Maybe the seven points in 28 games that he had for the Caps back in 2001 left a bad taste in my mouth, but forgive me for not joining in the Trevor Linden Retirement Lovefest.Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge Canucks fans (and Western Canadians generally) one bit for feeling a sadness today as the face of the franchise retires. But here's a guy who hasn't topped 41 points or scored 20 goals or had a plus rating in any season this decade and had just 144 goals in his last 771 NHL games. There's something to be said for longevity and his consecutive games streak, but that something doesn't carry very far outside the province, much less across the continent. Perhaps fittingly,then, when the unsung Linden broke the Canucks all-time scoring mark, the achievement wasn't even the game's top headline.
So chalk it up to East Coast bias or disappointment at the brief glimpse we got of him playing for the local squad here in D.C., but this may very well be the last time I think about Linden. That is, unless I someday find myself once again playing NHL94... not many pivots could score this goal: