Tom Kurvers (1962-2021) (NHL 1984-1995, Canucks 1990-1991) | 24 | D

[Kevin Biestra]

I was looking up one of the most talented defensemen we've ever had in a Canucks jersey (Tom Kurvers achieved this a little quietly as some defensemen do in their careers elsewhere like Reed Larson, John Van Boxmeer, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Doug Crossman, etc.) and learned that Kurvers died a few years ago and I hadn't heard about it.

 

Kurvers was only a Canuck for 32 games, but he scored 27 points on the blueline in those games, an awesome pace and one that would have set the Canucks record for a full season right up until the arrival of Quinn Hughes.  As it is, Kurvers had four really good seasons.  66, 56 and 52 points and then also 45 in his rookie year when he was 11th for the Calder Trophy in 1985.

 

Kurvers had 421 points in 659 NHL games and won the Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1986 as part of probably one of the best defense corps ever assembled (including Chris Chelios, Larry Robinson, Petr Svoboda, Craig Ludwig and Kurvers).

 

He was part of an interesting three-way defenseman series of trades in connection with the Canucks.  First we got him for our forgotten All Star Brian Bradley (from Toronto who had traded the draft pick that became Scott Niedermayer to get Kurvers).  Then in a three-team deal of very good defensemen, Kurvers went to the Islanders, Craig Ludwig went to the Minnesota North Stars, and we got Dave Babych.  Well, the rest is history and Babych (who had scored 70-something points in a season) was a key piece in our 1994 run to the Cup Final.

 

But Tom Kurvers had put in an absolutely excellent showing as a Canuck and I was pretty surprised at the time when we let go of him.  He did have 56 points for the Islanders the following season and we were lucky to get another Tom Kurvers a few years later in Jeff Brown.

 

I just learned that Tom Kurvers died of lung cancer in 2021.  Rest in peace.

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 03:06 AM by Kevin Biestra

[Sophomore Jinx]

37 minutes ago, Kevin Biestra said:

I was looking up one of the most talented defensemen we've ever had in a Canucks jersey (Tom Kurvers achieved this a little quietly as some defensemen do in their careers elsewhere like Reed Larson, John Van Boxmeer, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Doug Crossman, etc.) and learned that Kurvers died a few years ago and I hadn't heard about it.

 

Kurvers was only a Canuck for 32 games, but he scored 27 points on the blueline in those games, an awesome pace and one that would have set the Canucks record for a full season right up until the arrival of Quinn Hughes.  As it is, Kurvers had four really good seasons.  66, 56 and 52 points and then also 45 in his rookie year when he was 11th for the Calder Trophy in 1985.

 

Kurvers had 421 points in 659 NHL games and won the Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1986 as part of probably one of the best defense corps ever assembled (including Chris Chelios, Larry Robinson, Petr Svoboda, Craig Ludwig and Kurvers).

 

He was part of an interesting three-way defenseman series of trades in connection with the Canucks.  First we got him for our forgotten All Star Brian Bradley (from Toronto who had traded the draft pick that became Scott Niedermayer to get Kurvers).  Then in a three-team deal of very good defensemen, Kurvers went to the Islanders, Craig Ludwig went to the Minnesota North Stars, and we got Dave Babych.  Well, the rest is history and Babych (who had scored 70-something points in a season) was a key piece in our 1994 run to the Cup Final.

 

But Tom Kurvers had put in an absolutely excellent showing as a Canuck and I was pretty surprised at the time when we let go of him.  He did have 56 points for the Islanders the following season and we were lucky to get another Tom Kurvers a few years later in Jeff Brown.

 

I just learned that Tom Kurvers died of lung cancer in 2021.  Rest in peace.

 

 

 

Another rarely thought of, highly skilled defenseman, I remember him well. He put up GREAT numbers over a relatively short career, and 66 points in 74gp with NJD in the late 80's (I had to cheat and look it up, I did recall he had huge numbers though haha) and even on the Laffs he was decent...averaged 52 points per season over his career.....all that, from a 7th round pick!

Edited Thursday at 03:42 AM by Sophomore Jinx

[Kevin Biestra]

16 hours ago, Sophomore Jinx said:

Another rarely thought of, highly skilled defenseman, I remember him well. He put up GREAT numbers over a relatively short career, and 66 points in 74gp with NJD in the late 80's (I had to cheat and look it up, I did recall he had huge numbers though haha) and even on the Laffs he was decent...averaged 52 points per season over his career.....all that, from a 7th round pick!

 

Glad someone remembers him...  He's a forgotten guy like some of those other guys I named (Doug Crossman etc.) from an era of really talented defensemen.  Our own Doug Lidster, Rick Lanz, Doug Halward etc. are in the same category and then there were plenty of guys I didn't name... It's pretty a wild era of talent when guys like Kevin Hatcher & Steve Duchesne (80 points in a season) are the THIRD tier of talent (after guys like Randy Carlyle and Gary Suter) and then guys like Kurvers and Crossman are probably the fourth tier...all of whom would have been mega millionaires had they played a few decades later.

 

Kurvers and those other four guys I named (Reed Larson, John Van Boxmeer, Reijo Ruotsalainen, Doug Crossman) might be the most skilled defensemen in NHL history that almost nobody knows now.  Maybe them, Barry Beck and Ron Greschner.  I'm pretty sure Doug Crossman made the roster of one of the golden era 1980s Canada Cup teams with Gretzky and most people don't know that our own Canucks early 1970s rookie sensation blueliner Jocelyn Guevremont was on the 1972 Canada vs Russia summit team.  Guevremont would have set the NHL record for points by a rookie defenseman (breaking Bobby Orr's record) if our own Dale Tallon hadn't broken that very record the previous year.

 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 08:20 PM by Kevin Biestra