Troy Gamble: The “What If” Vancouver Canucks Goalie

In the late 1980s, the Vancouver Canucks were a team in transition—rebuilding, retooling, refocusing; searching and exploring intently for that spark to turn potential into playoff contention. Into that uncertain Canuck-era stepped an eager teenage goaltender with a confident stare, alongside magnificent major junior hockey credentials, and a name simply destined for to be etched into hockey history: Troy Gamble.

Vancouver Canucks: Draft Pick #25 (1985)

Drafted 25th overall in 1985, Gamble arrived in the Canucks' system as a hot prospect. His performance in major junior hockey led to a number of accolades, such as: WHL Top Goaltender Award and First Team All-Star. Due to his successful major junior hockey career in Medicine Hat and Spokane, the Vancouver Canucks saw Gamble as a future star between the pipes—and didn’t wait long to give him a shot.

At just 19 years old, Gamble made his NHL debut on November 22, 1986; the youngest goalie to start a game in franchise history. Talk about being thrown into an NHL debut: Gamble played his first game against Wayne Gretzky and the high-octane Edmonton Oilers. Throughout the game, Gamble held his own as best he could, but wound up surrendering Gretzky’s 498th and 499th career goals before being pulled (notably, Gretzky followed up with his 500th by shooting into an empty net)—baptism by fire burning itself into Canucks trivia forever.

Although his NHL debut against the Oilers was perceived to be a “rough go”, Gamble wasn’t easily rattled and showed zero signs of giving up his professional hockey dreams. Over the next few seasons, after starring with the WHL Spokane Chiefs (1987-88), Gamble toiled in the minors with the Milwaukee Admirals, refining his game and waiting for his turn to put on a Canucks jersey again. With 6 NHL games under his belt (1986-87 – 1; 1988-89 – 5), it was the highly memorable 1990-91 season that marked Gamble’s infamous breakout into hockey’s most prominent league.

As many long-time fans of the Vancouver Canucks can recall from that season, Gamble outperformed the regular starter Kirk McLean, posting a 16–16–6 record in 47 games. As the season wore one, alongside his effectual positional style earning high praise throughout the organization, Gamble went on to play 19 of the final 26 games, leading to far-reaching and well-earned speculation: Could the upstart Troy Gamble become the #1 goaltender for the Vancouver Canucks? For those who watched and observed that 1990-91 season, it is—without doubt—safe to say the overarching thought was: Yes! Gamble was heading in the right direction.

But history has told a different story: Gamble played 19 more NHL games for the Vancouver Canucks (1991-92); his final 19 NHL games.

The Lurking of Post-Concussion Syndrome

Unknowingly, behind the scenes of Gamble’s career, trouble bubbled up; what is now known is that effects of concussions were becoming problematic and quite daunting for the determined, highly skilled, gutsy goalie from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. An insufficiently understood (and perhaps even discussed) issue at the time, what was pestering Gamble’ game was a constant flow of nausea and headaches: Post-Concussion Syndrome (PCS). Although Gamble continued to battle and work through such issues in the minors, the window to return to an NHL crease began to dwindle—not from lack of skill, motivation, passion, and determination required to be a top NHL goaltender, but from an unpleasant dose of medical realities no one in the sport knew how to manage during that hockey era—and from what we know now—sports era.

In the end, Gamble, a left-hand catching goaltender who stole the hearts of many hockey fans resulting from his time on the Vancouver Canucks, played 72 games with the Canucks, finishing with a 22–29–9 record, a 3.61 goals against average, and a 0.875 save percentage—all during a high-scoring, offensive-minded hockey era.

Although Troy Gamble’s NHL career can be perceived to be momentary, his significant impact on the Vancouver Canucks and the entire hockey community—as a whole—has endured. Gamble may not have become the goaltender star the Vancouver Canucks once hoped for following his illustrious major junior hockey career, but his story is one of guts, talent, perseverance, determination, and—undoubtedly—pure resilience.

Looking deep into his story, Gamble was once Vancouver’s “What If?” goaltender—a name whispered among long-time Canucks, hockey, and goalie fans; tucked in binders full of hockey cards; stamped on Louisville goalie sticks hanging on Gamble fans’ memorabilia walls; and remembered as a goalie who, for one season for the Vancouver Canucks, was the "netminder in the crease".

And, in the end, the question remains for fans of the Vancouver Canucks who are still awaiting a Stanley Cup championship: Troy Gamble, what if?