Fan favourite defenceman signs one-day contract to retire with the Canucks

Kevin Bieksa, the rugged defenseman who patrolled the Vancouver Canucks blue line for a decade, has signed a one-day contract so he can retire in the city where his NHL career began.

Bieksa hasn’t played a professional hockey game in five years, but he never officially retired.

The contract doesn’t pay Bieksa a dime, but he took part in the team’s morning skate on Thursday and said stepping back onto the ice at Rogers Arena was priceless.

“Coming back and walking in this arena, stepping on the ice, I don’t know if you guys saw the morning skate, but I dominated out there,” he joked with the media following his spin with the current Canucks.

Bieksa first joined the Canucks in 2005 after spending parts of three seasons with the Manitoba Moose, their then-farm team in the American Hockey League.

He was part of the 2010-2011 team that came within one win of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

After participating in the morning skate for a few minutes Thursday, he quickly changed and joined his family in the stands, where he shared a special moment with his mom.

"My mom, as soon as I saw her, she was like, 'There were so many good memories in this rink,'" Bieksa said.

Among those many memories, the one that likely stands out more than any other came in double overtime of Game 5 of the 2011 Western Conference finals against the San Jose Sharks.

With the Canucks pressing in the San Jose zone, the puck caromed off a stanchion along the boards and went directly to Bieksa who slapped a low bouncing shot into the net before most players on the ice even knew where the puck was.

The overtime winner sent the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals, where they would go on to lose in seven games to the Boston Bruins.

By 2015, the Canucks were in a rebuilding mode and they traded Bieksa to the Anaheim Ducks, where he would spend his final three NHL seasons.

Never one to shy away from the physical part of the game, Bieksa was a fierce competitor known for sticking up for his teammates.

Those traits also earned the respect of opposing players and coaches, like current Canucks bench boss Bruce Boudreau.

"He was as good a team player as you're ever going to find," Boudreau said. "If anybody got in trouble, he was there to protect you."

Now a broadcaster on Hockey Night in Canada, Bieksa says his most memorable moments in professional hockey took place with Vancouver Canucks and he always wanted to retire in Canucks colours..

"We had a good thing going for a long time. A lot of great memories," he said. "We had a really great culture and a lot of success. So I always consider myself a Canuck."