The Sainthood Awaits

Apparently, Trevor Linden is on the Pope's shortlist for sainthood.

Getting his #16 retired is a great honor for a wonderful human being especially for someone whose career was basically that of Wendel Clark West with the
added bonus of not choking in Conference Finals. Of course, in this town to suggest Trevor was anything but average will probably bring the Spanish Inquisition around to my door.

Beam me up, Captains Kirk and Trev!


I'll just let the stats speak for themselves then:
Trevor Linden (drafted #2 overall by the Vancouver Canucks)
regular season: 1382 GP, 375 G, 867 pts, -64
playoffs: 134 GP, 34 G, 99 pts, +7
Canada/World Cups + Olympics: 14 GP, 1G, 3 pts
All-Star Games: 2
Team honors: Stanley Cup Finals (1994)
Int'l team honors: World Cup Final (1996)

The "other" 1st rd stars of the draft class of 1988
Mike Modano (drafted #1 overall by the Minnesota North Stars)
regular season: 1343 GP, 537 G, 1300 pts, +136
playoffs: 174 GP, 58 G, 145 pts, -1
Canada/World Cups + Olympics: 36 GP, 7 G, 21 pts
All-Star Games: 6
All-Star Teams: 99/00 2nd team
Team honors: Stanley Cup (1999), Finals (1991 + 2000)
Int'l team honors: World Cup winner (1996), Olympic silver medal (2002)

Jeremy Roenick (drafted #8 overall by the Chicago Blackhawks)
regular season: 1345 GP, 510 G, 1349 pts, +156
playoffs: 148 GP, 53 G, 121 pts, +22
Canada/World Cups + Olympics: 18 GP, 5 G, 12 pts
All-Star Games: 9
Team honors: Stanley Cup Finals (1992)
Int'l team honors: Olympic silver medal (2002)

Rod Brind'Amour (drafted #9 overall by the St. Louis Blues)
regular season: 1349 GP, 434 G, 1128 pts, -4
playoffs: 141 GP, 50 G, 107 pts, +12
Canada/World Cups + Olympics: 13 GP, 2 G, 6 pts
All-Star Games: 1
Team honors: Stanley Cup (2006) + Finals (1997)
Int'l team honors: World Cup Final (1996)

Teemu Selanne (drafted #10 overall by the Winnipeg Jets)
regular season: 1092 GP, 565 G, 1181 pts, +87
playoffs: 92 GP, 31 G, 66 pts, -10
Canada/World Cups + Olympics: 41 GP, 25 G, 46 pts
All-Star Games: 10
All-Star Teams: 92/3 + 96/7 1st team, 97/8 + 98/9 2nd team
Top NHL goal scorer: 76 G (92/3), 52 G (97/8), 47 (98/9)
NHL scoring: 109 pts (96/7 runner-up)
Team honors: Stanley Cup (2007)
Int'l team honors: Olympic silver medal (2006) + bronze medal (1998), World Cup Final (2004)

Hopefully, the day will come when the greatest Canuck player will get the same honor but I feel that once spurned, there is little love for the most exhilarating player to ever lace 'em up here. Then again Pavel Bure is not a "humanitarian" who fell in love with the city or its people. In his defence, Vancouver isn't Moscow no matter how many times the term "world-class" is mentioned and let's just say the Trevor and the Pavel are coming from oposite ends of the spectrum. Not everyone can fall in love with Vancouver, right, Don Cherry?

So I'm betting the next number you will see hanging from the rafters will be Roberto Luongo's #1 which will hopefully mean the Canucks do indeed win a Cup in his (and any of our) lifetime(s). Otherwise, if Luongo's #1 gets retired here and there's no Cup to show for that, I feel extremely sorry for this "world-class" athlete not to have achieved the ultimate crown such goaltending luminaries as Cam Ward, Mike Vernon, Chris Osgood and the Michelin Man of Anaheim have in their trophy cases.