Rafter bound
June 12th, 2008 by thewordbirdWith the announcement of Trevor Linden’s retirement on Wednesday morning, a massive outpouring of anecdotes, replayed action and best wishes have dominated the Vancouver sports scene.
Who could forget Trevor captaining the Canucks through the ‘94 playoffs? His draft #2 overall in 1988 and play as an eighteen year-old? The elation when he arrived ‘back’ to skate for Vancouver?
There are so many memories and yet they do not even come close to ending with hockey. His off-ice efforts are extraordinary in the community (Canuck Place, B.C. Children’s Hospital to name but a few) and his servitude with the NHLPA is outstanding (team representative and eventually Chairman).
‘TL’ is the man and could usurp any mayor at any time in British Columbia. Another area of interest for the former Memorial Cup winner [Medicine Hat] is broadcasting….
I encourage any readers to go to the Canucks homepage at www.canucks.nhl.com to read all the fanfare about yet another of Trevor’s big days. That is of course, after they are done perusing all of Hockeyanalysis.com’s fabulous content!
Truly a professional, Trevor Linden embodied the grit, presence and panache that hockey players strive for. A natural leader and outstanding individual, #16 will surely be raised to the rafters at the first opportune time next season.
Robin Keith Thompson
June 12th, 2008
One Response to “Rafter bound”
By Jason C on Jun 14, 2008
TheSpin had Kouleas, Ludzik, and Strachan debate about who was the greatest Canuck. Kouleas had Captain Kirk, who really had one good playoff run and two decent seasons. Ludzik went with Bure, who is the second most talented player to ever play for us (the first being Mogilny), and Strachan went with Brodeur, purely on the basis of his ‘82 Cup run.
I, however, have to go with Linden. He was drafted by us, developed by us, led us to a thrilling final, perhaps the best captain ever, and an all-rounded person and hockey player. His off-ice accomplishments matched or exceeded his on-ice accomplishments, and that speaks volumes about who he is. He was always the face of the franchise, and to me there was no one better to ever don a Canucks uniform. He is the greatest Canuck ever.