Vancouver Canucks: Presenting the franchise’s Mount Rushmore

3. Trevor Linden

There are plenty of draft picks that completely changed the history of the Canucks, but perhaps nobody brought a bigger impact to the franchise than Trevor Linden. Vancouver drafted the Medicine Hat, Alberta native second overall in 1988 — behind future Hockey Hall of Famer Mike Modano.

Linden led by example from the very beginning, sharing the captaincy (when he was only 20) with Dan Quinn and Doug Lidster in the 1990-91 season. Head coach Pat Quinn chose Linden as the regular captain for the 1991-92 season, and the Canucks wouldn’t look back under his leadership.

Led by Linden and ‘Russian Rocket’ Pavel Bure, the Canucks would reach the second round of the playoffs in both 1991-92 and 1992-93. Backed by Bure’s 60 goals and 107 points — along with Linden’s 32 goals — the Canucks embarked on an unlikely and miraculous run to the 1994 Stanley Cup Final.

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The Canucks weren’t supposed to have much of a chance against a star-studded New York Rangers team that was loaded with Hall of Famers.

But Linden and the Canucks never went down without a fight, pushing the series to seven games. Linden’s resilience was on display in Game 7, where he scored two goals in Vancouver’s crushing 3-2 defeat — but the run to the final re-energized the fan base and showed them what a real winner looked like.

In Feb. 1998, the Canucks sent Linden to the New York Islanders in a package deal that brought Bertuzzi over to Vancouver. Linden was brought back to the west coast during the 2001-02 season — and he led them back to the postseason in four of the next five years.

Linden scored the series-winning goal in Game 7 of the third period during the opening round of the 2007 playoffs against the Dallas Stars. He’d retire in 2007-08 as, by far, the most beloved and admired Canuck of all-time. Linden’s No. 16 was retired by the franchise on Dec. 17, 2008.

Off the ice, Linden was heavily involved in the community, launching the Trevor Linden Foundation and performing countless charitable works before and after his playing career. He wasn’t the greatest all-around player in team history, but nobody defined the heart and soul of a “Canuck” more than Linden. Plain and simple.