Linden absolutely deserves his position as one of the Canucks' best, but I think some perspective is needed, because there definitely is a strong nostalgia filter with him. If Linden were the identical player, but came along 2-3 years later when the Canucks were on the rise – obviously in part due to him, but ignoring that for a second – does he occupy the same space in our hearts?
What made Linden a big deal was that he was the first bright spot to come along in a long time, getting Calder consideration and immediately becoming the face of the team... but because the team was very bad to that point. The bar was so low that it didn't take much for fans to latch onto Linden as a savior. And don't get me wrong, I loved him too (and even sort of went with "team Linden" over "team Bure" back when that was a thing), and I think he deserves to have his number retired simply for what he meant to a success-starved franchise, and his visibility in the community. But if this is a team with Bure, Ronning, Courtnall et al already on it, and Linden is not a one-man show for his first few seasons... I can't believe his legacy is viewed the same way.
On cold, hard, pure hockey analysis... pretend Linden was the identical player, but played most of his career in, like, Hartford. Looking at him as an outsider, do you clearly take him over a guy like Öhlund every time? (Well, power forwards are overrated writ large, so probably yes, but it's closer than we probably presume).
It should be said, Linden was an iron man for the first part of his career and a dependable scorer. Once injuries finally set in, the latter half of his career was pretty underwhelming, though, and the poll is meant to relate to the player on a whole, not his relationship with the Canucks as such.
