O Captain! My Captain!
April 6, 2008
O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;
Walt Whitman
Although not official yet it would appear that Trevor Linden played his last game in the NHL on Saturday night. This marks a long and illustrious career beginning with Vancouver as the second overall draft pick in the 1988 entry draft. In his rookie year he collected 30 goals and finished runner up to Brian Leetch for the Calder award for top rookie in the league. The Hockey News had him pegged as the top rookie.
As team captain he led the Canucks to the Stanley Cup finals in 1994 where they lost a heartbreaker to the New York Rangers in the 7th game. A New York sportswriter wrote of Linden that if need be “he would skate over a litter of kittens to get to the puck”. The Canucks lost that game 3-2 with Linden scoring both Canuck goals.
The dark years of his career saw him traded to the New York Islanders after the arrival of the pompously arrogant “greatest leader in sports” Mark Messier and the vile, slimy Grinch like character known as “Iron” Mike Keenan. To cover up the fact that he is a lousy coach and that Mark Messier really is only a good leader when leading a talent laden team Keenan would lash out at Linden and place the blame for the team’s misfortunes on his shoulders. It came as no surprise that worst experiment in Canuck history (Keenan-Messier) resulted in Linden being traded to the Islanders followed by brief stints in Montreal and Washington. In 2001 Linden returned to the team where he began his career - the Vancouver Canucks.
To quote his Wikipedia entry
“Linden’s long tenure with the Canucks, deep attachment to the city of Vancouver and history of charitable community service and involvement have made him one of the most beloved and respected players among fans in franchise history”
I for one can’t wait until his #16 is retired by the organization. Kudos to you Mr. Linden … I enjoyed watching you play and in my mind you will always be the Canucks captain.
I hear ya Brownie….great guy. You should watch the highlights from the end of the game on yahoo. Iginla rallies up all the guys from the Flames to line up and go shake hands with Linden after the game…..brings tears to my eyes.
Comment by Doug — April 6, 2008 @ 8:55 pm