CBC-Sports

Naslund is still a Canuck at heart

November 16, 2008 06:00 PM | Posted by   Jim Hughson  

Markus Naslund's last full shift as a Vancouver Canuck came late in the third period on April 5, 2008, the final day of the season. It was an anonymous shift in a 7-1 home loss to Calgary with linemates Byron Ritchie and Ryan Shannon.

I remember it well because very few people noticed or pointed out it might be Naslund’s last shift. We were all pre-occupied. GM Place was in the midst of a Trevor Linden love-in as the iconic Vancouver winger played in what everyone sensed was his last NHL game. Naslund came back on with Linden as the game ended and nobody noticed - again.

So it ended for Naslund the way it began when he arrived as a 22-year-old in a trade from Pittsburgh in March 1996. He was a fourth-line spare part then, struggling to crack the lineup. The end came playing with fourth liners, struggling with what went wrong and what to do next.

In between, Naslund had an excellent, sometimes spectacular, 11 years in which he became the Canucks' captain, all-time leading scorer, and one of the best players in the NHL. So, when his New York Rangers host Vancouver on Wednesday, he’ll be forgiven if it’s hard to turn the page and not be overcome by a flood of memories.

My guess is Naslund isn’t looking forward to this game at all but he’ll check his emotions and go quietly about his business as usual. On the other bench there’s some old teammates who will find the scene surreal and uncomfortable as well. They went through a lot together in the last decade on the west coast.

When Naslund arrived he wasn’t unknown because he’d starred in world junior championships with Peter Forsberg and the Swedes, he was a first-round draft pick and had already played alongside Mario Lemieux. That Pittsburgh gave him up for Alex Stojanov was a clear indication they soured on Naslund in his third year as a pro. He was a quiet, smallish Swede who wasn’t very sure of himself. In his early days in Vancouver he did little to hint at what was to come.

In the next two seasons amidst the firing of Pat Quinn and Tom Renney and the chaotic world of Mike Keenan, Naslund was still struggling to find his game at the NHL level. He was an occasional healthy scratch and admitted one time that he thought about going home. He stayed and the Canucks started to rebuild and get better. Naslund found some chemistry, first with Mark Messier, then with Andrew Cassels, and began to score with regularity in the late 90’s. Keenan had already acquired Todd Bertuzzi and when his successor Brian Burke brought in Brendan Morrison, coach Marc Crawford put the three together and for the next five years, Morrison, Naslund and Bertuzzi were as good a line as there was in the game.

In his first half dozen seasons in the NHL, Naslund had four general managers, four different coaches, countless numbers of teammates and enough stories from the Canuck mad house to write a book. But his story was just at the prologue. Finally he had stability, structure and some confidence. The Canucks started to roll and so did Markus Naslund.

From 2000 until the lockout, Naslund scored 164 goals in four seasons. Crawford named him captain and he was the players' pick as the league MVP in 2003. The Canucks were like a rock band. They played an up-tempo, exciting game and tried to score while other teams slowed the game down. They were a big draw all over the league and at home the lean years were over. GM Place was full and people who knew nothing about hockey knew everything about the Canucks. Naslund was at centre stage. The captain and trigger man on the hottest line on the hottest team in hockey.

After a playoff failure in 2003, the Canucks looked like the best team in the league the following season. In reality they probably still didn’t have the goaltending to win a Stanley Cup but we never got to find out.

When Todd Bertuzzi slugged Steve Moore on March 8, 2004, everything changed for the Canucks and for Markus Naslund. With his linemate banished and the team in shock Naslund and the Canucks went out in the first round of the playoffs and it really marked the beginning of the end. Dave Nonis (Naslunds’ fifth GM) brought the group back for another crack after the lockout, but the magic was gone. Bertuzzi was a wreck and at odds with Crawford. Naslund, his close friend and the team captain, tried to lead through troubled times but the team had come apart.

With the Sedins having emerged as front line players, Naslund‘s ice time diminished, while his number of linemates multiplied. By last season under Alain Vigneault, with long-time centreman Morrison injured, Naslund was lost in a sea of minor leaguers, up and comers and checkers. He played with no one he ever got comfortable with. He soldiered on, trying to be a good captain while his confidence took a beating and so did he in the city where he’d been King.

His leadership was questioned and so were his diminishing goal scoring skills. He was the lightning rod as the hockey fans so desperate for a winner turned on a team that was just the opposite of what they’d been in the years before. The Canucks were boring and Naslund must have felt it was entirely his fault.

When this summer came and it was clear Nalsund would move on, there were many who felt he was finished and wouldn’t catch on easily elsewhere. But the offers were many and the Rangers and Tom Renney, Naslund's former Vancouver coach, were quick to recognize Markus could still play.

He looks refreshed and at ease as a Ranger. He’s had a decent start on a good team and revealed in a conversation recently that he’s enjoying the anonymity of New York. The burden of being captain in a hockey-mad Canadian city without a Stanley Cup had taken a toll.

The Canucks fell short of their Cup goal in Naslund's dozen years in Vancouver, but he need not apologize. He was one of the franchise's greatest players during some of its most exciting seasons.

Too bad on that April night as he skated off for the last time, no one stopped to say thanks. It had been quite a ride.

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