title: Alan Wake

text: Due to expiration of these music licenses, all digital and retail versions of "Alan Wake" were pulled from purchase from the various storefronts as of 15 May 2017, though Remedy offered a large discount for the title in the days prior to removal. The removal does not affect those who already own the game, nor does it impact the availability of "Alan Wake's American Nightmare", though that title will likely be affected similarly when its own licensing deals expire. Remedy with Microsoft's help was able to resecure these licensing rights by October 2018 and were able to start providing the game again on digital storefronts.


title: Alan Wake

text: "Alan Wake" was first released exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game console. The game was scheduled to be released on 18 May 2010 in North America, and on 21 May in Europe. When the game went gold on 7 April 2010, the European release date was moved up a week. Therefore, the game was released in Europe first, on 14 May 2010, and then in North America on 18 May, as originally scheduled. On 23 November 2010, "Alan Wake" was released on the Games on Demand service of Xbox Live. On 16 February 2012, a version of the game for Microsoft Windows was released.


title: Alan Wake

text: "Alan Wake" was also released in a limited collector's edition, packaged in a case resembling a hardcover book. The collector's edition contains the game, a book titled "The Alan Wake Files", and an exclusive soundtrack CD. It also features a developer commentary, and lends access to virtual items for Xbox 360, such as themes and Avatar clothes.


title: Alan Wake

text: Despite the cancellation of the PC version at the same time as the Xbox 360 release as a result of Microsoft's decision, Remedy's Oskari Häkkinen stated that "PC gaming is part of Remedy's heritage" and that the developers still wanted to release a PC version of the game. Remedy continued pressing Microsoft to allow the creation of a PC version, eventually gaining it in mid-2011; Häkkinen attributed Microsoft's agreement partially to their repeated requests, but as well as Remedy's good standing with Microsoft, and the time factor, having the PC version be available ahead of "American Nightmare". Development of the PC version began in earnest, with a small team from Remedy working with Finnish independent developer Nitro Games. Instead of starting from the scrapped PC version, the team worked from the Xbox 360 code and added in new features to take advantage of more powerful elements on modern PC machines. Core to the PC version was to make sure that the game played well using typical keyboard and mouse controls in addition to a controller, and to assure the graphics exceeded the limitations of the Xbox 360; Matias Myllyrinne, Remedy's CEO, stated that these elements were important, as "If this is not tuned to perfection, all the visuals are lost and the emotional touchstones are missed". The PC version was completed in about five months, and the game formally announced to the public in December 2011.


title: Alan Wake

text: The game, which includes the main game and both DLC chapters, was released on the Steam platform on 16 February 2012. Within 48 hours, Remedy announced that revenue from sale of this version surpassed their development and marketing costs for the game. A retail PC version, distributed by Nordic Games, was released on 2 March 2012, in both a regular edition and a Collector's edition, containing a soundtrack disc, "The Alan Wake Files", and other special content. The PC retail release for the United States was released on 24 April 2012, being distributed by Legacy Interactive.


title: Alan Wake

text: In December 2013, Remedy and Xbox released a special collector's edition of the hit horror game, loaded with new content on the disc, including a 44-page digital comic book with art by Gerry Kissell and Amin Amat, and written by Remedy Entertainment's Mikko Rautalahti, who also wrote the script for the video game.


title: Alan Wake

text: A promotional live-action tie-in web series/miniseries titled "Bright Falls" was made available a few weeks before the game's release on the web and the Xbox Live service. The six episodes of "Bright Falls" were co-written and directed by Phillip Van, and they serve as a prequel to the game, set in the eponymous town before Alan Wake arrives there. The main character in the series is Jake Fischer (played by Christopher Forsyth), a newspaper reporter who visits the town on business.


title: Alan Wake

text: A number of characters are shared between "Bright Falls" and "Alan Wake", including diner waitress Rose, Dr. Emil Hartman, radio host Pat Maine and Alan Wake himself, who appears briefly in the final episode. The actors who play these characters also serve as voice actors and physical models for the characters in the game. The episodes were filmed in rural areas of Oregon and Washington, trying to match settings with the in-game locations as best as possible, according to Van.


title: Alan Wake

text: The web series begins as Jake Fischer arrives in Bright Falls to interview Dr. Hartman on his new book, an assignment from his publication agency. After a series of encounters with local townspeople, Jake soon finds himself the victim of long periods of lost time and black outs. He finds himself waking up in the middle of a forest and other locations where he had not been previously. He also develops an aversion towards lights and daytime. The longer he stays in Bright Falls, the more violent his behaviour becomes. When he realises this, he tries to duct-tape himself to a refrigerator and recording videotape himself in his sleep to see what might be causing the behaviour. It is implied that he is being completely taken over by the Dark Presence, to the point of murdering several people. He then vanishes, just before the arrival of Alan and Alice Wake.


title: Alan Wake

text: During 2010, two "special feature" episodes of "Alan Wake" were developed and released as downloadable content (DLC) on the Xbox Live service, which serve to bridge the gap between the game's ending, and a possible sequel.


title: Alan Wake

text: The first of the two, titled "The Signal", was released on 27 July 2010. David Houghton of GamesRadar+ said it was one of the best segments of the game, but worried that it made the main game feel comparatively less impressive.


title: Alan Wake

text: The second episode, "The Writer", was released on 12 October 2010. Erik Brudvig of IGN called it a must-buy for anyone that already purchased "The Signal", and said it satisfyingly closed out the game's story. He did feel that both DLCs were pricey for the amount of content they provided.


title: Alan Wake

text: The limited collector's edition of the game includes a 144-page book called "The Alan Wake Files", which expands on the storyline of the game. A novelisation of "Alan Wake" was written by Rick Burroughs. An art/making of book, entitled "Alan Wake: Illuminated" is also available.


title: Alan Wake

text: "Alan Wake" received "generally favorable" reviews on both platforms according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Alan Wake

text: Michael Plant from "The Independent" gave the game a score of 5/5. He praised "Alan Wake" for its "flawless pacing", which "ensures a compulsive experience". The editing and plot were also received very positively, making the game "the kind of experience the current console generation was made for."


title: Alan Wake

text: "The Daily Telegraph" rated the game 9/10 with editor Nick Cowen being impressed by its "stunning" look, stating the town of Bright Falls and its surrounding environment to be "authentic" in terms of architecture, vegetation, weather and lighting. He described the atmosphere as being able to "...turn on a dime from feeling safe and serene to one of choking menace and foreboding...". Combat mechanics and plot were also praised with the first making "the player feel constantly under threat." and the latter being described as one of the game's "strongest assets". Criticism included the quality of the facial animation and the relatively short length of the game.


title: Alan Wake

text: Dirk Lammers said the game kept "players on the edge of their seats", giving a final score of 4 out of 4 in his review for the Associated Press. Matt Greenop from "The New Zealand Herald" rated the game 5/5 and praised the game's "excellent pace" due to its episodic format. He also praised the "chilling" storyline, "brilliant environments" and concluded the game to be "one of the most innovative and entertaining titles so far this year." William Vitka from the "New York Post" graded it B+, praising the game for its "scary atmosphere", music, graphics and "surprising level of complexity" in combat, but commented negatively on the game's animation and storyline.


title: Alan Wake

text: Brian Crecente, editor-in-chief of Kotaku, praised the general use of light as a gameplay-mechanic. He commented on the episodic structure, saying it made the player feel satisfied even after short gameplay sessions. He also praised the overall storyline, having played the final episode thrice in a row, saying: "For the first time in my life, I have experienced something that plays like a game but has the impact of a movie... Alan Wake is a powerful ride, an experience bound to leave you thinking about it and wanting more for days after its completion." He criticised the game for not providing enough information about Wake and his wife, despite being "packed with memorable people", but concluded that the game "redefines interactive storytelling".


title: Alan Wake

text: Tom McShea criticised the game for lacking "surprising, memorable gameplay moments" in his review for GameSpot, but hailed it for its "fresh" story-telling, great original as well as licensed music, "subtle" lighting effects, which, along with the soundtrack, "create a disturbing atmosphere", "satisfying" combat system and "clever" inclusion of collectibles, giving a final score of 8.5/10.


title: Alan Wake

text: IGN's Charles Onyett scored the game 9/10, providing it with the "Editors' Choice Award". He described it as "hard to put down once you have started", and appreciated the game for its episodic structure, "interesting" story-telling mechanic, lighting effects, soundtrack and combat system, which he described as "fast and responsive", but criticised the writing as "uneven". The game received high marks for its "strong atmosphere", "fun gameplay", and "great visuals", but lost some due to its "weak ending".


title: Alan Wake

text: Tom Orry from VideoGamer.com also awarded a score of 9/10, praising the game for its "clever narrative", "incredible atmosphere" and soundtrack which he described as "one of the best and most memorable I've ever heard in a video game". GameTrailers gave the game an 8.6/10. The review praised the game's presentation for "selling you completely on its twisted nightmare", and providing a "genuine sense of dread". Eurogamer's Ellie Gibson awarded a score of 7/10, stating that although she did not consider the game to be very original, she found it accessible and undemanding, with a "neat combat mechanic".


title: Alan Wake

text: Chris Kohler from "Wired" was more critical and gave it 6/10, saying "when presented with an infinite number of possible resolutions, any answer is going to feel arbitrary. Alan Wake starts strong but finishes weak. Neither the gameplay nor the story deliver on their potential by the time the credits roll". Kohler, however, praised main character, certain gameplay decisions and "unique story".


title: Alan Wake

text: "Alan Wake" has received a number of nominations and awards for its achievements in video gaming in 2010. Editors of "Time" magazine rendered "Alan Wake" the best video game of 2010. In its Best Xbox 360 Games of 2010 list, "IGN" awarded "Alan Wake" "Best Horror Game", and also nominated it for "Best Story," "Coolest Atmosphere," "Most Innovative Gameplay," and "Best Character" (for the character of Alan Wake). The game was nominated in the "Best Xbox 360 Game" category at the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, and received three nominations at the 2nd Annual Inside Gaming Awards in the categories "Best Narrative," "Best Sound Design" and "Most Compelling Character" (for Alan Wake). GameSpot's Best Games of 2010 Awards featured seven nominations for the game, including "Best Story" and "Best Writing/Dialogue," and won the reader's choice award for "Best Original IP." IGN ranked it No. 61 in their "Top Modern Games" ranking.


title: Alan Wake

text: The game's soundtrack has won Best Score – European at the 2010 Annual Game Music Awards, with the panel stating "Breaking composer Petri Alanko's expansive score for the critically acclaimed Alan Wake captured the hearts of gamers and stand-alone listeners alike with its intimate orchestrations and psychological explorations."


title: Alan Wake

text: "Alan Wake" was released the same week as "Red Dead Redemption", and thus initial sales were slow; NPD Group stated sales for the first two weeks reached 145,000 units while "Red Dead Redemption" had reached 1.5 million during the same period. However, in the months that followed, it gained more sales traction through word-of-mouth.


title: Alan Wake

text: IndustryGamers reported in December 2011 that sales of "Alan Wake", currently reported at 330,000 by NPD Group, were omitting about 900,000 units digitally redeemed during the Xbox's 2011 Holiday Bundle, in addition to an additional 170,000 global units, bringing the total sales to around 1.4 million.


title: Alan Wake

text: On 13 March 2012, Remedy Entertainment announced that the game has passed 2 million copies sold, including Xbox 360 and PC. On 23 May 2013, Remedy creative director Sam Lake announced that the game and its standalone follow up had sold 3 million copies. On 25 March 2015, Remedy's CEO Matias Myllyrinne tweeted that the franchise had sold over 4.5 million units. The following month a Polygon story on the game's prototype for a sequel mentioned that "Alan Wake" had sold more than 3.2 million copies.


title: Alan Wake

text: According to a report, "Alan Wake" was the second most illegally copied Xbox 360 game of 2010, with more than 1.1 million downloads. It includes an amusing feature where if "pirated", the character wears an eye patch during the game.


title: Alan Wake

text: At "Alan Wake"s release, Remedy had intended for a sequel; developer Oskari Häkkinen stated that Remedy saw the game as "Season 1" and its DLC was to "bridge the gap to what we're working towards." Häkkinen stated they were not directly working on a sequel at that time, as Microsoft had focused them to complete the DLC. Writer Mikko Rautalahti adds the story is "bigger than one game" and the sequel would be "weird and wonderful".


title: Alan Wake

text: In May 2011, leaked information led to Remedy confirming they were working on a new "Alan Wake" project, but affirmed it was not a full sequel. This was ultimately revealed to be "Alan Wake's American Nightmare", a short standalone game released in 2012 that follows Alan's adventures after the first game that they wanted to release on the Xbox Live Arcade platform. The Remedy team had looked at a project borrowing from zombie and monster films like "From Dusk till Dawn", and wanted to create more of a sandbox mode for players to fight off waves of enemies (which became the game's Arcade mode, "Fight Till Dawn"); they then worked these elements into Alan's story, keeping the theme of "The Twilight Zone" to progress the story.


title: Alan Wake

text: "Alan Wake II" was announced at The Game Awards 2021, for planned release in 2023 on Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The game will be more of a survival horror game than action as the original "Alan Wake". It will be published by Epic Games Publishing.


title: Alan Wake

text: Following "Alan Wake: American Nightmare", Remedy released "Quantum Break" in 2016, and then "Control" in 2019. "Control" is based on a fictional Federal Bureau of Control (FBC) set in the Oldest House in New York City that seeks out paranormal activity and secures objects that may be behind "Altered World Events" (AWEs). "Control" describes the events in Bright Falls as an AWE for the Bureau; elements of "Alan Wake", such as Alan himself, the typewriter and cabin, and the Clicker, are mentioned in memos within "Control".


title: Alan Wake

text: "Control"s second paid DLC, titled "AWE", was released in August 2020, featured "what the [Federal Bureau of Control] has been investigating regarding Alan Wake". The expansion reveals that after Alan had disappeared into Cauldron Lake, Dr. Hartman continued to study the Dark Presence until the arrival of the Bureau, who took all his research. Infuriated, Dr. Hartman dove into the lake himself where the Dark Presence, with Alan's persona still within it, took over his body. The Bureau captured Hartman and brought him back to the Oldest House in New York City. During events of "Control", Hartman escaped, and the fusion of the Hiss and Dark Presence became a monstrous being that Jesse is forced to subdue, with advice given to her by Alan through mysterious visions. After finishing off Hartman, Jesse is warned of a new AWE in Bright Falls, but oddly from a future date.


title: Alan Wake

text: Remedy stated that its next game following "Control" will be part of a "Remedy connected universe" shared by "Alan Wake" and "Control".


title: Alan Wake

text: Remedy announced a remaster of "Alan Wake" in September 2021. The remaster was co-developed by Remedy and D3T, and distributed through Epic Games Publishing. "Alan Wake Remastered" was released on October 5, 2021, for Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, and for the first time on the PlayStation platform via PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. It is released for Nintendo Switch on 20 October 2022.


title: Alan Wake

text: Remedy felt a remaster was the better route than a remake, maintaining the core gameplay and narrative elements of the game but improving the visuals for newer game systems with support for 4K resolutions so that the title would appeal to both those that played the original and new players. Remedy recognized that changing any part of the gameplay would have cascading effects across the game and would lead to major redesign issues, and did not opt to go that route. Several visual assets were remade for high-definition visuals, including reworking some of the non-3D elements such as water movement into 3D motion. Cutscenes were also remade incorporating original and new assets including new motion capture, though due to this combination, limited their presentation to 30 frames per second. They opted to keep the game in the original engine rather than upgrade it to their Northlight Engine as that would have taken resources away from the remastering aspect, and decided against support for ray tracing and high-dynamic-range rendering given the range of systems they needed to support.


title: Alan Wake

text: The remastered version removed the product placement that had been in the original game, but retained all of the same licensed music. In addition to these improvements, the remastered edition includes both pieces of DLC and a new commentary track by Sam Lake. The remastered version was found to contain at least one new Easter egg to "Control", via way of a letter from Bright Falls' sheriff to the FBC about paranormal events happening in town which, through in-game dates, correlate with the FBC's investigation of the Bright Falls AWE as revealed in "Control"s DLC.


title: Alan Wake

text: Remedy said they had no plans on remastering "Alan Wake's American Nightmare", believing that "Alan Wake" and the two DLC episodes formed a "sensible" package.


title: Alan Wake

text: In September 2018, Remedy Entertainment and Contradiction Films announced plans to develop a live-action "Alan Wake" series, with Peter Calloway as the showrunner and Remedy's Sam Lake as executive producer. Contradiction Film's Tomas Harlan had seen "Alan Wake"s potential as a television series, in part that the game was constructed in episodic chapters and presented in a linear fashion, and had spoken to Lake about it several times, and in 2018 began to start on a firm planning process, which including bringing Calloway on board during the E3 2018. The show plans to use concepts from the scrapped "Alan Wake 2", as well as building upon what the first game and "American Nightmare" provided; Harlan does not expect the series to be in lock-step with the game and while Alan Wake would be the central character of the series, they would spend more time developing his companions from the game. The group planned to shop the series around to networks in October. Lake affirmed the television series was still being developed during a December 2020 investors' meeting.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Watch Dogs: Legion is a 2020 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Toronto and published by Ubisoft. It is the third installment in the "Watch Dogs" series and the sequel to 2016's "Watch Dogs 2". Set within a fictionalised representation of a futuristic, dystopian London, the game's story follows the hacker syndicate DedSec as they seek to clear their names after being framed for a series of terrorist bombings. DedSec attempt to liberate London's citizens from the control of Albion, an oppressive private military company which turned the city into a surveillance state following the bombings.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: While the core gameplay is similar to its predecessors, consisting of a combination of shooting, driving, stealth, and hacking puzzles, "Legion" introduces a multiple playable characters system, allowing players to recruit virtually any non-player character found in the game's open world. Each playable character has their own unique skills and backgrounds, and can be lost permanently if players enable the option of permadeath before starting a new game. There are multiple ways to complete missions depending on which playable character is selected. In March 2021, a cooperative multiplayer mode was added to the game, allowing up to four players to complete missions or explore London together.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Legion" was released on 29 October 2020 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Stadia, and as a launch title in November for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. A version for Amazon Luna was made available in the same month. Upon release, the game received mixed to positive reviews. Critics were polarized over the multiple playable characters aspect, with some appreciating its diversity and the inclusion of permadeath for allowing emotional attachment from players, while others criticized the characters' lack of personality and the imbalance between their abilities. Criticism was further aimed at the game's world, driving mechanics, inconsistent difficulty, repetitive missions, online features and technical problems.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Ubisoft supported "Legion" extensively after its launch, releasing a number of updates for both the single-player and multiplayer modes that added new missions, game modes, and playable characters; a crossover event with the "Assassin's Creed" franchise; and a paid story expansion, "Bloodline", which continues the storylines of Aiden Pearce, the protagonist of the first "Watch Dogs" game, and Wrench, a major supporting character from "Watch Dogs 2". Reception to post-release content has been generally positive, with some of the additions cited as being an improvement over the base game.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Watch Dogs: Legion" is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective, and taking place within an open world setting based upon London, which can be explored either on foot ─ utilizing parkour moves ─ vehicles, or fast-travelling via the city's Underground stations. Eight of London's Boroughs are represented in game: Westminster, Wandsworth (specifically the Nine Elms area), Lambeth, Southwark, Camden, Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, in addition to the City of London. The game is composed of several missions, including those that progress the main story, liberation missions aimed at freeing the city's boroughs featured in the setting, recruitment missions for new playable characters, and various side-activities, with players able to freely pursue a mission or activity, or explore the city for secrets and collectibles. Each mission's objectives can be handled via one or several different approaches: an open-combat approach utilizing a variety of weapons; a stealth approach utilizing the environment to avoid detection and monitoring enemy patterns; or a hacking approach using any hackable object to subdue enemies with traps or distractions, while seeking out objectives via cameras and remotely accessing them. Combat includes a mixture of gun fights ─ involving lethal and non-lethal firearms ─ and hand-to-hand combat moves, with enemies making use of different methods depending on how the player acts against them in combat (i.e. a guard hit with a punch will use melee attacks, but will begin shooting if the player draws their firearm). Players can be pursued by enemies when escaping, including hostile drones, but can lose them by utilizing hack-able environmental objects (i.e. vents) and avoiding line of sight with pursuers.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Unlike previous games in the series, "Legion" features the ability to use multiple characters during a playthrough, each of whom can be recruited from around the game's setting. While the player must choose a character to begin with after the story's prologue chapter, others may be recruited upon completing the initial story missions of the game from anywhere around the game's setting, which can include those working for hostile factions. Those recruited become operatives that the player can freely switch to at any time, as well as customize with different clothing options, with each recruit-able character maintaining their own lifestyle and occupation when not active (i.e. spending time drinking at a pub). Each character that can be recruited has different traits and skills, based upon their background ─ a spy operative has access to a silenced pistol and can summon a special spy vehicle to travel around with, armed with rockets; a hooligan operative can summon friends to help in a fist-fight; a builder operative can make use of large drones for heavy-lifting and a nail-gun for combat; while an "adrenaline junkie" operative can deal more damage, but risk the possibility of being knocked out/dying at random moments. Operatives can gain experience when used by the player, which allows them to gain additional skills and abilities to improve them, with the player able to provide additional upgrades for all characters by spending "tech points" ─ a collectible scattered around the city, which can be spent on weapon and gadget upgrades. In addition to standard recruitable NPCs, the player can also acquire special NPCs to their roster, known as "Prestige Operatives" ─ these unique characters possess exceptional weapons and gain access to stronger perks as they improve in level than standard operatives.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: All potential recruits have an additional statistic, which details whether they can be recruited when approached ─ their thoughts on DedSec. Some recruits may not join if either they favour those that oppose them (such as a hostile faction), if the player has a character in their roster whom they hate, or if DedSec did something to harm another NPC they have good relations with. If a recruit can be brought in, players will be required to complete a mission from them related to a problem they need resolving. Examples of such a mission include sneaking into a government building to find a missing person, recovering confiscated or stolen equipment or simply helping the potential recruit determine why they are experiencing invasive surveillance. Any character that can be recruited can be killed during a playthrough, whether in combat, accidental death, or from their own traits, and permanently removed from the player's roster of playable characters if the player has the permadeath option enabled. If in permadeath mode the player loses all their characters from death or arrest, the game ends. In games with permadeath disabled, operatives will be incarcerated or hospitalised after being arrested or 'critically injured'; the time these characters spend being unable to be used can be reduced if the player recruits certain characters, such as medical or legal staff. In addition, some operatives may still die permanently, but only if they have certain traits that lead to a random and unexpected death.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: The online component of the game, introduced in March 2021, allows for four-player cooperative gameplay, which aimed to share progression between the single-player and multiplayer modes. The multiplayer experience offers several different activities for players to engage in, including city events, co-operative missions (including the more complex "Tactical Ops"), and the "Spiderbot Arena" competitive mode, where players controlling miniature spiderbot gadgets fight in free for all matches. The asymmetrical multiplayer mode "Invasion" from the previous two "Watch Dogs" games made a return several months after release, with several changes.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Like the single-player mode, players can freely explore London and recruit new operatives to their team; however, rather than completing short missions for each character, this is done by spending "Influence" (an in-game form of currency). Influence is also used to unlock gadgets and character upgrades, and can be earned from completing missions and daily/weekly objectives, bought with real-life money from the in-game store, or found across the map, along with masks and experience points (the locations of collectibles change weekly).


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Watch Dogs: Legion Online" uses a seasonal approach to introduce new content to the game. During each season, a different roadmap with various rewards (Influence, weapon skins, character clothing etc.) is featured. As players complete missions and other activities, they gain experience points and rank up, unlocking the next reward in the roadmap. When a season ends, the next one automatically starts and the player's rank is reset to 0.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Watch Dogs: Legion" takes place within a fictionalised representation of London in the "near future" (suggested to be the year 2029 or 2030 by the "Bloodline" expansion). The setting encompasses notable landmarks, boroughs, and cultural styles of the city, such as the political borough of Westminster, Big Ben, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and more. Since the events of "Watch Dogs 2", technology has vastly changed as a result of an acceleration of automation and artificial intelligence (AI), which has effectively improved Britain's economy at the cost of many blue and white collar jobs, with the Pound sterling having been overtaken and undermined by the cryptocurrency 'ET0', which has almost replaced the pound entirely within London. AR and VR systems are commonplace across the city, accompanied by an increase in quadcopter drones and electric cars, an established 6G mobile network, and the introduction of driverless cars, much of which is enhanced through the use of ctOS (central Operating System) ─ the centralized computer network developed by technology company Blume, featured in both "Watch Dogs" and "Watch Dogs 2".


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: The game focuses on DedSec, a hacker group consisting of various branches across the world, who fight against authority regimes and groups that utilise ctOS for their own selfish goals at the expense of ordinary citizens. Their main enemies include Zero Day, a rogue hacker group that frames DedSec for a series of terrorist bombings; Albion, a private military company that takes over as law enforcement across London and supersedes the British government's control over the city; Clan Kelley, a criminal syndicate that has monopolised the use of the dark web, conducting human trafficking and abductions; Broca Tech, a corrupt technology corporation; and Signals Intelligence Response (SIRS), an intelligence agency consolidating all of Britain's intelligence network.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: The London branch of DedSec, led by Sabine Brandt and her newly crafted AI, Bagley, detect armed intruders planting explosives in the Houses of Parliament. DedSec operative Dalton Wolfe goes to defuse the bombs and discovers the intruders are members of a rogue hacker group called "Zero Day". Although Dalton manages to prevent Parliament's destruction, he is gunned down by drones commanded by Zero Day's leader, who detonates additional explosives around London and orders an attack on DedSec's main hideout, forcing Sabine to shut down Bagley and go into hiding. In the wake of the bombings, the British government contract Albion with restoring order to London and hunting down DedSec, who are held responsible for the chaos, effectively causing social and political unrest amongst the city's inhabitants.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Months later, Albion enforces the law without political oversight, transforming London into a surveillance state with the aid of its ctOS network and SIRS ─ a collation of Britain's intelligence agencies. As a result, citizens have their personal liberties severely restricted and their lives constantly monitored, while those who question Albion's methods are either convicted or deported to Continental Europe. Organised crime is also on the rise, despite Albion's presence. Although most DedSec members have been arrested or killed by Albion, Sabine resurfaces when she finds a new recruit through ctOS, who is sent to reactivate the group's safehouse and Bagley. DedSec slowly rebuild their strength as they find more recruits who, under Sabine's co-ordination and with Bagley's help, liberate London's boroughs by encouraging citizens to rise up in defiance of their oppressors.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: After rebuilding their forces, DedSec investigate the bombings and discover that both Albion's CEO Nigel Cass and Clan Kelley were involved, and are taking advantage of London's current situation for their own ends; Clan Kelley is using people from Albion's deportation centers for their human and organ trafficking operations, while Cass plans to enforce peace across London with an automated drone army that can identify and neutralize threats before they occur.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: During this time, DedSec also investigate Broca Tech's CEO Skye Larsen and discover that her advanced AI projects, including Bagley, are the result of neural-mapping, which traps humans in cyberspace with no memories of their past life. DedSec eventually deal with Larsen (either by shutting down her life support or allowing her to upload herself to cyberspace). Concurrently, a SIRS whistleblower named Richard Malik enlists DedSec's help in proving SIRS leader Emma Child was behind the Zero Day bombings, only to turn on them once it is revealed he was trying to infiltrate the group to supply their identities to Albion. Malik frames DedSec for another bombing at Canada House that kills Child and allows him to take over SIRS, but DedSec capture him and prove their innocence.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Eventually, DedSec infiltrate a slave auction hosted by Clan Kelley's leader, Mary Kelley, and discover she helped Zero Day smuggle their explosives into the country. After gathering enough evidence to get Kelley convicted, DedSec and Metropolitan Police Service Detective Kaitlyn Lau attempt to capture her, but after they realize that Kelley will still walk free, they leave her to be killed by her former slaves. DedSec also sabotage Cass's drone project and expose his crimes to the public, prompting him to take refuge at Albion's HQ in the Tower of London. Fearing Cass will attempt to retaliate against his enemies, DedSec storm the Tower and kill Cass.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: As DedSec celebrate their actions, Zero Day hacks the group, stealing the tech they had acquired. Tracing the hack, they discover that Sabine was behind the bombings and Zero Day, and that Cass helped her until double-crossing her for control of data gathering technology. In response, Sabine restarted DedSec simply to get revenge on Cass, recover what he had stolen, and seek out other components. DedSec discover Sabine intends to use the stolen technology to create a patch for Bagley and take control of Britain's ctOS infrastructure, plunging the country into chaos in hopes it will force society to forgo technology and restart. To prevent this, Bagley agrees to be shut down. Avoiding the chaos caused by Sabine, a DedSec operative goes to hack Blume's radio tower, to prevent the patch from being spread. Sabine confronts them, but the operative lowers the tower's fins and sends her falling to her apparent death. Meanwhile, another operative shuts down Bagley's primary server at Broca Tech, ending the crisis.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: While the British government reviews its contract with Albion and the Metropolitan Police Service begins work to resume operations, DedSec finally clear their names and are praised for exposing considerable crimes and corruption across London. In an epilogue scene, they manage to restore Bagley to his original state, and continue to rely on him to help them finish off loose ends around London.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Some time after the Zero Day bombings, but prior to DedSec's resurgence in London, former vigilante Aiden Pearce accepts a contract from his fixer partner, Jordi Chin, in London, believing it will allow him to reunite with his estranged nephew Jackson, who is attending college there. Aiden's assignment is to infiltrate Broca Tech's Deep Labs and acquire photographic evidence of a new robot design project headed by Thomas Rempart, as well as retrieve a device called the "BrocaBridge". However, his attempt is foiled by Reginald "Wrench" Blechman, a former member of DedSec San Francisco, who also wants the BrocaBridge for his own ends. A struggle ensues between the two, which results in Wrench escaping with the BrocaBridge and Aiden being captured by Rempart's men. Aiden later escapes with Wrench's help and makes contact with Jackson. Despite not wanting to get involved, Jackson guides Aiden toward a DedSec contact, Connie Robinson, who helps him get set up in exchange for helping out with several tasks. Rempart also contacts Aiden, demanding him to retrieve the BrocaBridge while threatening to harm Jackson.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: With Jackson's help, Aiden tracks down Wrench at his hideout and confronts him. Wrench reveals that he was hired by Rempart to design the robots for his project, but was ultimately betrayed, so he took revenge by stealing the BrocaBridge, which Rempart needs for the next phase of his project. Meanwhile, Rempart finds and captures Jackson to ransom him for the BrocaBridge. After obtaining the device from Wrench, Aiden delivers it to Rempart, unaware that it is an explosive fake created by Wrench. The explosion disfigures Rempart's face and allows Aiden and Jackson to escape, though Aiden is shot in the process and falls into a coma. Wrench allows Aiden and Jackson to stay at his hideout and obtains medical supplies to help Aiden recover. During this time, he also becomes acquainted with Jordi and agrees to carry out several fixer contracts for him in Aiden's place.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Later, Wrench is contacted by Skye Larsen, who offers to help with Aiden's recovery in exchange for retaking control of her facilities from Rempart. Upon doing so, Larsen proposes an experimental trial on Jackson using the BrocaBridge to link his mind with Aiden's, which he agrees to do in spite of Wrench's protest. Jackson enters Aiden's mind with the BrocaBridge and, after revisiting several memories from his past, helps him overcome his guilt for his role in the death of Jackson's sister Lena seventeen years ago. Deciding to leave his vigilante persona behind, Aiden awakens from the coma and makes amends with Jackson. With Aiden saved, Wrench works with him and Jackson to defeat Rempart, who is attempting to escape London on his personal barge. Wrench boards the barge and destroys Rempart's robot army before handing him over to Albion authorities to be arrested.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Some time later, Connie informs Aiden and Wrench that one of her DedSec contacts found an operative who survived the London attacks, and asks them to establish a communication link with her, leading into the events of the main campaign.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: This non-canonical crossover with the "Assassin's Creed" franchise focuses on DedSec helping Darcy Clarkson, a member of the Assassin Brotherhood and a descendant of renowned 19th-century assassins Jacob and Evie Frye. After intercepting a conversation between Darcy and a Templar, Graham Westerly, DedSec learn about the secret war between the Assassins and Templars, and that the former have been forced to leave London after being hunted to near-extinction. They also discover that Darcy returned to London to rescue her brother Lucas, who was captured while trying to reduce the Templars' control over the city. After tracking down Darcy, DedSec agree to help her rescue Lucas, who is being tortured by Graham to learn the location of a hidden Assassin tomb in London; however, Graham murders Lucas after obtaining the information he wanted.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: After finding the Assassin tomb on the Buckingham Palace grounds, DedSec help Darcy get inside to investigate. She discovers statues of several Assassins, including Jacob, Evie, and Edward Kenway, and a vault containing advanced technology and an Assassin outfit, which she dons. Graham arrives moments later accompanied by Albion soldiers, but Darcy manages to kill them all. Before dying, Graham claims that the Templars will remain in control for as long as the Assassins are too afraid to fight back. After leaving the tomb, Darcy decides to stay in London to continue fighting the Templars, and accepts DedSec's invite to join them.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Watch Dogs: Legion" was developed by Ubisoft Toronto, with additional work provided by sister studios Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kyiv and Ubisoft Reflections. The development team was headed by creative director Clint Hocking, who was recruited to assist on the game's creation due to Ubisoft moving development from their studio in Montreal to Toronto, and recruiting developers who had previously worked with him on "Far Cry" and "Far Cry 2".


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Upon its reveal at E3 2019, many outlets described the futuristic London setting as post-Brexit, what could potentially happen following the expected departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union. This choice of setting became a point of debate in the media, as there are several political questions related to post-Brexit. Hocking stated that they had come onto the idea of this setting around a year and a half before the actual Brexit vote in 2016, and that while the game does involve Brexit, the intent was not to try to debate the nature of Brexit, but to show and debate elements already existing in the world today that lead to events such as Brexit. On 25 January 2020, Hocking pointed out that, as a "creator of culture", the aim of including real-world elements such as Brexit is to provide a means of engagement for players about the world around them, though with the development team taking considerable thought on how to implement these and other events occurring in the real-world within "Legion"s setting.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Ubisoft partnered with British rapper Stormzy for a special in-game mission named "Fall on My Enemies" that would be available at the game's launch. Stormzy also recorded a music video for "Rainfall", from his album "Heavy Is the Head", using motion capture for the game.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Watch Dogs: Legion" was teased by Ubisoft via Twitter on 5 June 2019, before its announcement at E3 2019. The game was initially scheduled for release on 6 March 2020, with the PC versions of the game being exclusive titles for the Epic Games Store over a year-long period, but Ubisoft delayed the launch in October 2019. By July 2020, they announced during their "Ubisoft Forward" event, that the game would be released on 29 October 2020, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia. Release dates for versions of the game for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, unveiled during this same announcement, were made over the course of September and October: the Series X/S version was announced as a launch title for the platform after Microsoft confirmed the console's launch date for 10 November 2020; while the PlayStation 5 version was confirmed to release as a digital launch title on 12 November, with a physical copy on 24 November. A version for Amazon Luna was officially announced on 29 October, and released on 23 November.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: In January 2020, BBC reporter Marc Cieslak conducted an interview with Hocking about the game for "Click", which, in a world's first, involved using the studio's motion capture software to allow it to take place within the virtual setting of the game.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: The game's multiplayer component was initially scheduled for a 3 December release, but was pushed back to early 2021 due to numerous game-breaking glitches and bugs that needed to be fixed. The multiplayer mode was added on 9 March 2021 for most platforms, and 18 March for Microsoft Windows. However, the Tactical Ops missions weren't added until 23 March due to technical issues.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: On 4 May 2021, the first major content update for the game was released, adding two new types of playable characters (DJs & First Responders), five special abilities, two gadgets, character customization options, and missions for the multiplayer mode. Season Pass exclusive content included a new mission for the single-player mode, "Swipe Right", and a new playable character, Mina Sidhu, who has mind control powers. On 1 June, a new series of Tactical Ops and a free character were released. Additionally, a zombie survival horror game mode titled "Legion of the Dead" was made available in alpha on the PC version of the game.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: A story expansion titled "Bloodline" was released on 6 July 2021, both individually and as part of the Season Pass. It is a prequel to "Legion", set several months before the events of the main game, and features the return of Aiden Pearce, the protagonist of the first "Watch Dogs", and Wrench, a main character from "Watch Dogs 2", who also become playable in the normal campaign and the online mode. The expansion adds ten story missions, and side content in the form of "Resistance Missions" for Aiden and "Fixer Contracts" for Wrench.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: An update released on 24 August 2021 added "Assassin's Creed"-themed missions, weapons, abilities, and gadgets, as well as a new playable character, Darcy Clarkson, a member of the Assassin Brotherhood, who is available through the Season Pass. The update also introduced two new online game modes, "Invasion" and "Extraction", and a New Game Plus mode titled "Resistance Mode", which allows players to replay the single-player campaign on a higher difficulty while retaining all their previous upgrades. Furthermore, the "Legion of the Dead" mode was made available on consoles as well. On 30 August, as part of a crossover with the television series "Money Heist", Ubisoft added a multiplayer heist mission and outfits based on the disguises worn by the show's protagonists. In January 2022, Ubisoft announced that following the release of update 5.6, the team will cease developing major content updates.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: A spin-off comic book series was released monthly beginning in November 2021 by Behemoth in the United States and in two collected editions in France by Glénat.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Watch Dogs: Legion" received "mixed or average" reviews on all platforms except on Xbox One which received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "Electronic Gaming Monthly" Michael Goroff, who gave one of these reviews, remarked that the game "offers a novel way to experience an open world, with its interconnected NPCs and the introduction of permadeath to the genre", noting that in this aspect the game provided a real relationship between players and the characters they recruited, particularly in ensuring their survival during a playthrough. However, Goroff noted that this aspect had a flaw, pointing out that other NPCs already recruited wouldn't react like allies when the current operative runs into them while dealing with hostiles, and that there were limitations in that players would need to search amongst considerable numbers of NPCs to find those with skills they wanted.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: "VG247"s Lauren Aitken was critical of the background of the game's story and the repetitive nature of missions, noting how their structure remains the same even when the "difficulty suddenly ramps up after the 404 and Skye Larsen storylines", while pointing out that each mission strand's storyline was relatively "short". The lack of uniqueness in the NPCs' accents was also criticized, with Aitken adding that players would mostly find it useful to go primarily for those with hacking skills, due to how much of the game requires these. Overall, they found that the game would be of interest mostly to "Watch Dogs fans and more die-hard anarchists".


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: On the other hand, IGN's Dan Stapleton praised the diversity of NPCs in the game, remarking that which NPCs the player decides to recruit can have a significant effect on the overall gameplay, and that this diversity enables numerous possibilities and encourages the player to use their creativity. Nevertheless, Stapleton argued that more could have been made of this diversity, and that the game didn't do enough to encourage the player to recruit weaker characters. Similarly, Keza MacDonald of "The Guardian" declared that the game includes "the most diverse cast in gaming history" and praised the ability to recruit any non-player character but criticized that the characters do not meaningfully interact with one another. Furthermore, she noted that the game's willingness to be political was "refreshing" and commended the "impressively well-written speeches about the forces of populism and the sinister influence of the world's data giants" but noted the disparity between the writing "pantomime evil" of the game's villains, noting that the storyline "doesn't gel with the script or voice acting, which are wacky, stuffed with puns and British slang and of wildly variable quality". She concluded that "unlike the glossy, beautiful, but samey open-worlds that have dominated the genre in the past few years, [Legion] is ambitious, imperfect and unashamedly weird" and gave it 4/5 stars.


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: Another point of criticism was the game's driving mechanics, which "VideoGamer"'s Josh Wise called "chunky".


title: Watch Dogs: Legion

text: During its first week on sale, "Watch Dogs: Legion" was the best-selling game in the UK when counting physical and digital sales, the second best-selling retail game in Switzerland at the all-format charts, and the fourth best-selling retail game in Japan at the individual-format charts. 40,962 physical copies of the PlayStation 4 version were sold that week in Japan.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce Boudreau is the head coach, Jim Rutherford serves as the president of hockey operations, and Patrik Allvin serves as the general manager.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks joined the league in 1970 as an expansion team along with the Buffalo Sabres. In its NHL history, the team has advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals three times, losing to the New York Islanders in 1982, the New York Rangers in 1994 and the Boston Bruins in 2011. They have won the Presidents' Trophy in back-to-back seasons as the team with the league's best regular-season record in the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons. They won three division titles as a member of the Smythe Division from 1974 to 1993, and seven titles as a member of the Northwest Division from 1998 to 2013. The Canucks, along with the Sabres, are the two oldest teams to have never won the Stanley Cup.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks have retired six players' jerseys in their history—Pavel Bure (10), Stan Smyl (12), Trevor Linden (16), Markus Naslund (19), Daniel Sedin (22) and Henrik Sedin (33); all but Bure and Daniel Sedin have served as team captain. All but Naslund were on one of the three Stanley Cup Finals rosters. Smyl has the distinction of being the only Canuck to have his jersey number retired at their former arena, Pacific Coliseum.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The first professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver were the Vancouver Millionaires, formed by Frank and Lester Patrick. Established in 1911, the Millionaires were one of three teams in the new Pacific Coast Hockey Association. To accommodate the Millionaires, the Patrick brothers directed the building of the Denman Arena, which was known at the time as the world's largest artificial ice rink. The arena was later destroyed in a fire in 1936. The Millionaires played for the Stanley Cup five times, winning over the Ottawa Senators in 1915 on home ice. It marked the first time the Stanley Cup was won by a West Coast team in the trophy's history. Absorbed by the Western Canada Hockey League in 1924, the team continued operations until folding at the end of the 1925–26 WHL season.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: From 1926 to 1970, Vancouver was home to only minor league teams. Most notably the present-day Canucks' minor league predecessor (also known as the Vancouver Canucks) played from 1945 to 1970 in the Pacific Coast Hockey League and the Western Hockey League.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: With the intention of attracting an NHL franchise, Vancouver began the construction of a new modern arena, the Pacific Coliseum, in 1966 (with the arena opening in January 1968). The WHL's Canucks were playing in a small arena at the time, the Vancouver Forum, situated on the same Pacific National Exhibition grounds as the Coliseum. Meanwhile, a Vancouver group led by WHL Canucks owner and former Vancouver mayor Fred Hume made a bid to be one of the six teams due to join the league in 1967, but the NHL rejected their application. Bid leader Cyrus McLean called the denial a "cooked-up deal", referring to several biases that factored against them. Speculation long abounded afterwards that the bid was hindered by Toronto Maple Leafs president Stafford Smythe; after a failed Vancouver-based business deal, he was quoted as saying that the city would not get an NHL franchise in his lifetime. Additionally, along with the Montreal Canadiens, Smythe purportedly did not wish to split Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) hockey revenues three ways rather than two.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Less than a year later, the Oakland Seals were in financial difficulty and having trouble drawing fans. An apparent deal was in place to move the team to Vancouver, but the NHL did not want to see one of their franchises from the expansion of 1967 move so quickly and vetoed the deal. In exchange for avoiding a lawsuit, the NHL promised Vancouver would get a team in the next expansion round. Another group, headed by Minnesota entrepreneur Tom Scallen, made a new presentation and was awarded an expansion franchise for the price of $6 million (three times the cost in 1967). The new ownership group purchased the WHL Canucks, and brought the team into the league with the Buffalo Sabres as expansion teams for the 1970–71 season.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: In preparation for joining the NHL, the WHL Canucks had brought in players with prior NHL experience. Six of these players (John Arbour, George Gardner, Len Lunde, Marc Reaume, Ted Taylor and Murray Hall) would remain with the club for its inaugural NHL season. The rest of the roster was built through an expansion draft.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: To fill the Canucks' roster for their inaugural season, the league held an Expansion Draft in the preceding summer. A draft lottery was held on June 9, 1970, determining who between the Canucks and Sabres would get the first selection in the Expansion Draft, as well as the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft; the Sabres won both spins. With his first selection in the Expansion Draft, Canucks General Manager Bud Poile chose defenceman Gary Doak. Among the other players chosen by Vancouver were centre Orland Kurtenbach, who was named the Canucks' first captain, as well as defenceman Pat Quinn, who later became the team's general manager and coach in the 1990s. Two days later, on June 11, 1970, the Canucks made defenceman Dale Tallon their first-ever Amateur Draft selection. Tallon played three seasons with the club before being traded away to the Chicago Black Hawks. By comparison, the Sabres chose centre Gilbert Perreault with the first overall selection they won from the lottery; Perreault went on to become a nine-time All-Star and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: With the Canucks' roster set, the team played its inaugural game against the Los Angeles Kings on October 9, 1970. They lost the contest 3–1; defenceman Barry Wilkins scored the Canucks' lone goal in the game and first in franchise history, a backhander against goaltender Denis DeJordy. Two days later, the squad recorded the first win in franchise history, a 5–3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks struggled in their early years, failing to make the playoffs in their first four seasons. Placed in the competitive East Division, Poile assembled a core of players during this period led by Kurtenbach that included defencemen Tallon and Jocelyn Guevremont, as well as wingers Andre Boudrias and Dennis Ververgaert. Boudrias emerged as the team's leading point-scorer in four of their first five seasons.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Prior to the 1974–75 season, Scallen and his ownership group from Minnesota sold the team to local media mogul Frank Griffiths for $9 million. Also in the summer of 1974, the Canucks were re-aligned within the league and placed in the new Smythe Division. They responded with their first winning record (38 wins, 32 losses and 10 ties), backstopped by goaltender Gary "Suitcase" Smith finishing first in the Division with 86 points. Making their debut in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks lost the opening series of the 1975 playoffs in five games to the Montreal Canadiens. Head Coach and General Manager Phil Maloney (the third GM in team history after Poile and Hal Laycoe) recalled the importance of a successful season for the Canucks in that year specifically, as the rival league World Hockey Association (WHA) had established another major professional team in the city, the Vancouver Blazers. Competing for the same hockey market, the Canucks emerged over the Blazers as the latter relocated to Calgary, Alberta, the following season. The Canucks posted a second consecutive winning record and made the playoffs in 1975–76, but lost to the New York Islanders in a two-game preliminary series. It would be another 16 years until the team would have another winning record though they made the playoffs nine times in that span.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Kurtenbach retired and assumed a coaching position with Vancouver. His departure as a player marked the beginning of a seven-year period in which the Canucks had four different captains – Boudrias, Chris Oddleifson, Don Lever and Kevin McCarthy. Following the 1976–77 season, Maloney was replaced as general manager by Jake Milford, who acquired such players as Stan Smyl, Thomas Gradin, Darcy Rota, Ivan Boldirev and Richard Brodeur, a core that would lead the team throughout the 1980s.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks made their first significant playoff impact in the 1982 playoffs. In their previous five playoff appearances, the team had failed to win a single series. Though the Canucks finished three games under a .500 win percentage in the 1981–82 regular season, they began gaining momentum by finishing the campaign on a nine-game unbeaten streak. Meanwhile, Smyl emerged as the club's leader, replacing McCarthy as the captain after the latter was sidelined with an injury late in the season (he would retain that position for a team-record eight years). Continuing their success in the playoffs, the Canucks made the Stanley Cup Finals with a combined 11–2 record in series against the Calgary Flames, Los Angeles Kings, and Chicago Black Hawks. Despite having a losing regular-season record, Vancouver had a home-ice advantage in the first series, having finished second in the Smythe Division to the Edmonton Oilers. The Canucks also had a home-ice advantage during the second-round series against the Kings, who upset the Oilers in the first round.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Late in Game 2 of the Conference Finals in Chicago, Vancouver Interim Head Coach Roger Neilson, frustrated with what he felt was the poor officiating in the game, placed a white towel on the end of a hockey stick and held it up in a gesture mocking surrender (waving the white flag). The players on the Canucks' bench followed suit. When the series shifted to Vancouver for the next two games, the team's fans cheered them on by waving white towels above their heads. The habit stuck, becoming an original Canuck fan tradition now seen across the league and in other sports, known as "Towel Power." The Canucks proceeded to win the series in five games, making it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in their history.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Entering the Finals against the New York Islanders, the Canucks were the first team from Western Canada to play for the Stanley Cup in 56 years, when the Victoria Cougars reached the 1926 Stanley Cup Finals. It also marked the first-ever coast-to-coast Stanley Cup Finals. Competing against the Islanders – the Stanley Cup champions of the previous two years, who had finished with 41 points more than Vancouver in the regular season standings – Vancouver took the first game to overtime. In the final minute of the extra period, Canucks defenceman and fan favourite Harold Snepsts gave the puck away with an errant pass from behind his net, leading to a Mike Bossy goal. Like the first game, the Canucks held a 3–2 lead after the first two periods in the second game, but were not able to keep their lead, and lost 6–4. The Canucks were unable to complete their Cinderella run and were swept, losing their next two games by 3–0 and 3–1 scores. The 1982 playoffs proved to be the last year in which Vancouver won a playoff series until 1992.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: After their improbable Stanley Cup run, the Canucks slipped back into mediocrity for the rest of the 1980s, making the playoffs only four times for the rest of the decade. Notable players that joined the Canucks' core following the 1982 playoffs included offensively skilled forwards Patrik Sundstrom and Tony Tanti. Beginning in 1983–84, the Canucks' scoring title was held by either Sundstrom or Tanti for four of the next five seasons, the only season in which neither won the team scoring title was , when it was won by Petri Skriko. For most of the second half of the 1980s, the Canucks competed with the Los Angeles Kings for the final playoff spot in the Smythe Division. In the years in which they qualified for the playoffs, the team was eliminated in the first round by either the Edmonton Oilers (in ) or the Calgary Flames (in , and the Flames championship season of , which was decided in Game 7), both division rivals.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Following Milford's tenure as general manager from 1977 to 1982, the position was held by Harry Neale for three years, then Jack Gordon for two. The latter was responsible for trading away power forward Cam Neely to the Boston Bruins in 1986. In addition to Neely, the Canucks gave up their 1987 first-round draft pick, with which the Bruins chose Glen Wesley, and in return acquired centre Barry Pederson. While Pederson collected back-to-back 70-point seasons with the Canucks in his first two seasons after the trade, he was traded away to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1989 as his performance quickly declined. Neely went on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Bruins, recording three 50-goal seasons, and Wesley had a solid 20-year career.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: After the installation of former Canucks defenceman Pat Quinn as general manager in the summer of 1987, the team underwent an immediate rebuilding process, trading away core veterans for younger prospects and players. Among the more key transactions was a deal with the New Jersey Devils, in which Sundstrom was traded away in exchange for winger Greg Adams and goaltender Kirk McLean. In addition to Quinn's trades, the team improved through the draft route with two selections, in particular. With the second overall selection in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, the Canucks chose winger Trevor Linden from the Western Hockey League (WHL). The following year, the team made a controversial selection by choosing Russian winger Pavel Bure 113th overall. Bure was believed by most teams to be ineligible for selection that year. Consequently, his draft by the Canucks took a year to be verified by the league as team management went about procuring documents to prove his eligibility.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: As the decade turned, a shift in the Canucks' leadership occurred as Stan Smyl resigned his captaincy prior to the 1990–91 season due to a reduced on-ice role with the team. In his place, the Canucks implemented a rotating captaincy of Linden, Dan Quinn and Doug Lidster; of the three, Linden retained the captaincy thereafter, becoming the youngest permanent captain in team history at 21 years of age. At the end of the season, Smyl retired as the team's all-time leader in games played, goals, assists and points. Led by Linden and in large part to Quinn's dealings, the Canucks rose to prominence in the early 1990s. This increased success came roughly around the time the Oilers and Flames began to sink in the standings. As a result, Vancouver won their first division title in 17 years with 42 wins, 26 losses and 12 ties during the 1991–92 season (it was also the team's first winning season since the 1975–76 season). During the campaign, the Canucks honoured Smyl, who had remained on the team as an assistant coach, by making him the first player in team history to have his jersey (number 12) retired. In the 1992 playoffs, the Canucks won their first series since 1982 before being eliminated by the Oilers in the second round. Quinn and Bure became the first Canucks recipients of major NHL awards in the off-season, being awarded the Jack Adams Award as the best coach (Quinn assumed a dual coaching and general managerial role starting that year) and the top rookie in the league, respectively. The following year, the Canucks repeated as regular-season division champions, while Bure emerged as arguably the team's first superstar with his first of back-to-back 60-goal seasons, totals which remain the highest recorded in Canucks history. As the team struggled to score in the second half of the 1993–94 season, Bure recorded 49 goals in the club's final 51 games and contributed to 46.45% of his team's goals in the final 47 games of the season to carry the Canucks into the 1994 postseason. Jim Matheson of the "Edmonton Journal" called Bure "the NHL's best forward the last 40 games, scoring almost a goal a game."


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: In , the Canucks made their second trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, entering the playoffs as the seventh seed in the renamed Western Conference. Despite underachieving in the regular season (their points total decreased by 16 from the previous year, although they finished second in the newly renamed Pacific Division), the Canucks played well in the playoffs and embarked on another unexpected run.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Opening the playoffs with a close first-round series against the Calgary Flames, Vancouver rallied from a three-games-to-one deficit to win the series in seven contests. Games 5 through 7 were all won in overtime with goals from Geoff Courtnall, Trevor Linden, and Pavel Bure respectively. The deciding seventh game featured two of the most recognizable and celebrated plays in Canucks history. With the game tied 3–3 in the first overtime, goaltender Kirk McLean made what became known thereafter as "The Save", sliding across the crease feet-first and stacking his pads on the goal line to stop Robert Reichel on a one-timer pass from Theoren Fleury. The following period, Pavel Bure received a breakaway pass from defenceman Jeff Brown before deking Calgary goaltender Mike Vernon to score and win the series. Fifteen years later, Bure's goal and McLean's save were ranked first and second in a "Vancouver Sun" article listing the "40 most memorable moments in team history."


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Following their victory over the Flames, the Canucks then upset both the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs (both in five games) en route to the franchise's second Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Forward Greg Adams sent the Canucks into the Finals with a double-overtime goal against Maple Leafs goaltender Felix Potvin in Game 5. Staging the second coast-to-coast Finals in league history, the Canucks were matched against the Presidents' Trophy-winning New York Rangers. Vancouver achieved victory in Game 1 by a score of 3–2 in overtime, largely due to a 52-save performance by goaltender McLean. After losing the next 3 games, the Canucks won the next two to force a seventh game at Madison Square Garden on June 14, 1994. Despite a two-goal effort (one on a shorthanded breakaway) from Linden (who was playing with cracked ribs), Vancouver lost the game by a 3–2 score. The Canucks' efforts to tie the game included a post hit by forward Nathan LaFayette with just over a minute remaining in regulation. The loss was followed by a riot in Downtown Vancouver, which resulted in property damage, injuries and arrests. Two days after the riots, the team held a rally at BC Place attended by 45,000 fans, who congratulated the team for their effort.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: With a young core that included Linden, Bure and McLean still in their 20s after the 1994 playoffs, the Canucks appeared poised to remain contenders in the league. However, the team failed to record a winning season in the six years following their Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Prior to the lock-out shortened 1994–95 season, Quinn stepped down as head coach to focus on his managerial duties and was replaced by Rick Ley; Vancouver finished with a .500 record that year. Their elimination from the 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs in Game 4 of the second round marked the Canucks' last game played at the Pacific Coliseum, as the team moved into the new General Motors Place (since renamed Rogers Arena), a new $160 million arena situated in Downtown Vancouver, the following season.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks made another significant move in the off-season by acquiring high-scoring Russian forward Alexander Mogilny from the Buffalo Sabres, reuniting Bure with his former CSKA Moscow and national team linemate. While Mogilny became the second player in team history to record 50 goals and 100 points in a season, chiefly playing with centre Cliff Ronning, the expected chemistry between Mogilny and Bure never materialized, with the latter suffering a season-ending knee injury early in the campaign. Vancouver finished 1995–96 two games below .500 and were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche. The season also marked the arrival of another future Canucks superstar, as Markus Naslund was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Alek Stojanov. The deal is regarded as one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history, as Stojanov soon became a minor-leaguer, while Naslund became the team's all-time leading goal- and point-scorer years later. Despite a late season swoon, Ley was fired and replaced by Quinn down the stretch. The team limped into the playoffs, losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: In the 1996 off-season, Quinn hired Tom Renney whose tenure as the team's head coach lasted less than two seasons. Despite strong performances from Mogilny and team-leading point-scorer Martin Gelinas in Bure and Linden's absence (both of whom were injured for long periods of time during the season), the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first of four consecutive seasons that year. Making another high-profile acquisition on July 27, 1997, the Canucks signed free agent Mark Messier to a three-year deal. They had come close to signing Wayne Gretzky the previous summer, but were reportedly spurned away when they refused to continue negotiations and gave Gretzky an ultimatum to sign.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Heading into the 1997–98 season, Linden resigned his captaincy for Messier, who had developed a strong reputation as a leader, having captained the New York Rangers over the Canucks in 1994 (he also captained the Oilers to a Stanley Cup in 1990). Linden later recalled regretting the decision, feeling that Messier generated hostility and tension in the dressing room. Messier later said if he could change one thing about his time in Vancouver, he would not have accepted the captaincy.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks began the campaign overseas in a two-game series against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo, Japan. It marked the first time in NHL history that a regular-season game was held outside of North America – an effort from the league to attract attention to the sport in anticipation of the 1998 Winter Olympics, which were held in Nagano, Japan. As the team's performance continued to worsen, starting the 1997–98 season with three wins in the first 16 games, Quinn was fired as general manager after ten years with the team. Soon thereafter, Renney was fired and replaced as coach by Mike Keenan, reuniting him with Messier, another central figure from the Rangers' 1994 team. Keenan's hiring reportedly exacerbated tensions between groups of Canucks players and his negative relationship with Linden was given ample media attention. Two months into his tenure with the team, his role was expanded and he was made de facto general manager. With control of player personnel, Keenan overhauled the roster, making ten trades within two months, most notably dealing Linden to the New York Islanders. Although the trade was unpopular with fans, the Canucks received winger Todd Bertuzzi in return, who would later become an integral part of the team's return to success in the next decade. Defenceman Bryan McCabe was also part of the deal, who would eventually be involved in a key transaction in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: After the Canucks finished the 1997–98 season last in the Western Conference, former NHL Vice-president Brian Burke was named general manager in the summer. Suffering their worst season since 1977–78 the subsequent year, Keenan was fired midway through and replaced with Marc Crawford (who had won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996). Meanwhile, Pavel Bure, unhappy in Vancouver, had withheld himself from the team and requested a trade at the beginning of the campaign. By January 1999, he was dealt with the Florida Panthers in a seven-player trade, which saw eventual five-time NHL All-Star Ed Jovanovski heading west. The trade also involved two draft picks. Finishing last in the Western Conference for a second-straight year, Vancouver possessed the fourth overall pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft. Set on drafting highly touted Swedish forwards Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Burke orchestrated several transactions to move up to the second and third overall picks, with which he chose both players.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks began to show improvement in the 1999–00 season, finishing four points out of a playoff spot. During the campaign, Mogilny was traded to the New Jersey Devils for forwards Denis Pederson and Brendan Morrison. With Bure gone and Messier in the last year of his contract, several previously under-achieving players began developing into key contributors for the team, most notably Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi. In the off-season, Messier left the team and returned to the Rangers; during the team's September 2000 training camp, held in Sweden, Naslund was selected to replace Messier as captain, a position he held for seven seasons. As part of the team's stay in Sweden, they played exhibition games against Swedish and Finnish teams as part of the NHL Challenge.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Under the leadership of general manager Brian Burke and head coach Marc Crawford, the Canucks once again became a playoff team. After qualifying for the postseason in 2001 and 2002 as the eighth and final seed in the Western Conference (losing to the eventual Stanley Cup winners Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings, respectively), the Canucks became regular contenders for the Northwest Division title.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Coinciding with the team's success in the early 2000s was the rise of power forward Todd Bertuzzi and captain Markus Naslund into high-scoring wingers and NHL All-Stars. Joined by centre Brendan Morrison during the 2001–02 season, the trio were nicknamed the "West Coast Express" (after the Vancouver rail service of the same name) among Canucks fans and media. Over the next three years, Naslund ranked in the top five among league scorers and was a Lester B. Pearson Award winner and Hart Memorial Trophy finalist in 2003. Bertuzzi was also a top-five scorer in the league in 2001–02 and 2002–03. During this span, Burke made a trade with the Washington Capitals to facilitate the return of Trevor Linden. The ex-captain returned to a markedly different Canucks team with a young core consisting of the aforementioned trio, defencemen Ed Jovanovski and Mattias Ohlund, as well as goaltender Dan Cloutier.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: In 2002–03, the Canucks set a franchise record with a 10-game win streak but lost the division title to the Colorado Avalanche on the last day of the regular season. Individually, Naslund was surpassed the same night by Avalanche forwards Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk for the Art Ross Trophy and Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, respectively. Entering the 2003 playoffs with the fourth seed in the West, the Canucks won their first playoff series in eight years, defeating the St. Louis Blues in seven games before losing to the Minnesota Wild in the second round. In both series, they were 3–1 comebacks; the Canucks rallied to beat the Blues, but lost their own 3–1 lead to the Wild, who had also come back from a 3–1 deficit in the first round, against the Avalanche.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Amidst a run for the team's first Northwest Division title the following season, the Canucks received significant media attention for their involvement in a violent on-ice attack during a game against the Avalanche. On March 8, 2004, Bertuzzi grabbed Avalanche forward Steve Moore from behind and punched him in the head. As Moore fell to the ice, Bertuzzi landed on top of him; Moore suffered three fractured neck vertebrae, facial cuts and a concussion. The incident was in retaliation of a hit that Moore landed on Naslund during a previous game between the two teams. For his actions, Bertuzzi was suspended by the NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) through to the start of the 2005–06 season. He also faced legal action in British Columbia court, while Moore filed lawsuits against him and the Canucks organization in Colorado and Ontario courts.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks went on to win their first Northwest Division title that season, but lost in the first round of the 2004 playoffs to the Calgary Flames. After their elimination, Burke's contract as general manager was not renewed and he was replaced by assistant general manager and director of hockey operations Dave Nonis. At 37-years-old, he became the youngest general manager in team history. Due to the NHL lockout, the 2004–05 season was not played. Several Canucks players went overseas to Europe to play professionally, including Naslund and the Sedin twins, who all returned to their former Swedish team, Modo Hockey.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Upon the resolution of the labour dispute between NHL players and owners, new gameplay rules were set in place for the 2005–06 season that were intended to benefit skilled players and generate more goal-scoring. As the Canucks' basis of success in previous seasons was built on playing a fast-paced, high-scoring style of play, expectations for the team were high going into the season. However, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs, completing the regular season ninth place in the West. The first line of Naslund, Bertuzzi and Morrison suffered offensively, as all three players recorded decreased points totals. Head Coach Marc Crawford later recalled the campaign as a turning point for the team's offensive leadership as the Sedin twins began their rise to stardom, matching the top line's production. Crawford was fired in the off-season and replaced with Alain Vigneault, who had been coach of the team's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. Three days after Vigneault's hiring, Nonis dealt Bertuzzi to the Florida Panthers, ending the "West Coast Express" era. (Naslund and Morrison would leave the team two years later.) In return, the Canucks received All-Star goaltender Roberto Luongo as part of a six-player trade. With the acquisition of Luongo, Cloutier was traded away to the Los Angeles Kings.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: With widespread changes to team personnel in 2006–07, the Canucks won the Northwest Division title for the second time in three seasons. In his first season with the Canucks, Luongo was nominated for the Hart Memorial and Vezina Trophies. He also tied Bernie Parent for the second-most wins in a single-season by an NHL goaltender, with 47. The Canucks opened the 2007 playoffs with a quadruple-overtime win against the Dallas Stars. Ending at the 138-minute mark, the game was the longest in club history and the sixth-longest in NHL history. The Canucks also set a league record for shots against in one game, allowing 76. Vancouver won the series in seven games despite a lack of goal-scoring; Stars goaltender Marty Turco recorded three shutouts in the series and equalled the league record for most shutouts in a playoff series. Advancing to the second round, the team was defeated in five games by the Anaheim Ducks, who went on to win the Stanley Cup that year. Following the playoffs, Head Coach Vigneault received the Jack Adams Award.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Suffering numerous injuries to players in the 2007–08 season, the Canucks struggled and finished three points out of a playoff spot. The final game of the season, a 7–1 loss to the Calgary Flames, marked Trevor Linden's last NHL game, as the former Canucks' all-time leading scorer retired. Having missed the playoffs for the second time in three years, the team underwent numerous personnel changes in the off-season.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: After Nonis was fired and replaced with former player agent Mike Gillis in April 2008, longtime Canucks captain Markus Naslund, as well as Brendan Morrison, were let go via free agency. Also in the off-season, on May 29, 2008, the Canucks lost defensive prospect Luc Bourdon to a fatal motorcycle crash near his hometown of Shippagan, New Brunswick.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: With Naslund's departure, Gillis announced on September 30, 2008, that Luongo had been named team captain, marking the first time since Bill Durnan of the Montreal Canadiens in 1947–48 that a goaltender had been named the captain of an NHL team. During the ensuing season, the Canucks retired their second jersey number in team history, hanging Linden's number 16 beside Smyl's number 12 in a pre-game ceremony on December 17, 2008. Later that month, the Canucks acquired unrestricted free agent Mats Sundin. The arrival of the former Toronto Maple Leafs captain and 500-goal scorer in the NHL came with high expectations. However, Sundin scored below his usual pace and retired in the subsequent off-season. The team finished the regular season with another Northwest Division title and the third seed in the Western Conference. In the 2009 playoffs, the Canucks swept their first round series against the St. Louis Blues (the first four-game sweep in franchise history), but were defeated in six games by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: In the 2009–10 season, the Canucks faced the longest road trip in NHL history, playing 14 games over six weeks, from January 27 to March 13, 2010. The schedule was a result of Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, which shut down the NHL for two weeks, facilitating General Motors Place's use for ice hockey during the games. It marked the first time that an NHL market hosted an Olympics since the league allowed its players to compete in the games, beginning with the 1998 Games in Nagano. Among the several Canucks players named to their respective national teams, centre Ryan Kesler of the United States and goaltender Roberto Luongo of Canada played against each other in the gold medal game; Luongo and Team Canada emerged with the win.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: As the NHL season resumed, Henrik Sedin went on to become the first Canucks player to win the Art Ross and Hart Memorial Trophies as the league's leading scorer and most valuable player, respectively. He achieved the feat with a franchise-record 112 points, surpassing Pavel Bure's mark of 110 set in 1991–92. Vancouver won the Northwest Division title and finished third in the Western Conference for the second-straight year. They opened the playoffs by defeating the sixth-place Los Angeles Kings in six games, but were once again eliminated by Chicago, who went on to win the Stanley Cup that year, the following round in six games.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The 2010–11 season began on October 9, 2010, with a pre-game ceremony to commemorate the team's 40-year anniversary. Henrik Sedin was named in the ceremony as the team's new captain, replacing Roberto Luongo, who had relinquished his captaincy in the off-season. The Canucks played the Los Angeles Kings, their first opponent in their inaugural season in 1970; both teams wore their original uniforms used in the Canucks' inaugural game. Throughout the season, the Canucks continued to celebrate their 40th anniversary with the creation of the "Ring of Honour", a permanent in-arena display commemorating their most significant players from past years. Four players were inducted during the campaign – Orland Kurtenbach, Kirk McLean, Thomas Gradin and Harold Snepsts. In December 2010, the Canucks also honoured Markus Naslund by retiring his number 19 jersey. Naslund had retired two years after leaving the Canucks in 2008. The team finished the season first overall in the league for the first time, winning the Presidents' Trophy. Finishing with 54 wins and 117 points, the Canucks broke the previous team records in both categories by significant margins. Individually, numerous players had career years. Daniel Sedin won the Art Ross Trophy as the league's top scorer with 104 points, marking the first time in NHL history that two brothers won the award in back-to-back years. Meanwhile, Ryan Kesler tied Daniel Sedin for the team goal-scoring lead, with 41 goals. In goal, Roberto Luongo and backup Cory Schneider captured the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals against.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Entering the 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canucks played the Chicago Blackhawks, who had eliminated Vancouver in the previous two years. While Vancouver initially took a 3–0 lead in the series, Chicago came back to win three straight games and force the series into a Game 7. Forced into overtime, winger Alexandre Burrows scored his second goal of the game following a failed clearing attempt by Chicago defenceman Chris Campoli to win the series. The Canucks played the Nashville Predators in the second round of the playoffs, defeating the Predators in six games. Facing the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals, Vancouver won in five games.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1994, the Canucks won the first two games of the series, with Boston winning the next two. Vancouver won game 5 while the Bruins won games 6 and 7 to win the Stanley Cup. After the game, riots and looting broke out in downtown Vancouver, repeating the events of 17 years earlier.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: During the season-opening game on October 6, 2011, a ceremony was held to honour Rick Rypien, who died by suicide during the off-season. For the rest of the season, the players wore decals on their helmets saying "37 RYP." The Canucks were strong contenders for much of the 2011–12 season, and clinched Presidents' Trophy, for the second consecutive year. Despite projections for another Stanley Cup run at the outset of the 2012 playoffs, the Canucks were eliminated in five games by the eventual Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Prior to the start of the 2012–13 season, the league's collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expired. Unable to agree on a new CBA, the NHL enacted a lock-out on September 15, 2012. The lock-out continued on for days, which resulted a shortened season. The Canucks wore Vancouver Millionaires replica jerseys on March 16, 2013, to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Millionaires.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: Vancouver finished the year winning their fifth consecutive Northwest Division title, but were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the San Jose Sharks. Vigneault and his coaching staff were fired at the end of the season, and replaced by John Tortorella.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks participated in their first outdoor NHL game on March 2, 2014, a match against the Ottawa Senators at BC Place. The event was titled the 2014 Heritage Classic. Luongo was traded back to the Panthers during the season, while the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time in six years. This saw Gillis fired and Linden named president of hockey operations; Tortorella was also relieved as coach after his one season.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: On May 21, 2014, Jim Benning was announced as general manager, having previously served as assistant general manager of the 2011 Boston Bruins championship team that had beaten the Canucks three years prior. On June 23, 2014, Willie Desjardins was named the 18th head coach of the Canucks. The team underwent a series of changes under the new management: veteran forward Ryan Kesler was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, and defenceman Jason Garrison was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning, while Ryan Miller and Radim Vrbata were signed as free agents. This season saw the team honour former general manager and head coach Pat Quinn, following his death, by renaming a city street after him (Pat Quinn Way) as well as having his family participate in a pregame ceremonial puck drop. The Canucks finished second in the Pacific Division in the 2014–15 season, reaching the 100 point plateau for the ninth time in franchise history. They faced the Calgary Flames in the first round of the playoffs, losing in six games.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: As the team fared poorly throughout the 2016–17 season, more veteran players were traded: Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen were dealt in an effort to rebuild. On March 25, 2017, the Canucks' 2015 first round pick Brock Boeser made his NHL debut in his home state of Minnesota. Desjardins and his coaching staff, with the exception of assistant coach Doug Jarvis, were let go at the end of the season, replaced by Travis Green who coached their AHL affiliate in Utica. They also added Nolan Baumgartner, Newell Brown, and Manny Malhotra as assistant coaches.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The 2017–18 season was another poor year for the Canucks, but rookie Boeser was a bright spot for the team. Despite an injury late in the season, Boeser's 29 goals and 55 points in 62 games were enough to place him second in Calder Memorial Trophy voting for rookie of the year. Longtime Canucks Daniel and Henrik Sedin played their final game on April 7, 2018, against the Edmonton Oilers. On June 5, 2018, longtime Canucks' public address announcer John Ashbridge died, having worked in his capacity with the franchise since 1987. During the offseason, Linden stepped down as president of hockey operations.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The 2018–19 season saw the debut of the Canucks' 2017 first-round draft pick, Elias Pettersson. Pettersson broke the Canucks' record for points by a rookie, set by Ivan Hlinka (1981–82) and matched by Pavel Bure (1991–92), and finished with 66 points to lead all NHL rookies, winning the Calder Trophy.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The franchise celebrated its 50th season in the NHL, the 2019–20 season, with a ceremony at the home opener on October 9, 2019. Bo Horvat was named the 14th captain in team history, following a one-year hiatus without a captain with the retirement of long-time captain Henrik Sedin. The 2019–20 season also saw the rookie campaign of Quinn Hughes, who finished the regular season with 8 goals and 45 assists for 53 points in 68 games, finishing as runner-up in Calder Memorial Trophy votes. The Canucks became the first team to have a top two Calder Trophy finalist three years in a row since the Toronto Maple Leafs, who did so when the league only had six teams from 1957 to 1959. On February 12, 2020, Daniel and Henrik Sedin's numbers 22 and 33 were retired before a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. On March 12, 2020, the Canucks and the NHL's season was suspended due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the league resumed play, the Canucks won their first postseason series in nine years in the 2020 Qualifying Round by defeating the Minnesota Wild. They then beat the defending Stanley Cup champions St. Louis Blues in six games in the first round before being eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games in the second round.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: General manager Jim Benning, head coach Travis Green, assistant coach Nolan Baumgartner, and assistant general manager John Weisbrod were fired on December 5, 2021, after an 8–15–2 start to the 2021–22 NHL season. On the same day, Bruce Boudreau was named the 20th head coach of the Canucks.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: On December 9, 2021, Jim Rutherford was named president of hockey operations and interim general manager. He hired Patrik Allvin as general manager on January 26, 2022.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The Canucks play their home games at Rogers Arena. The stadium opened in 1995 as General Motors Place, and seats up to 18,890 for Canucks games. Rogers Arena was also the 2010 Winter Olympics' ice hockey venue, where it was temporarily named Canada Hockey Place. The arena is owned and operated by Canucks Sports & Entertainment. Before moving to Rogers Arena, the Canucks played their home games at Pacific Coliseum in Hastings Park for 25 years. The arena currently holds 16,281 for ice hockey, though capacity at its opening was 15,713. During the 2010 Olympics, it was the venue for figure skating and short track speed skating. The Pacific Coliseum was also the home of the Western Hockey League (WHL)'s Vancouver Giants from 2001 to 2016.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The team has gone through four primary logos and six major uniform designs over the years, with numerous minor changes to each, in addition to several alternate logos and jerseys.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The team's first NHL jerseys, worn from the inaugural season of 1970–71 (modified for the 1972–73 season) until the end of the 1977–78 season, featured a hockey stick in the shape of a shallow "V" superimposed on a blue rink-shaped rectangle forming the letter "C", designed by North Vancouver artist Joe Borovich. During this era, the Canucks wore blue and white jerseys with green stripes, though for the first two seasons, a white "V" adorned the sleeve stripes. A modified version of this logo is still in use, as a shoulder patch on the team's current jerseys and as the primary logo of their alternate jerseys.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: In 1978, aiming for a more aggressive image, the organization asked San Francisco-based design agency Beyl & Boyd to design new uniforms. These consisted of a huge, yellow, red-orange and black striped "V" coming down from the shoulders (suggesting "victory", according to its designers). Hockey writer Stephen Cole described it as looking like "a punch in the eye". The colour of the home jerseys changed from white to yellow with the logo and uniform change.


title: Vancouver Canucks

text: The "Flying V" theme, which included several slight modifications over the years, was abandoned in 1985, to feature the team's emblem on the front rather than the "V" (the emblem had previously been worn only on the sleeves; the V's would appear on the shoulders from 1985 to 1989). The logo consisted of the word "Canucks" in a diagonal slant as part the blade of a skate and was designed by San Francisco graphic artist Mike Bull. The logo, with its laser-like design, was sometimes referred to as the "Star Wars" logo, the "waffle iron", the "plate of spaghetti", and most commonly as the "Flying Skate."