If this is the end for Alex Burrows in Vancouver, it was a hell of a run. The man who many refer to as “Ball Hockey Gretzky” has brought the Canucks some of their best moments of the Salary Cap Era while creating one of the better come-up stories around in the process. This year, however, you could see the wheels slowly but surely coming off of what has been a stellar career, which may lead to his time in the rebuilding organization coming to a close. Let’s take a look at the year that was:

Alex saved the best for last, scoring an absolute beauty in Cam Talbot in the season finale in front of a super appreciative home crowd. With my luck, I dusted off his jersey and threw it on my back for my first ever Canucks home game (I’m a provincial foreigner, sorry) a few nights before and didn’t get to see this, but being surrounded by a ton of fans who were happy to enjoy the moment, without worries of lottery percentages or any of the suffering-inducing crap that the months prior afforded was awesome. The trademark celly for Luc Bourdon sealed the deal.

We all knew the day was coming where Burrows was going to dry up a bit offensively. That doesn’t change the fact that it was still a bit disappointing to see. His 9 goals and 22 points are the fewest that he’s put up in a 50+ game season since 2006/07.

Unlike that year nearly a decade ago, though, Burrows still remained a positive contributor to the team’s possession game compared to his peers. This has been a constant throughout the past decade, which speaks volumes for how effective Burrows is at engaging cycles and getting shots into areas where they can turn into goals. With that said, the gap between him and the curve is shrinking with age.

Burrows continues to be even more effective in getting the puck closer to the net than he is at getting it there in general. He benefits from being able to break up the opposition’s efforts to create a quick counter attack and his fearlessness in getting to the net, and that hasn’t stopped even at 34 (now 35) years old.

Alex Burrows might have his detractors outside of Vancouver, but he’s a player that this city will always collectively root for, and for good reason. He’s forever the underdog and is able to channel that into a gritty, yet effective and entertaining form of hockey which really encapsulates what the city is all about.

Unfortunately, his brightest days are all but certainly behind him, and for the Canucks to have another generation of success, it might be best for them to allow another team (with cap space and a need for a veteran winger) to embrace him. It’s going to be rough seeing him in another jersey if that happens, but at least there are some great memories left behind, even in a down year like this one.