I know Ms. Galo personally, she is the biggest Trevor Linden fan you’ll ever meet.

How can you say she said he was a poor player. In his era, Trevor Linden simply wasn’t ‘good enough’. Remember this guy played during the times of Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux, Yzerman…etc etc. All contemporaries that had hardware.

I like Linden, he was a good player, who put 110% but you’re right, stats don’t lie. Linden never won a SC, a Hart, or anything of that sort of hardware. If he does make it to the HOF, it will be because of his character.

Linden is in the top 100 all time for goals and 104th for points in the NHL. He has more goals than Bobby Clarke or Henri Richard while having played a similar amount of games, and for inferior teams, I might add.

Had the Canucks won the Stanley Cup in 1994 and Canada won the Olympics in 1998, Linden would be a strong contender. It’s the lack of hardware that’s keeping him from being considered.

So, you all spend several paragraphs prefacing and professing your love for Trevor Linden before saying what a poor player he was. I suppose it makes you all feel intelligent and superior to bash someone just because he plays for the home team, but the numbers don’t lie.

And that, is something you can’t teach or coast off other star players and gets called the greatest leader of all time.

Agree on all your points. I agree that his calibre of play was not on par a few nights.

I didn’t down much on Naslund, I’ve always thought he got the brunt of the bullshit in Vancouver, but to each their own. The media needed a whipping boy, why not the aging Swede.

As far as Messier goes, still one of the greatest leaders ever in the NHL, just not in Vancouver.

1) Since 1996, Linden was an average player at best. After the lockout, Linden was quite substantially below average (give or take a few moments of brilliance in the clutch).

2) I still don’t buy into the whole “Linden’s feelings were hurt” when Keenan yelled at him that one time. Look at how guys like Roenick, Chelios, Larmer, Belfour, Kovalev, Nedved, and Hull reacted when they were lambasted by Keenan (and from all accounts and sources, Keenan was actually *more* of a prick when he was in Chicago, NYR, and St. Louis!). Perhaps the old saying of “nut up or shut up” has some validity? Why didn’t Linden “nut up” when he was called out by Keenan?

3) Messier didn’t force the ‘C’ off of Linden….the media did. When Messier arrived here, it was the media that made Messier look like a God while completely putting Linden on the back burner. The media was basically screaming for Mess to be captain. Kent Gilchrist at the time even said something to the effect of, “When Messier steps into that lockerroom, he will be the captain no matter what it says on Linden’s chest.” To avoid making it an issue, Linden handed Mess. the ‘C’.

4) Linden turtled in 2007. I can’t remember against who it was against specifically (Jordin Tootoo?), but it was against Nashville (6-2 Canucks victory I believe). During the game, there was a scrum…..and when the going got tough, Linden turtled….and basically laid there while he took a pounding. Could that be indicative of a lack of character at that given time during his career?

5) At the age of 34-35 (or whatever Linden’s age was after the lockout), the guy was *substantially* below his level of play. We all bashed Messier and Naslund for not living up to par (when they were in their mid 30’s and were playing as Nucks), but why does Linden get a free pass here? Look at guys like Sundin, Yzerman, Sakic, etc., etc. that were all great in their late 30’s. And yes – Linden is NOT the calibre of those players but still……could one assume that the *severe* drop off in level of play can attributed to lack of fitness?…..or lack of heart? Hell – Chris Chelios is *still* playing in the league at age 46!

Anyway – just a few thoughts. I love Linden the human being…..and even love(d) Linden the hockey player, pre-1996, but I also saw a lot of red flags….flags of which that many people simply failed to achknowlege due to what Linden did for SIX years between 1991 and 1996. Linden’s entire reputation was built from those SIX seasons…..many of which was greatly bolstered due to the presence of Bure and/or Mogilny.

Having said that – Linden was NOT a good hockey player after 1996 (after he had that knee surgery). Linden was an average player between 1996-2003, and was a BELOW average player from 2004 onwards (give or take, a few flashes of brilliances when it mattered most).

Trevor Linden is a great community guy and I hope that my future kids can be even half the man that he is. However – based on hockey ability, Linden should not be in the Hall of Fame. Not even close.

Other than that, he was fun to talk to. It was just a different POV, but one that had to be, IMO, corrected.