Trevor Linden Joins Exclusive Club
Former Medicince Hat Tiger and Vancouver Canucks captain will have his No. 16 join Smyl's lonely No. 12 in the GM Place rafters
VANCOUVER — When Trevor Linden was an NHL rookie in 1988-89, he lived around the corner from Vancouver Canucks legend Stan Smyl, and they used to carpool to the Pacific Coliseum.
Only this wasn't a case of the 18-year-old kid riding shotgun, soaking in every tidbit of counsel from an older player. Linden had purchased a 1965 Ford Mustang and was eager to test on the streets of Vancouver.
And so, off they would go. The white-knuckled captain in the passenger's seat and the future captain and face of the franchise, sitting side by side as the kid chose a circuitous route to the arena, one filled with so many tight, high-speed corners that Smyl wondered whether his protégé was prepping for a career in Formula One.
"He loved speed," Smyl said. "By the time we got there, it was pretty adventurous."
Linden and Smyl will again be side by side tonight. Only it won't be in a vintage sports car at hugely different points in their careers.
Tonight, Linden will be just the second Canuck to have his sweater retired, as No. 16 joins Smyl's lonely No. 12 in the General Motors Place rafters.
"It's very well deserved," said Smyl, whose number was retired on Nov. 3, 1991, after 13 seasons with the franchise. "To share that honour with Trevor is a great thrill."
Yesterday, as the Canucks prepared for a game against the Edmonton Oilers, a divisional rival who schooled them 3-0 last weekend, the most popular topic of conversation was not the pending decision of free-agent centre Mats Sundin or of the rematch.
It was Linden, who has declined media requests this week, but will hold a news conference this morning and again tonight after the ceremony.
Many of the current players knew Linden as a teammate. He spent his final 5½ seasons, in a 19-year NHL career, back in Vancouver after turning into a popular captain and a revered citizen in his first stint with the team.
Head coach Alain Vigneault remembers first meeting Linden in 1999, when both were with the Montreal Canadiens. He recalls watching Linden, an anglophone from Medicine Hat, deal effortlessly with the city's French-language media and knew right there and then that the team's new player would have no problems with the pressure of playing in Montreal.
Goaltender Roberto Luongo, Vancouver's current captain, mentioned how Linden had a nickname for every player in the dressing room, most of them original and creative.
Centre Ryan Kesler chose to remember a home game against the Calgary Flames last March, which the Canucks won 6-2 on the strength of two Linden goals. They were Linden's final NHL goals, and it was Vancouver's last victory of the season in what turned into an anticlimactic finish for the player and his beloved team.
One week later, the same teams met again at GM Place, this time with the Canucks knowing they were out of playoff contention, and the fans having the implied knowledge that Linden was calling it quits. The Flames won 7-1, but not before some lengthy ovations for Linden, both before the third period began and after the game, when No. 16 was named the game's first star.
"It is going to be a special and emotional night for him," Kesler said. "He was a definitely mentor of mine. He took me under his wing and showed me the ropes of how to be a professional hockey player and how to go from day to day and hold yourself accountable."
After winning two Memorial Cup championships with his hometown Medicine Hat Tigers and a gold medal at the world junior championship in 1988, Linden was the Canucks' first-round draft selection (second overall) in the NHL's entry draft.
He played for Canada at international tournaments, including the Nagano Olympics in 1998, and he became Vancouver's second career leading scorer and its career leader in assists.
To read an excellent story about Trevor's rise to NHL stardom, click here.
