Before the Sedins and Linden, There Was Orland Kurtenbach

When the Vancouver Canucks entered the NHL in 1970, the franchise was starting from scratch. New team, new jerseys, new rivalries and a city getting its first real taste of NHL hockey. What the Canucks needed was somebody to give that new team an identity. They found him in Orland Kurtenbach, the first captain in franchise history.

Kurtenbach was exactly the player the new franchise in Vancouver needed.

Kurtenbach wasn't the biggest star in the NHL when he arrived in Vancouver, but he was exactly the kind of player a new franchise needed. He had experience, toughness and the sort of steady personality that teammates could follow. He didn't need to make a big production out of being the captain. He simply went about his business, played hard and showed everyone what being a Canuck was supposed to look like.

And he could still play. In that first 1970-71 season, Kurtenbach scored 53 points in 52 games. On Dec. 12, 1970, he also scored the first hat trick in Canucks history. Think about that for a moment. This wasn't just another hat trick in another NHL season. Vancouver was a brand-new NHL market, and Kurtenbach was giving those first fans something to cheer about. The franchise was barely out of the starting gate, and its captain was already making history.

Most valuable of all was Kurtenbach’s leadership.

But his real contribution probably had less to do with points than with leadership. The early Canucks weren't going to be mistaken for a Stanley Cup contender, and Kurtenbach couldn't change that by himself. What he could do was establish a standard. Show up. Compete. Be accountable. Don't make excuses. Those things sound pretty basic, but they're important when a franchise is trying to figure out what it wants to become.

That's why Kurtenbach's place in Canucks history is bigger than his statistics. Before Trevor Linden became the face of the franchise, before the Sedins arrived and before Vancouver made those memorable playoff runs, Kurtenbach was the guy wearing the C when everything was new.

Kurtenbach was the first Canucks player inducted into the Ring of Honour.

There's a reason the Canucks made him the first player inducted into their Ring of Honour in 2010. He wasn't simply the first captain because somebody had to wear the letter. He helped establish what the organization wanted to be.

For a franchise just beginning its NHL life, Orland Kurtenbach was more than a captain. He was the first example of what being a Vancouver Canuck could mean.

[Note: I’d like to thank Brent Bradford (PhD) for his help co-authoring this post. His profile can be found at www.linkedin.com/in/brent-bradford-phd-3a10022a9]