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Never Boring: The Up and Down History of the Vancouver Canucks
Veteran hockey writer Ed Willes takes an irreverent look back at the sometimes thrilling, often infuriating and always fascinating history of the Vancouver Canucks.
Cheering for the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks over the last half century has required patience, commitment and a forgiving nature. It’s not that the Canucks have been uniformly awful or drearily predictable. Far from it (as this past season would attest). But every time they seemed close to delivering the ultimate prize to their fan base—the indomitable faithful—they slipped on a banana peel and tumbled straight into the abyss.
Most of their failings were self-inflicted. The franchise’s ownership history is as uneven as its won-loss record. But some have been so random and so accidental, the faithful can legitimately wonder what they did to anger the hockey gods. It started in 1970 with a spin of the carnival wheel, which gifted Hall of Fame centre Gilbert Perreault to the Buffalo Sabres and left the Canucks with Dale Tallon. And it’s continued uninterrupted for over 50 years.
For decades, veteran Vancouver hockey writer Ed Willes has had his own vantage point on this team that has, in his words, “been haunted by dark and unnatural forces since its inception.” And Willes’s knowledge extends far beyond the most infamous chapters of the story. As this irreverent, often bitterly funny chronicle shows, the litany of woe stretches back farther and runs deeper than many Canucks fans realize, and stars several of the biggest names in hockey history.
Willes’s account tells the story of a uniquely confounded franchise and its obsessive followers, who have thus far been denied the thrill of a Stanley Cup championship. Their consolation has been the dubious comfort of wallowing in collective misery.
Cheering for the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks over the last half century has required patience, commitment and a forgiving nature. It’s not that the Canucks have been uniformly awful or drearily predictable. Far from it (as this past season would attest). But every time they seemed close to delivering the ultimate prize to their fan base—the indomitable faithful—they slipped on a banana peel and tumbled straight into the abyss.
Most of their failings were self-inflicted. The franchise’s ownership history is as uneven as its won-loss record. But some have been so random and so accidental, the faithful can legitimately wonder what they did to anger the hockey gods. It started in 1970 with a spin of the carnival wheel, which gifted Hall of Fame centre Gilbert Perreault to the Buffalo Sabres and left the Canucks with Dale Tallon. And it’s continued uninterrupted for over 50 years.
For decades, veteran Vancouver hockey writer Ed Willes has had his own vantage point on this team that has, in his words, “been haunted by dark and unnatural forces since its inception.” And Willes’s knowledge extends far beyond the most infamous chapters of the story. As this irreverent, often bitterly funny chronicle shows, the litany of woe stretches back farther and runs deeper than many Canucks fans realize, and stars several of the biggest names in hockey history.
Willes’s account tells the story of a uniquely confounded franchise and its obsessive followers, who have thus far been denied the thrill of a Stanley Cup championship. Their consolation has been the dubious comfort of wallowing in collective misery.
288 pages, Paperback
Published April 29, 2025
5 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
Ed Willes
5 books8 followersSports columnist Ed Willes was born in Ottawa in 1955. Growing up, he moved across the country living in Ottawa, Montreal, Regina, Chilliwack, Toronto, Kingston, and Victoria. He remained in Ottawa to complete his third year of journalism BA at Carleton, but, alas, never obtained his degree.
Willes' first newspaper posting was for the Medicine Hat News in 1982 when he covered the WHL Tigers, minor league Blue Jays, rodeo, and more curling than he cares to remember.
In 1996, Willes moved to Regina where he reported on the WHL Pats and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He was working on a feature about a woman darts thrower when he was offered a columnist job at the Winnipeg Sun.
In Winnipeg, he spent two years as the General Columnist before moving on and becoming the Jets beat writer and hockey columnist. This stint led him to cover the tragic demise of the Jets while he also took on the role of the first beat writer for the IHL Manitoba Moose.
After Winnipeg, Willes spent a year as a freelance writer in Montreal appearing regularly in the New York Times.
Willes was finally drafted to The Province in the fall of 1998.
Aside from his extensive writing career, Willes boasts a single-digit handicap in golf, an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-1982 pop music and an "inexplicable fascination with movies and popular culture as a whole."
Willes' first newspaper posting was for the Medicine Hat News in 1982 when he covered the WHL Tigers, minor league Blue Jays, rodeo, and more curling than he cares to remember.
In 1996, Willes moved to Regina where he reported on the WHL Pats and Saskatchewan Roughriders. He was working on a feature about a woman darts thrower when he was offered a columnist job at the Winnipeg Sun.
In Winnipeg, he spent two years as the General Columnist before moving on and becoming the Jets beat writer and hockey columnist. This stint led him to cover the tragic demise of the Jets while he also took on the role of the first beat writer for the IHL Manitoba Moose.
After Winnipeg, Willes spent a year as a freelance writer in Montreal appearing regularly in the New York Times.
Willes was finally drafted to The Province in the fall of 1998.
Aside from his extensive writing career, Willes boasts a single-digit handicap in golf, an encyclopedic knowledge of pre-1982 pop music and an "inexplicable fascination with movies and popular culture as a whole."
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 5, 2025
When I took a sociology of religion course in undergrad, the professor asked us what had replaced religion in people's lives. Being the Tim Keller disciple that I was, I thought it was vocation, work, career, but the majority of my classmates exclaimed it was sports. There are icons, traditions, vestments, liturgy. That analogy of religion is present throughout Never Boring: The Up and Down History of the Vancouver Canucks, in which writer Ed Willes delivers a quick jaunt through the 50+ years of the team still knocking on the doors of the Promised Land.
The entire book is roughly chronological and framed around a series of "What if...?" questions (which I think is a silly intellectual lark to do anyways as there are so many intangibles at play; there is no guarantee a player who excels on another team would have had the same success in the Canucks' environment), as Ed Willes regales readers with both the highs and woeful lows of Vancouver's NHL team. Chronic problems plaguing the Canucks include a lack of consistent, grounded personnel at the executive level (except for during the Pat Quinn and Mike Gillis eras), an abysmal scouting record, an extreme reluctance towards embracing rebuilds (especially under the Aquilini's ownership), and a tendency to give up on young players before they've had enough time to develop (one thinks of the likes of Cam Neely, Jared McCann, and Gustav Forsling, although one also thinks of the dogged loyalty and patience Jim Benning committed on first-round bust and off-ice scoundrel Jake Virtanen). There are fun stories in the book, though it is not comprehensive and I wish there was more of Canucks' "folklore" (no Vote for Rory? no Jeff "the Brabarian" Cowan? no mention of Brent Sopel's infamous "picking up a cracker" injury?).
Due to a one-year delay, this book was released after the incredible 2023-24 season. Willes, looking optimistically to the future, wrote:
About one and a half years later, in true Canucks' fashion, much has fallen apart. J.T. Miller, the emotional, aggressive first-liner has been shipped out (purportedly due to an ongoing feud with fellow star Elias Pettersson who has also alarmingly regressed from his 2023-24 all-star form). Rick Tocchet has left to coach the Philadelphia Flyers. Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Canucks have a gaping hole at second-line centre. Speculation swirls that captain Quinn Hughes, the greatest Canucks defenceman of all time (and in the conversation already as one of the franchise's greatest players) might want to join brothers Jack and Luke in New Jersey. All that to say, despite all the turbulence that trails this team, as the title goes, the Vancouver Canucks continue to be "never boring." As a faithful, long-suffering (self-flagellating?) fan, I await the Canucks' entry into the future dispensation of Stanley Cup champions.
The entire book is roughly chronological and framed around a series of "What if...?" questions (which I think is a silly intellectual lark to do anyways as there are so many intangibles at play; there is no guarantee a player who excels on another team would have had the same success in the Canucks' environment), as Ed Willes regales readers with both the highs and woeful lows of Vancouver's NHL team. Chronic problems plaguing the Canucks include a lack of consistent, grounded personnel at the executive level (except for during the Pat Quinn and Mike Gillis eras), an abysmal scouting record, an extreme reluctance towards embracing rebuilds (especially under the Aquilini's ownership), and a tendency to give up on young players before they've had enough time to develop (one thinks of the likes of Cam Neely, Jared McCann, and Gustav Forsling, although one also thinks of the dogged loyalty and patience Jim Benning committed on first-round bust and off-ice scoundrel Jake Virtanen). There are fun stories in the book, though it is not comprehensive and I wish there was more of Canucks' "folklore" (no Vote for Rory? no Jeff "the Brabarian" Cowan? no mention of Brent Sopel's infamous "picking up a cracker" injury?).
Due to a one-year delay, this book was released after the incredible 2023-24 season. Willes, looking optimistically to the future, wrote:
The Aquilini family - father Luigi, sons Francesco, Roberto and Paolo - have now owned the team for over two decades. In that time, they've taken the faithful on a wild ride, trying their patience to the breaking point while providing just enough hope to keep the most loyal members of the congregation engaged. This is being written while the glow of 2023-24 still shines on the Canucks, and the Aquilinis, specifically Francesco, deserve credit for building an organization that finally delivered a winning season. The hope here is that success can be sustained - that the Canucks of Jim Rutherford, Patrik Allvin and Rick Tocchet can build on the momentum created by the team's first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign (p. 197).
About one and a half years later, in true Canucks' fashion, much has fallen apart. J.T. Miller, the emotional, aggressive first-liner has been shipped out (purportedly due to an ongoing feud with fellow star Elias Pettersson who has also alarmingly regressed from his 2023-24 all-star form). Rick Tocchet has left to coach the Philadelphia Flyers. Heading into the 2025-26 season, the Canucks have a gaping hole at second-line centre. Speculation swirls that captain Quinn Hughes, the greatest Canucks defenceman of all time (and in the conversation already as one of the franchise's greatest players) might want to join brothers Jack and Luke in New Jersey. All that to say, despite all the turbulence that trails this team, as the title goes, the Vancouver Canucks continue to be "never boring." As a faithful, long-suffering (self-flagellating?) fan, I await the Canucks' entry into the future dispensation of Stanley Cup champions.
December 10, 2024
Incredible and very well written. As a diehard Canucks fan since 1999 (after having grown up in a Leafs family and chosen my own path), reading this and reliving all of the ups and downs of my beloved team was like reopening old wounds but reveling in the nostalgia of the greatest moments of our franchises history.
Chapter 8, was probably my most favourite, reliving the excitement and heartache of 2011, and I'll say that our current team, the last few years, appear heavily reminiscent of 2008-2011. So many comparisons and parallels between the two. So hopefully, if my beloved boys can find the success of the 2011 team, there'll be a different and more positive outcome. We slayed the dragon once, and I believe we can break the curse.
That said, as always, yours faithfully,
Go Canucks Go.
Sincerely, a Canucks fan stuck in Leafs Nation.
Chapter 8, was probably my most favourite, reliving the excitement and heartache of 2011, and I'll say that our current team, the last few years, appear heavily reminiscent of 2008-2011. So many comparisons and parallels between the two. So hopefully, if my beloved boys can find the success of the 2011 team, there'll be a different and more positive outcome. We slayed the dragon once, and I believe we can break the curse.
That said, as always, yours faithfully,
Go Canucks Go.
Sincerely, a Canucks fan stuck in Leafs Nation.
February 8, 2025
It’s weird to say this about a book that’s just okay but I wish it was longer
The framing device of What-If questions isn’t really explored beyond “things would be different/better for the Canucks if x happened” which is very surface level. This also means that the timeline of the book is somewhat fuzzy, as we’ll go from like, 1995-2001 from the perspective of one person’s storyline, and then the next chapter will be 1996-2003. It gets a little confusing and I think would’ve benefitted from a more linear structure, where we could really get to understand the core cast of characters and see how the team develops around them.
My main issue however is the book neglects the actual hockey games. When there’s an important match you should put the microscope over it and really get granular. Instead we get moments such as one paragraph saying that the Canucks and Blackhawks were in the playoffs together sometimes.
Now, since this book is by and for Canucks fans, I suppose it does make sense to pass over the parts everyone knows in favour of more front office/locker room drama, but I feel it does a massive disservice to the narrative.
All in all still a serviceable read with some high points, but is ultimately held back from its full potential
The framing device of What-If questions isn’t really explored beyond “things would be different/better for the Canucks if x happened” which is very surface level. This also means that the timeline of the book is somewhat fuzzy, as we’ll go from like, 1995-2001 from the perspective of one person’s storyline, and then the next chapter will be 1996-2003. It gets a little confusing and I think would’ve benefitted from a more linear structure, where we could really get to understand the core cast of characters and see how the team develops around them.
My main issue however is the book neglects the actual hockey games. When there’s an important match you should put the microscope over it and really get granular. Instead we get moments such as one paragraph saying that the Canucks and Blackhawks were in the playoffs together sometimes.
Now, since this book is by and for Canucks fans, I suppose it does make sense to pass over the parts everyone knows in favour of more front office/locker room drama, but I feel it does a massive disservice to the narrative.
All in all still a serviceable read with some high points, but is ultimately held back from its full potential
February 1, 2025
comprehensive and enthralling, captures the tortured canucks lore so well
March 26, 2025
I’m a big Canucks fan, and I also really enjoyed Ed Willes’ book on the WHL ‘The Rebel League’. So when I learned of his new book ‘Never Boring’ about the history of the Canucks, I was excited to read it. However ultimately I don’t think it is Willes’ best work, and I wouldn’t recommend it.
The book is structured with chapters that ask open-ended questions, such as “What if Arthur Griffiths had maintained control of the Canucks?” Then each chapter is essentially an essay answering the question at hand. But the answers were meandering and didn’t seem to have a lot of interesting or novel insights. To be fair, some of the chapters were better than others, including the aforementioned chapter about the team’s ownership squabbles, which had compelling commentary from people involved. But unfortunately the meandering chapters outnumber the interesting ones.
My biggest gripe with this book, is a prominent stylistic choice made by Willes to interject frequent quips between paragraphs. These were used much too often and were seldom funny. They just missed the mark for me, had me rolling my eyes repeatedly, and really detracted from the reading experience. It was surprising to me because I thought ‘The Rebel League’ was hilarious at times when Willes let the subject matter itself shine instead of trying to inject his own humour.
Two stars. I finished it begrudgingly.
The book is structured with chapters that ask open-ended questions, such as “What if Arthur Griffiths had maintained control of the Canucks?” Then each chapter is essentially an essay answering the question at hand. But the answers were meandering and didn’t seem to have a lot of interesting or novel insights. To be fair, some of the chapters were better than others, including the aforementioned chapter about the team’s ownership squabbles, which had compelling commentary from people involved. But unfortunately the meandering chapters outnumber the interesting ones.
My biggest gripe with this book, is a prominent stylistic choice made by Willes to interject frequent quips between paragraphs. These were used much too often and were seldom funny. They just missed the mark for me, had me rolling my eyes repeatedly, and really detracted from the reading experience. It was surprising to me because I thought ‘The Rebel League’ was hilarious at times when Willes let the subject matter itself shine instead of trying to inject his own humour.
Two stars. I finished it begrudgingly.
December 3, 2024
The book vaguely goes chronologically, but the chapters are themed based on hypothetical questions about events going a different way. All the main events of the team's history are covered, though doing this also skips a large part of the Canucks' history, and there is a lot of focus on more recent events. Willes is also not afraid to show his biases towards certain individuals in the Canucks front-office (McCammon, Keenan, Aquilini, Benning), and while some (all) of them rightfully deserve critique, it really doesn't help the book or narrative. He also tries to make it funnier than it needs to be, and it often comes off flat and not funny at all. Overall it doesn't cover anything a Canucks fan isn't aware of, and could easily have been much longer and more in depth without sacrificing anything.
July 21, 2025
I'm a lifelong Canucks fan but I haven't always followed the team closely. This is a great history of the team told by an insider with an opinion. That makes it interesting to read when it could have been dull if it was just a recitation of dates and players.
The book's premise is that the Canucks always disappoint. It's played as self-deprecating humour, but it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, the Canucks always disappoint. But we always believe they won't disappoint us - I don't want to celebrate and embrace the suck. I want to believe we can overcome it.
It's also interesting that the book finishes with the high of the 2023/24 season and has a hopeful tone... but then we just lived through the drama, chaos, and yes, disappointment of the 2024/25 season so we know that the hope was absolutely unwarranted.
The book's premise is that the Canucks always disappoint. It's played as self-deprecating humour, but it kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, the Canucks always disappoint. But we always believe they won't disappoint us - I don't want to celebrate and embrace the suck. I want to believe we can overcome it.
It's also interesting that the book finishes with the high of the 2023/24 season and has a hopeful tone... but then we just lived through the drama, chaos, and yes, disappointment of the 2024/25 season so we know that the hope was absolutely unwarranted.
August 6, 2025
This book was a consulted mess with some of the longest chapter titles you'll come across, all asking what-if's on Canucks history that the writer (who occasionally refers to himself in plural form) never really explores or wonders. the best thing I will say about this book is that is just about the most complete current history on the organization so far that I've come across, but did he have to jump around so much? Also I think it's kind of funny that he had to hold out a while so he included the 23/24 season and ended up on a positive outlook for a great future ahead with Rick Tocchet and a solid core. What a shame that he missed the 24/25 season which was the train wreck of all train wrecks and could easily be a book on to itself.
December 10, 2024
Sadly I moved to BC when I was 12 and became a Canucks fan shortly after .. circa 1975. I've suffered for 50 years. and Ed Willes just managed to masterfully sum up those last 50 years as a Canuck fan (and the whole 60+ years as a franchise). This book was very fun to read .. brought back lots of memories and sports heartaches. Lots of "what-if's" too. Too many to mention.
"Teams with championship banners hanging from their rafters might not understand this (the Canuck sense of community and bond amongst fans), just as the they don't understand out fixation with the Canucks. We don't care. Its our team and, for better or worse, our story; our messy, beautiful love story"
Thanks Ed.
"Teams with championship banners hanging from their rafters might not understand this (the Canuck sense of community and bond amongst fans), just as the they don't understand out fixation with the Canucks. We don't care. Its our team and, for better or worse, our story; our messy, beautiful love story"
Thanks Ed.
May 6, 2025
Willes is a very good writer. A lot of this has been covered before in previous canuck books but Willes writing style makes it easy to rehash some old stories. He adds just enough new tidbits to keep you interested and he does have some good analysis as he answers the what if questions that he uses to frame the storylines.
January 7, 2025
what a fun hockey team to be a fan of 🥲
February 25, 2025
So good. As a pretty die hard Canucks girlie this was an amazing read. I cried reading about the 2011 game 7 loss, and it brought me right back. Highly highly recommend to any other Canucks fans.
May 31, 2025
I love my fuckass team
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews