After working with the NHL from 1980 to 2025, Vancouver Canucks Equipment Manager Pat O’Neill is hanging up the skates for the last time in his career. Last night’s match against the Vegas Golden Knights was O’Neill’s final game before retirement.
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To commemorate his storied career, players’ locker room name plates were changed to bear O’Neill’s name and the logos of each team that he worked for. During one of the game’s stoppages in play, both the Canucks, the opposing Golden Knights, and the fans applauded his illustrious career. At the end of their applause, he lifted and waved a white towel.
“I’ve been very fortunate because this is the most fun anyone could have doing a job that’s very demanding and fruitful,” O’Neill said in a press conference before last night’s game.
Canucks legend Trevor Linden was also in attendance at O’Neill’s last game. The former Captain, who spent 16 seasons with Vancouver, joined the Canucks around the same time that O’Neill did.
“He saw my first, he saw my last, and now I’m coming to see his last,” Linden said of catching O’Neill’s final game.
While he initially got his NHL career started with the Winnipeg Jets, O’Neill has been with Vancouver since the 1989–90 regular season. In the 45 years he has spent working in NHL locker rooms, he named those Stanley Cup runs as some of his favourite moments.
“The Stanley Cup things were really special. We could have been there, we were as close as you can get. I’ll take that. It’s a win for myself.”
“Every time I talked to Patty, after a game or whether I was struggling, just wisdom. The experience, the years, goes back to the Winnipeg Jets days. Just one of those old-school great trainers and the game is going to miss him for sure,” former Canuck Kevin Bieksa said of his experiences with O’Neill in the room.
As O’Neill mentioned yesterday, this season has helped him “ease into” retirement. After he approached Canucks management at the end of last season, O’Neill and the organization worked out a transition deal that allowed him to “half travel” with the team. While he had the option to only work home games, O’Neill opted for joining the team on the road occasionally due to his appreciation for travelling.
O’Neill was very complimentary about the players and staff that he has worked with throughout his career, being unable to name a favourite player or particular coach. He did, however, mention Alain Vigneault and Pat Quinn.
“It’s a great group of guys, it’s a pleasure being around them and working with them,” he said of ending his career with the current group of guys in the Canucks locker room.
In terms of players with unique habits, O’Neill named the polarizing former Canuck Mark Messier. “Mess was demanding. He was great about it, don’t get me wrong, but he’d move his blade this much every period, so kept me pretty busy.”
With O’Neill’s departure from the organization, locker room maintenance now shifts to the Canucks’ current training staff. When asked whether he’s leaving the players in capable hands, he asserted that they’re simply the best. “This group here, there’s not a worry in my mind.”
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