Linden outlasts 'darkest time' trade from Canucks

Why is it that, sometimes, bad things happen to good people?

Wednesday will mark the 10th anniversary of the trade that sent Trevor Linden to the New York Islanders for Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a third-round draft choice.

Feb. 6, 1998 -- the day the Canucks Nation's jaw dropped. That morning, Linden came off the ice after practice and equipment manager Pat O'Neill gave him the news.

"It was a pretty dysfunctional situation," Linden recalls. "So, for me it was kind of a relief."

Dysfunctional does not even begin to describe the Canucks organization in those years. Both general manager Pat Quinn and head coach Tom Renney had been fired and replaced with Mike Keenan.

The nightmare began on Oct. 2, 1997, in Tokyo, where the Canucks were preparing to start the regular season. The team called a press conference to announce Mark Messier was replacing Linden as captain. It would have been more humane to rip Linden's heart out, place it in a blender and hit puree than to tear the 'C' off his jersey.

Then came the night in St. Louis where the Canucks were beat 5-1 by the Blues, Keenan blamed Linden and went postal on him in a profanity-laced tirade in front of the rest of the team. To this day, Linden simply refers to it as his "darkest time."

Thanks to the Olympics and Linden's role with Team Canada, it would be two weeks before the reality of the trade finally hit.

"I remember I walked into the Long Island Marriott," Linden says. "I went up to my room, dropped my bags, opened the curtains, looked out and thought, 'Wow, this has actually happened.'"

After what the Canucks had just done to Linden, they should have rolled over and had a cigarette. Suddenly, nine years of loyal service -- including the 1994 Stanley Cup run -- meant very little. In the '94 final, Linden had gone to war with Messier and by the end of Game 7 his face looked worse than a Nick Nolte mug shot.

Yet, less than four years later Messier -- of all people -- was the captain in Vancouver and Linden was on Long Island. The business of the NHL can often be colder than a Revenue Canada audit.

It would only have been natural to feel bitter toward the Canucks, but that was not the case.

"I never really felt that they betrayed me," insists Linden. "Things happen for a reason."

Yes, they do. In 1999, McCabe was dealt to Chicago in a trade that allowed the Canucks to draft the Sedins and in 2006 Bertuzzi was sent to Florida for Roberto Luongo.

But it's Nov. 10, 2001, that really counts. That's the day the Washington Capitals traded Trevor Linden back home to Vancouver. It guaranteed Linden would retire as a Canuck and his No. 16 jersey would eventually find its way into the rafters at GM Place.

Sometimes good things happen to good people.

David Pratt can be heard weekdays 3-7 p.m. on TEAM 1040 AM.