They joined the Western Hockey League in 1952, which they were a member of until 1970. They joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1970.

The Vancouver Canucks played their first game as part of the NHL on October 9, 1970 against the Los Angeles Kings, which they lost. They won their very next game against the Toronto Maple Leafs the next day. They made the playoffs quite often in their first few years, but it was in 1982, that they advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time. They lost to the New York Islanders who were the defending champions.

The next few years were rather lean for the Canucks. They did not have much success in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. They made it through to the Stanley Cup Finals again in 1994. This time they lost to the New York Rangers. After that the team acquired Markus Naslund and Alexander Mogilny to further strengthen their offence. The team slowly improved again and by 2001, they returned to the playoffs under Coach Marc Crawford and general manager Brian Burke. Dave Nonis replaced Burke as General Manager in 2004. The Canucks then acquired Richard Park and Anson Carter.

In 2005, the Vancouver Canucks were touted to be the Stanley Cup favorites, but disappointed fans and critics alike by finishing ninth in their conference and missing the playoffs altogether. In 2006, Coach Crawford was fired and Alain Vigneault was hired in his place. Soon after that they acquired Lukas Krajicek and Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers. Luongo soon became one of the highest paid goaltenders in the NHL along with Nikolai Khabibulin of the Chicago Blackhawks.

In April 2007, the Canucks won the Division Title, their second in three seasons. This was Luongo’s 47th victory, which made him tie the single-season win record of Bernie Parent. They went on to defeat the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs, but lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champions the Anaheim Ducks in the second round.

Markus Naslund has been the captain of the Canucks, since 2000. The home arena of the Canucks is the General Motors Place. The team is owned by Francesco Aquilini and the team colors are Forest Green, Deep Blue, Silver and White. In August 2007, the team unveiled their new uniforms and logo with the new colors. They have retired jersey number 12 of Stan Smyl. Number 11 of Wayne Maki was unofficially retired after his sudden death in 1974, but was worn again by Mark Messier.