The 1970–71Vancouver Canucks season was the Canucks' first in the NHL. They joined the league on May 22, 1970, along with the Buffalo Sabres. After not being awarded an expansion team in 1967 when the league added six teams, Vancouver finally joined the NHL in 1970 for a price of $6 million. The Vancouver Canucks of the Western Hockey League were promoted to the NHL, though the ownership group of the WHL Canucks, not willing to pay the $6 million to join the NHL, sold the team to Medicor, a group controlled by Thomas Scallen. The Canucks logo was a stylized C designed as a hockey stick inside a rink incorporating the colours of blue, green and white to represent the water, forests and snow surrounding Vancouver. It was designed by a local creative designer, Joe Borovich, and bought for $500. During the Amateur draft, held on June 11 in Montreal, there was debate over what expansion team would draft first. In order to reach a compromise, a numbered spinning wheel was brought in to determine the draft: the Sabres were odd numbers, the Canucks even. When the wheel landed on 11, the Canucks and NHL PresidentClarence Campbell thought it was II in Roman numerals. However it turned out to be 11 in Arabic numerals, leading the Sabres to select first overall future superstar Gilbert Perreault. On October 9, 1970, the Canucks played their first game in the NHL, a 3–1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. There was a grand opening ceremony attended by British Columbia Premier W. A. C. Bennett, Mayor of VancouverTom Campbell, Chief Dan George and former Vancouver Millionaires player Cyclone Taylor, who received a standing ovation upon being introduced. Barry Wilkins scored the first goal for the Canucks in the third period. Inexplicably, the Canucks were placed in the East Division, which was not only the tougher division but featured opponents over 2,000 miles away from Vancouver. Throughout the first three months of the season, though, the expansion club managed to stay within contention of a playoff spot, until captain Orland Kurtenbach injured his knee in late December. The Canucks would finish their inaugural season with six 20-goal scorers, and Tallon would break Bobby Orr's rookie record for defenseman assists, but 11-30-5 mark to end the season placed them only one point out of last place.
Regular season
Schedule and results
Player statistics
Skaters
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes †Denotes player spent time with another team before joining Vancouver. Stats reflect time with the Canucks only. *Denotes player traded by Vancouver midway through the season. Stats reflect time with Canucks only.
Goaltenders
Note: GP = Games Played; Min = Minutes; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GA = Goals Against; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals Against Average
The Canucks were involved in the following transactions during the 1970–71 season.
Trades
Draft picks
Expansion draft
Vancouver's picks at the 1970 NHL Expansion Draft. In order to fill out the rosters of both the Canucks and Buffalo Sabres, they were given the opportunity to select eighteen skaters and two goaltenders from the unprotected lists of existing NHL team's rosters. Teams were allowed to protect several players from being drafted, and as such kept many of their star players, leaving the Canucks and Sabres with lesser quality players to choose from. The draft was held on June 9, 1970, at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Using a spinning wheel to determine the order of the expansion draft, Buffalo had the first choice.
