Trevor Linden

Trevor Linden,(born April 11, 1970, in Medicine Hat, Alberta) is a retired Canadian professional player. He played centre and right wing with four different teams: the Vancouver Canucks (in two stints), New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals. Before joining the NHL in 1988, Linden helped the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) win consecutive Memorial Cup championships. In addition to appearing in two NHL All-Star games, Linden was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic team and participated in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

Throughout his career, Linden has been recognized as a respected leader on and off the ice. He was named [captain]] of the Vancouver Canucks at the age of 21, making him one of the youngest captains in league history. While captaining the Canucks, Linden led the team to within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. It was during this time that he began to be called Captain Canuck. In 1998 he was elected President of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), a position he held for eight years. As President, he played an instrumental role in the 2004–05 NHL lockout, including taking a direct role in negotiations with league owners. Off the ice, Linden has taken an active role in charities, and was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership on the ice and humanitarian contributions off the ice in 1997, as well as the NHL Foundation Player Award in 2008. After 19 seasons in the NHL, Linden retired on June 11, 2008, twenty years to the day after he was drafted into the NHL. Linden's jersey number 16 was retired by the Canucks on December 17, 2008, the second number retired by the team.

Early life
Linden joined the WHL Medicine Hat Tigers for the final five games of the 1985–86 regular season, where he scored two goals; he also appeared in six playoff games, scoring one goal. The next season, at the age of 16, he made the team full-time. In his first full season in the WHL, Linden had 36 points in 72 games, and then had nine points in 20 playoff games, including two goals in the championship game, helping Medicine Hat win their first Memorial Cup as Canadian junior champions. The next year, Linden had 110 points in 67 games, and led the Tigers to their second consecutive Memorial Cup title. During the 1988 WHL playoffs, Linden set a WHL playoff record by scoring the fastest goal from the start of a game, scoring seven seconds into a 6-5 Tigers win over the Saskatoon Blades on April 15 1988. At the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, the Vancouver Canucks selected Linden second overall, after the Minnesota North Stars selected Mike Modano

Vancouver Canucks (1988–1998)
Linden made his NHL debut on October 6, 1988 against the Winnipeg Jets, aged 18. He scored his first goal on October 18, 1988, against Kelly Hrudey of the New York Islanders and later, on November 17, he scored his first hat trick against the Minnesota North Stars. Linden finished the season tied for the team lead in goals (30) and second for points (59). He was the first Canucks rookie to score 30 goals. Linden also became the first rookie to win the Cyclone Taylor Award, given to the Canucks' most valuable player. He was named to the NHL All-Rookie Team, and finished second to Brian Leetch, of the New York Rangers, in voting for the Calder Trophy, given to the rookie of the year. The Canucks made the playoffs in the 1988–89 season, for the first time in three years, and Linden scored seven points in the Canucks' seven-game series loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames.

In his sophomore NHL season, Linden finished second on the team in goals, with 21, and points, 51, and finished third in assists with 30. The following year, he was one of three Canucks to share a rotating captaincy (the others being Doug Lidster and Dan Quinn). Linden led the team with 37 assists and 70 points, and made his first appearance in an NHL All-Star Game, where he was the youngest player. At the age of 21, he was made sole captain of the team, becoming the youngest Canucks captain. That season, Linden led the Canucks in scoring for a second straight year with 75 points (31 goals and 44 assists), leading the Canucks to their first division title since the 1974–75 season. They repeated as Smythe Division champions the following year, setting franchise records for wins and points. For the third straight season, Linden surpassed 30 goals and 70 points, finishing with totals of 33 goals and 72 points.

In the 1993–94 season, Linden scored 32 goals, the fifth time in six seasons he had scored at least 30, but his points total fell to 61 as the Canucks finished 10 points behind the division leader. Although they were the seventh seed in the playoffs, the Canucks reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 12 years and second time in team history. Playing the New York Rangers, Linden went up against Rangers captain Mark Messier and led the Canucks to a seventh and deciding game. Despite two goals by Linden, the Canucks lost, 3–2. Linden finished second on the team in playoff scoring, with 12 goals and 25 points.

In the 1995–96 season, Linden had 33 goals, 47 assists and 80 points, the most he has ever collected in all three statistical categories. The following season marked the end of Linden's ironman streak; between October 4, 1990 and December 3, 1996, he appeared in 482 consecutive games, the longest in the league at the time. The streak established a Canucks record (broken in 2007 by Brendan Morrison). In his 49 games that season, he scored nine goals and 31 assists. At the conclusion of the season, the NHL recognized Linden's contributions to the Vancouver community and awarded him the King Clancy Memorial Trophy.

At the start of the 1997–98 season, the Canucks added free agent Mark Messier, a six-time Stanley Cup winner, and coach Mike Keenan, who were, respectively, captain and coach, of the New York Rangers when they defeated Vancouver in the Stanley Cup finals. Friction developed between Linden and Keenan early in the season. As the relationship worsened, Keenan claimed that it was evident that Linden would be traded. After a 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues, Keenan openly blamed Linden for the loss, a moment Linden refers to as his "darkest time". Playing in 42 games with the Canucks before the February Olympic break, Linden had seven goals and 21 points.

New York, Montreal and Washington (1998–2001)
Linden was traded to the New York Islanders on February 6, 1998 for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and the Islanders' third round choice (used to select Jarkko Ruutu) in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. After the conclusion of the Olympics, in which he participated, Linden joined the Islanders and played 25 games with the team. He scored 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points to finish the season, with a combined 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points in 67 games. The following year, his first full season in three years, Linden was second on the team with 47 points, and third with 18 goals; however, on May 29, 1999, the Islanders traded Linden to the Montreal Canadiens for a first round draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft (Branislav Mezei), for mostly financial reasons. The thrill of playing in Montreal, the "centre of hockey," was an exciting prospect to Linden after his time spent with the Islanders, where the arena was usually half-filled when he played there.

With Montreal, Linden was often injured, and only appeared in 50 games during his first season with the Canadiens, scoring 30 points, while the next year he appeared in 57 games, scoring 33 points. While with the Canadiens, he signed a four-year contract worth $15 million; however, he was traded for the third time in his career, this time to the Washington Capitals, going with Dainius Zubrus, and New Jersey's 2nd round choice in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (later traded to Tampa Bay who picked Andreas Holmqvist) in exchange for Richard Zednik, Jan Bulis, and Washington's 1st round choice in the 2001 Draft (Alexander Perezhogin). With Washington, Linden reached the playoffs for the first time in four years, in the 2000–01 season.

Return to Vancouver (2001–2008)
After 28 games, over two seasons, with the Capitals, Linden scored only three goals and four assists. On November 10, 2001, the Capitals traded Linden with a second round draft pick in either 2002 or 2003 (Denis Grot) to the Canucks for their first round pick in 2002 (Boyd Gordon) and a third round pick in 2003. He scored 34 points with Vancouver in 64 games, which included his 1,000th regular season game on March 26, 2002 against the Los Angeles Kings. In his first playoff series with Vancouver in six years, he scored a goal and four assists in six games.

The 2002–03 season was Linden's first full season with the Canucks since 1996–97, though Linden sprained his knee in the season opener and had to miss two weeks. He returned in time to be honoured for his 1,000th career game, which he achieved the season before. As he did not want to distract the team from the playoff race, Linden asked for the ceremony to be delayed. On November 25, 2002, against the Minnesota Wild, Linden scored his 263rd goal with the Canucks, breaking former captain Stan Smyl's team record for most goals. He finished the year with 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points, his highest goal total in seven seasons, and his highest points total since 1998–99.

The following season, Linden broke several more Canucks records. In a February 16, 2004, game against the Colorado Avalanche, he played in his 897th game as a Canuck, passing Smyl. On March 8, once again playing the Avalanche, Linden had two points, including his team-record 674th point with the Canucks, a mark also previously held by Smyl. For the first time in five years, he played in all 82 games, recording 36 points. After a year-long break from hockey during the 2004–05 NHL lockout, in which he actively participated in new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations, Linden again appeared in all 82 games during the 2005–06 season, scoring seven goals and 16 points. Linden became the first player to play 1,000 games with the Canucks on April 13, 2006 when they faced the San Jose Sharks.

In the 2006–07 season opener, on October 5, 2006, Linden scored the game winner against the Detroit Red Wings to become the first Canuck to score 300 goals with the team. After notching 25 points in 80 games, he helped the Canucks reach the second round of the playoffs. He scored two game-winning goals in the first round, including the series winning goal against the Dallas Stars in game seven of their first-round matchup, which was Linden's sixth game-seven goal of his playoff career. He finished the playoffs with a team-leading seven points in 12 games. This made Linden the Canucks' all-time leader in playoff goals (34), assists (61) and points (95).



After taking the summer to decide if he would return for another season, Linden signed a one-year contract with the Canucks in August 2007. The season was not ideal for Linden, who was a healthy scratch 23 times. In the 59 games he played, he scored seven goals and five assists, by far the lowest totals in his career. Against the Calgary Flames on November 8, 2007, he earned his 412th assist with the Canucks, surpassing Smyl, once again. In Linden's final game, the last game of the regular season, a home game against Calgary, Linden was named the first star, skated a lap around GM Place to a standing ovation and received handshakes from the Calgary players.

On June 11, 2008, after 19 seasons in the NHL, Linden announced his retirement. It was announced on the 20th anniversary of Linden being drafted into the NHL by the Canucks. Shortly after, Vancouver City Council stated that they would honour Linden by declaring the date of his jersey retirement to be Trevor Linden Day in Vancouver.

The Canucks retired Linden's jersey number, 16, from circulation in a pre-game ceremony December 17, 2008 prior to playing the Edmonton Oilers. Linden became the second Canuck to have his jersey retired, joining former captain Stan Smyl, whose jersey number, 12, was retired in 1991. Earlier in the day, the Canucks changed the number of the entrance gate for players and VIPs from Gate 5 to Gate 16 in honour of Linden.

NHLPA President
As a player representative to the NHL Players Association since 1990, Linden was responsible for being the contact between his teammates and the NHLPA. He saw the experience as a chance to be involved in the business side of the sport. In light of this service, Linden was elected President of the NHLPA in June 1998. Consequentially, Linden was actively involved in negotiations with Gary Bettman and the NHL on a new CBA that ended the 2004–05 lockout. This included a final meeting in January 2005 between Linden and Harley Hotchkiss, the chairman of the NHL Board of Governors, in an attempt to avoid losing the NHL season. Despite this meeting, a result was not found in time to keep the NHL from cancelling the 2004–05 season.

International play
Throughout his hockey career, Linden has appeared in five international tournaments for Team Canada. He first appeared on the world stage at the 1988 World Junior Championships, a tournament Canada won, where he scored one goal. His first senior international tournament was the 1991 World Championship, in which he contributed one goal and four assists in ten games as Canada won the silver medal. Linden was also invited to training camp for the 1991 Canada Cup roster, but was released early. In the 1996 World Cup, the successor to the Canada Cup, Linden helped Canada to a second place finish with a goal and an assist over eight games.

Two years later, Linden was selected as a member of Team Canada in the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Though he injured his knee only weeks before, he played in all six games, scoring one goal, a game-tying marker with 67 seconds left against the Czech Republic that sent the semi-final game to overtime. Canada finished fourth in the tournament. Later that summer, he participated in the 1998 World Championships. He scored one goal and four assists as Canada finished fifth.