37 jours avant la soirée d’ouverture : Ed Jovanovski (37e meilleur buteur de tous les temps)
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Krapshoot
@Canucks de Vancouver
37 jours avant la soirée d’ouverture : Ed Jovanovski (37e meilleur buteur de tous les temps)
—
Krapshoot
6 Comments
37. Ed Jovanovski — 434GP | 56G | 171A | 227P | 1999-2006
Ed Jovanovski was born in Windsor, Ontario. His parents immigrated to Canada from Macedonia in 1973. He played junior hockey with the *hometown* Windsor *Spitfires*. Even for junior hockey, he was a big physical defenseman with NHL size. Listed at 6’3” 220-lbs, he could defend well, score, and physically dominate opponents.
In his draft season, Jovanovski played in 62-games and had 15-goals and 50-points. He also had 221-PIMs. Widely considered to be the complete package for a future NHL defenseman, Jovanovski was highly ranked and eventually selected 1st overall by the Florida Panthers in the 1994 NHL entry draft.
After being drafted, Jovanovski returned to Windsor for one more season. He continued to light up the scoreboard with 65-points in 50-games. He was also a point-per-game in the playoffs. Jovanovski was also a part of the Canadian World Junior team where they won gold in 1995.
Jovanovski had quite the rookie season. Florida went on an incredible run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1995-96. Jovanovski played a big role within the team earning league recognition through the All-Rookie team, finishing 3rd in Calder Trophy voting and 16th in Norris voting.
Jovanovski started to fall out of favor in Florida after lacking discipline, failing to stay healthy, and build off of his stellar rookie season. For example, in 1996, Jovanovski received a 3-game suspension for illegally leaving the penalty box in an attempt to fight opposing players during a break in play.
Jovanovski played 2.5 additional seasons with the Panthers before a blockbuster trade sent him from the east coast to the west coast.
On January 17th, 1999, Florida and Vancouver were in agreement on a mammoth 9-asset trade where Pavel Bure was moved to Florida along with Brad Ference, Brett Hedican, and a conditional 3rd-round pick. Going to Vancouver was Mike Brown, Dave Gagner, Kevin Weekes a conditional 1st-round pick and former #1 overall pick, Ed Jovanovski.
Jovanovski started to make an immediate impact with the rebuilding Canucks. He was beginning to establish himself as one of the team’s top defenseman when he broke his foot after blocking a shot against the New Jersey Devils. In total, Jovanovski played 31-games with the Canucks that year and averaged over 21-minutes per game.
The next three seasons were some of Jovanovski’s best with the team. He along with Mattias Öhlund were leading the charge defensively. Jovanovski was voted the team’s best defenseman from 2001-2003 and he also played in the NHL All-Star Game 4-times.
Jovanovski was integral to Vancouver’s playoff run in 2002-03. He had 8-points in 14-games while playing over 24-minutes per night. Vancouver was eliminated in Game 7 of the 2nd round against the Minnesota Wild. Jovanovski’s 7-goals led all defensemen in playoff scoring that year.
In 2003-04, Jovanovski suffered a shoulder separation against the Predators that derailed a majority of his season, but he did return in-time to help the Canucks win the Northwest Division title. Jovanovski is vividly remembered amongst Canucks fans for his celebrations in the penalty box during their elimination game versus the Calgary Flames when teammate Matt Cooke scored a game-tying short-handed goal with seconds on the clock.
The NHL lockout in 2005 was a missed opportunity at redemption for both Jovanovski and the Canucks. When hockey returned in 2005-06, Jovanovski had an injury riddled season. Dealing with groin, foot and abdominal injuries, Jovanovski missed the final 27-games of the season and Vancouver failed to qualify for the postseason.
Jovanovski had an expiring contract and was not prioritized by Canucks management who instead focused on the Sedins and recently acquired goaltender Roberto Luongo. Ultimately the Canucks didn’t have the cap space to retain Jovanovski and he signed a 5-year $32.5 Million contract with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Jovanovski played with the Coyotes from 2006-2011. After his stint with the Coyotes, he returned to the Panthers on a 4-year $16.5 Million deal.
While with the Panthers he was named captain in the 2012-13 season. However, injuries continued to persist for Jovanovski and he was shut down with season-ending surgery. After a 10-month recovery, he managed to play again in 2014. It ended up being his final NHL season as GM Dale Tallon bought out the final year of his contract that summer.
He officially retired on December 28th, 2015.
Jovanovski is 37th All-time in Canucks scoring. He ranks 4th in career games-played for his draft-class and 1st amongst defenseman. His NHL career was 18-years and he finished with exactly 500-points in 1128-games.
Jovanovski never won a Stanley Cup, but he did win gold for Team Canada at the 2002 Olympics and the 2004 World Cup.
JovoCop on patrol.
Good old Special Ed. He was a fun one to watch during the West Coast Express days.
Not ryp? Interesting Choice
Never forget, Rick Rypien #37 ❤️
Before Quinn joined the team, Jovocop would’ve been my pick for most skilled defenceman the canucks have ever had.