4th best VAN draft pick, selection 1-30

[vadim sharifijanov]

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.

have to disagree with you there, lumme. i mean, anyone saying linden > bure, or linden > sedins, yeah i can buy that that's nostalgia.

but linden's a guy who lasted almost 1,400 games in the league, and played a very high level for the first eight seasons, before having a rough patch that he eventually turned around to become a useful role player. he has a signature playoff run and he scored 80 points in his first 79 playoff games.

sure, cam neely > linden, no question. but rick vaive? petr nedved? linden equalled both guys' playoff stats combined before he even came back to vancouver for the second run.

and believe me, i loved ohlund. in fact, ohlund was far and away my favourite canuck basically the entire eleven years he was here, except maybe for bure in '98. and i wasn't even a linden fan, though i appreciated him. but i really don't think you can say that ohlund had a better career than linden. i mean, ohlund certainly never did anything like '94, and he certainly never came as close to winning an award as linden did to the selke in '96 (unless you count the calder, but linden has him beat there too). and obviously linden played 1.5 as many games as ohlund did, while also playing in more all-star games.

honestly, i think if linden was on some other team, some of us here would respect his accomplishments more.

The bolded. The legend of Linden in Canuck land is far greater than his actual play deserves in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong I always thought he was a very good player but never even close to one of the elites in the league.

I can see a case being made for both Lever and Ohlund over him. Not that anyone is wrong for picking anyone they want it is only our opinions after all.

is there something about don lever i don't know? i was too young to have seen him so i'm willing to be educated...

 

[Jyrki21]

Well articulated, Vadim, and I don't disagree (I wasn't taking a position against him, to be clear, just noting the nostalgia filter. A lot of other fanbases think Canuck fans are nuts in their valuation of Linden, but that's also common, like the Leafs with their Clark & Gilmour idolatry).

 

[Wisp]

clark and gilmour should give perspective on how sad linden worship is.

blah-blah 1994... after 2011, my eyes opened and I refuse to celebrate such almost-victories any longer. there are parts i'll remember fondly, but I won't sit around pretend it was legendary.

Turning the canucks "legitimate" as a player is a pretty low bar for greatness, especially when I perceive him to be dragging the team in the opposite direction as an executive.

i had a linden "Trevorland" poster on my wall as a kid. I grew up. as is, I'd hit Ohlund and then Kesler before voting for him.

 

[Intangibos]

People voting Ohlund over Linden...

Ohlund was a better player than Linden

is it inflammatory to wonder whether everyone not voting for linden this round either was born after the fall of the berlin wall or is a self-hating canucks fan?

I voted for the best player, arguably. Nedved was pretty good too, tbh. Linden was great for the team, but he wasn't the best player. His best attribute was that he played as hard as he could every night when it counted, and that's great. But Ohlund was a very good hockey player and did a lot for this franchise as well.

This poll has been insane. Linden should've been #1 with a bullet. Completely changed this franchise in an instant.

I voted for the superior player, not who was drafted at the right time to turn the franchise around. Honestly, Linden turned this franchise around in an instant twice. Although the second time was when he netted us Todd Bertuzzi, which I'd argue was bigger for us.

If you want to pick fan favourites, then by all means pick Linden. I chose to vote for best players and I'd pick Ohlund > Nedved > Linden in that regard. Hell, I might even throw Schneider ahead of Linden once his career is over if he keeps up his level of play, but he isn't there yet.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

ohlund, well i disagree but i can see the argument.

what possible argument is there for nedved?

 

[Intangibos]

ohlund, well i disagree but i can see the argument.

what possible argument is there for nedved?

Nedved wasn't good for the franchise, but he was a good player.

1. Mario Lemieux*-PIT 161
2. Jaromir Jagr-PIT 149
3. Joe Sakic*-COL 120
4. Ron Francis*-PIT 119
5. Peter Forsberg*-COL 116
6. Eric Lindros-PHI 115
7. Teemu Selanne-2TM 108
Paul Kariya-MDA 108
9. Sergei Fedorov*-DET 107
Alexander Mogilny-VAN 107
11. Doug Weight-EDM 104
12. Wayne Gretzky*-2TM 102
13. Petr Nedved-PIT 99
Mark Messier*-NYR 99
15. Keith Tkachuk-WIN 98
16. John LeClair-PHI 97
17. Pierre Turgeon-MTL 96
Theoren Fleury-CGY 96
19. Steve Yzerman*-DET 95
20. Vincent Damphousse-MTL 94

I guess he was playing with Mario and Jagr, but he still put up good point totals throughout his career, higher than those of Linden by a fair bit. It's definitely closer than Ohlund vs Linden. Linden was a great leader for the team and that certainly counts in a draft pick. Me wanting to pick Nedved over Linden might just be overcompensation for him being underrated because of his time with the Canucks, to be honest. I still think Linden and Nedved are in a tier behind Ohlund, though, and Schneider has been playing spectacularly and if that play continues would move him ahead of Linden/Nedved IMO.