CA’s All-Time Greatest Canucks Team: Trevor Linden
By Jeremy Davis
8 years ago
I’m relatively certain that the only reason I was brought on here at Canucks Army is because I was the only person left in the Canuck blogosphere that will still write good things about Trevor Linden, and everything else I post here is just collateral damage.
Born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Trevor Linden was a proud westerner taken 2nd overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by Pat Quinn and the Vancouver Canucks. He became something that Canucks fans were not used to – a draft pick that paid immediate dividends. Linden scored 30 goals in his rookie season and demonstrated a level of work ethic that was unheard of in a teenager. And that was only the beginning.
Regardless of how you feel about his managerial skill in the present day, we’re going to spend some time reliving the Linden we knew from 1988 to 2008. Let’s get on with my glowing assessment of Trevor Linden, the player – easily one of the greatest Canucks of all time.
Career Statistics
(Courtesy Hockey Reference)
Most Memorable Moments
Oh boy.
Canucks Milestones
Trevor Linden is etched all over the Canucks record books. He still owns nearly every Canucks playoff record, and owned most of the regular season records at one point or another, before Naslund and the Sedins arrived.
- 4th All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Points (733)
- 3rd All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Goals (318)
- 3rd All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Assists (415)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Games Played (1140)
- 4th All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Powerplay Goals (97)
- 4th All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Powerplay Points (231)
- 3rd All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Shorthanded Goals (15)
- 4th All-Time in Canucks Regular Season Game Winning Goals (33)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Points (95)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Goals (34)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Assists (61)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Games Played (118)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Powerplay Goals (15)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Powerplay Points (38)
- 1st All-Time in Canucks Playoff Shorthanded Goals (3)
- 4th All-Time in Canucks Playoff Game Winning Goals (5)
- 2nd Highest Points Total by a Canucks Rookie (59)
- 2nd Highest Goal Total by a Canucks Rookie (30)
- 2nd Highest Assist Total by a Canucks Rookie (29)
- 2nd Highest Games Played Total by a Canucks Rookie (80)
- Highest Powerplay Goals Total by a Canucks Rookie (10)
Legacy
When he took the job as Canucks president, Trevor Linden said that he knew that he was risking tarnishing his glorious reputation as a player. It seems that after only a year, we’ve already arrived at that point. The view of Linden the president has already warped the way he is remembered as a player.
Some of this can be chalked up to age and cognitive biases, such as the recency effect. In younger fans, there is a tendency to remember more the Trevor Linden of the mid-2000’s, a veteran role player playing a depth role on a mid-level team. But summating Linden’s career based on what happened at the end of it is to ignore some of the greatest performances this town has seen.
As a 2nd overall pick, Linden was above average from the start. A six-time 30-goal scorer, he racked up points as much through sheer hard work as he did with skill. With a career high of 80 points, his production to a back seat to the likes of Pavel Bure and Greg Adams, although he was better known as an all-around player – the type you wanted to have on the ice with a minute remaining, whether leading or trailing. He achieved the title of Canucks All-Time leading scorer through perseverance and longevity.
His playoff prowess is not to be forgotten. He still holds nearly every Canuck playoff record, aided by the fact that he tied for the team lead in points in his last playoff appearance in 2007 – at the age of 36.
But he did his real damage in 1994, a playoff run in which he had 12 goals in 24 games. One of those goals was an overtime winner forcing a game 7 against Calgary after falling behind 3 games to none in the first round. He scored big goal after big goal until June 14th, 1994 when he tried to put his team on his back and carry it to a championship. Linden put 7 shots on net in Game 7, leading both teams by a wide margin, scoring twice. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Off the ice Linden became a pillar of the community, a role that he continues to fulfill today. He has done a considerable amount of charity work, a leading member of the movement spearheaded by the Pat Quinn administration that encouraged Canuck players to be active in the community. For his charitable efforts, he has been awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy (1997) and the NHL Foundation Player Award (2008), given to NHL players who have contributed significantly to their community, as well as the Order of Canada in 2010.
Linden’s combination of one ice work ethic, community and charitable involving endeared him to fans and made him among the most beloved figures in BC sports. He earned and retained the nickname “Captain Canuck”, despite the fact that he hasn’t worn the C since 1997.
As I’m certain everyone reading this already knows, Linden became the Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations in 2014, and reviews are mixed (to put it nicely) after single year. Regardless of how his actions as President shift public opinion, the memories of Trevor Linden as a player should never be forgotten. If you’ve got some Linden memories of your own from his time as a player, now is the time to unleash them. Linden has earned his spot on the All-Time Greatest Canucks team and there he will stay.
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