VanIslander said:
It hurts me to even admit that I have been personally disappointed with the career of Trevor Linden since the season after the '94 Cup run. Early in his career he was a high impact player, young team leader, NHL Ironman, well deserving of his being drafted 2nd overall. He captains the Canucks to game seven of the Stanley Cup and himself scores both goals in the 3-2 loss. That was the pinnacle of his career.
The last ten years has been mostly a disappointment. He has gone from HHOF material to NHL regular.
I still like him, but "disappointing" his career definitely has been.
Linden was highly productive for a few years after 1994. 40 points in 48 games in the lockout season, then a career high of 80 points in 1995-96. Then 40 points in 49 games in 1996-97, still around his usual 70-point pace.
What killed him were two knee injuries, one in 1996-97, the other the following year. In his younger years, he was an outstanding skater and a powerful transition player - scored a lot of highlight-reel goals, and was really dangerous on the rush. Past that point, his jump and skating ability never seemed the same. He wasn't slow, but the explosiveness was gone.
And of course he was made Keenan's whipping boy in 1997. Treated like garbage, completely ruined his confidence.
The other point to be made is that his dropoff isn't as bad as it looks because of the trend in league scoring at the time. In the 5-8 years post 1993, scoring in the league dropped 30-35%. Everyone's totals dropped - 100 point players became 70 point guys (see Jeremy Roenick). Pro-rate his 40-50 point seasons for the era, and he's still in the 55-60 point range for most of the last 6-7 years. A dropoff to be sure, but not as dreadful as it's made out to be.
BTW, Jim Carey is prob my vote for most disappointing career.
