Canucks Rewind: Markus Naslund’s jersey retirement night

The Canucks were a consistent threat in the Northwest Division entering that season. More importantly, Naslund had found undeniable chemistry with Todd Bertuzzi at right-wing and Brendan Morrison at centre. Together, they formed the West Coast Express, a line that played an up-tempo and high-scoring style of hockey. Those three, as well as blueliners Mattias Ohlund and Ed Jovanovski, made up the identity of the Canucks.

During that year, Naslund solidified himself as one of the best in the game when he recorded 48 goals and 58 assists for an astonishing 104-point campaign. More importantly, he started to garner the attention and respect of fellow players in the league. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Lester B. Pearson Award (now known as the Ted Lindsay Award), which recognizes the league MVP, as voted by the players. He beat out fellow Swede Peter Forsberg, who registered two more points than Naslund during the season, and became the first Canuck to receive the honour.

After that season, Naslund continued to lead the Canucks in scoring. He registered 84 and 79 points, respectively, in the following two years, which also included a brief return to Sweden to play for Modo during the 2004-2005 lockout year.

After battling injuries and losing key teammates, Naslund’s offensive numbers slowly began to dip. For the first time in eight years, Naslund did not finish the season as the team’s top scorer, ultimately passing the torch to Daniel Sedin in 2006-2007.

In 2007-2008, Naslund entered the final year of his current contract with the Canucks. He put up 55 points in 82 games and, despite wanting to finish his career in Vancouver, many started to believe that wouldn’t be the case. Naslund played his last game as a Canuck on April 5th, 2008, a 7-1 loss at the hands of the Calgary Flames.

On July 3rd, 2008, Naslund signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the New York Rangers, the third and final team of his NHL career.

On May 4th, 2009, he announced his retirement from the National Hockey League. He finished his career with 869 points and 1,117 games played.

During his time with the Canucks, Naslund helped to win multiple division titles, but that success unfortunately never translated into the playoffs. In a telephone interview in July 2010, Naslund, who had moved back to Sweden, spoke of his only regret with the Canucks:

"“The disappointment of not getting to the point where I firmly believe we had an opportunity to get, that being the Stanley Cup,” he said. “Losing the way we did, especially the ’02-’03 and ’03-’04 seasons were tough ones. At that point, I felt we were close but just couldn’t get over the hump.”"

For Canucks’ management and fans, Naslund will always be considered one of the best players this franchise has seen, regardless of playoff achievement. On the ice, he proved to be an offensive threat with an incredible wrist shot and remarkable puck-handling abilities. Off the ice, he continually showed love, leadership, and loyalty to the city of Vancouver through community service and other philanthropy initiatives.

In other words, Naslund embodied what it meant to be a Canucks’ captain.

On December 11th, 2010, players, management and fans were able to reminisce on Naslund’s illustrious career with the Canucks. As the no. 19 banner was raised into the rafters, we were all able to say one last “thank you” to one of the greatest left-wingers in franchise history.

Tune in next week for another Canucks History lesson!