Western Family and the Vancouver Canucks teamed up to create Bar Down Blast, a limited-edition ice cream. Vanilla flavoured blue ripple ice cream and caramel-filled mini chocolatey pucks.
What do Harold Snepsts, Trevor Linden, and Joseph LaBate have in common? All three of them have gone over 1,000 days between games played for the Vancouver Canucks.
At least, that’s the company LaBate will join when he suits up for the Canucks on Tuesday night.
With a rash of injuries decimating the Canucks’ forward group, the hulking LaBate was recalled from the Abbotsford Canucks. He skated on the fourth line during morning skate ahead of the Canucks contest versus the Pittsburgh Penguins.
If the name LaBate sounds familiar, that’s because he’s played for the Canucks before.
The Minnesota native was selected by the Canucks in the fourth round of the 2011 draft. He played 13 games for the franchise back in 2016-17.
Now, nearly a decade later, he’s slated to suit up for the Canucks once again.
Joe LaBate on his 8 1/2-year journey back to Canucks NHL lineup.
“It’s incredible. Honestly, it’s hard to put into words. If I think hard about it, it’s emotional. Yeah, it’s been a journey. But I’m just so happy to be here and help this team. I’ll do everything I can.”
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) October 21, 2025
“It’s incredible,” LaBate told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. “I’m just so happy to be here and help this team. I’ll do everything I can.”
LaBate last suited up for the Canucks on March 28, 2017, against the Anaheim Ducks.
To set the scene of how long that was, the Canucks went up against a Ducks team that had Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa on the roster. The Sedins were in the lineup that night, and Ryan Miller was in net. Nikita Tryamkin was second among Canucks in ice time that night, behind only Alex Edler.
Brock Boeser was the only current Canucks player who skated in that game. Willie Desjardins was still the head coach. At the time, the Canucks hadn’t drafted Elias Pettersson or Quinn Hughes yet.
Yes, it’s been a while.
LaBate has been on a journey ever since the Canucks decided not to re-sign him back in 2018. During his last season with Vancouver’s former AHL team, the Utica Comets, LaBate suffered a hip injury that nearly ended his career.
But, much like he’s done throughout his entire career, LaBate continued to fight.
LaBate last played for the Canucks in March of 2017. (Jeff Curry/Imagn Images)
The 32-year-old spent the next five years on AHL-only contracts, suiting up for three different teams in the minors. Then in 2023-24, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound forward played for Kazakhstan’s lone KHL team, where he got to be the team’s top-line centre.
He parlayed that into a two-way contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets, where he got back into the NHL for six games last season.
Now, for the first time in his career, he’s set to play NHL games in back-to-back seasons.
Of course, he’ll get to do so while wearing Canucks colours this time, something he hasn’t done in 3,130 days.
That put LaBate in the same company as other famoue ex-Canucks. Snepsts, a fan favourite defenceman from the early years of the Canucks, spent 1,642 days between games for the Canucks after he was traded by the team in 1984, before returning in 1988.
Linden was another fan-favourite who returned after a 1,000+ day absence. He was infamously traded away in February of 1998, before the Canucks re-acquired him in 2001. There was a gap of 1,386 days between games for Linden prior to his return.
