rank sixth all-time in Canucks history.

3. Alexander Mogilny: 20 goals in 23 games (1995-96)

Alexander Mogilny spent five seasons with the Canucks, but his most impressive campaign in Vancouver was back in 1995-96 when he first joined the team.

Mogilny made quite the initial impression. He registered his first hat trick as a Canuck in just his third game with the club.

And, he managed to hit the 20-goal mark by his 23rd game of the season.

Mogilny finished the year with one of the best statistical seasons in team history. His 107 points are the fourth-best single-season mark in Canucks history, while his 55 goals rank third-best.

4. Bo Horvat: 20 goals in 26 games (2022-23)

Bo Horvat’s remarkable feat isn’t tops in team history, but it is the best early-season goal-scoring outburst the Canucks have had in the 21st century.

Horvat has scored a goal in 15 of the team’s 26 games so far this season. He’s also put forth sixth multi-goal efforts.

The last Canuck to even came close to this mark was Brock Boeser, when he registered 20 goals in 34 games as a rookie back in 2017-18.

Horvat now has at least 20 goals in six of his last seven seasons, with the one exception being 2020-21, when he scored 19 goals in the 56-game pandemic-shortened season. He’s currently on pace to more than double his career-high of 31 goals, achieved last season.

5. Darcy Rota: 20 goals in 27 games (1983-84)

Only one other Canuck (aside from the four players above) has hit the 20-goal mark in less than 30 games.

That player was Darcy Rota.

He achieved the feat in 1983-84, which ended up being his last season in the NHL.

Rota registered a career-high 42 goals during the 1982-83 season, and he looked like he would hit the 40-goal mark once again in ’83-84. However, he suffered a serious neck injury after being checked by Jay Wells of the Los Angeles Kings.

He returned for the playoffs, but underwent spinal fusion surgery during the summer of 1984, which ended his career at the age of 31.

Honourable mentions

  • Markus Naslund: 20 goals in 30 games (2002-03)
  • Greg Adams: 20 goals in 30 games (1989-90)
  • Ron Sedlbauer: 20 goals in 30 games (1979-80)
  • Tony Tanti: 20 goals in 31 games (1985-86)
  • Petr Nedved: 20 goals in 32 games (1992-93)
Trevor BeggsTrevor Beggs

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