11 years ago yesterday...Iron Mike arrived and raised hell!

The headlines read: "KEENAN LANDS ON THE MARK SORRY VANCOUVER ADDS MIKE TO MESS".
Then-Canucks coach Tom "Mr. Positivity" Renney was fired and replaced by Iron Mike Keenan. The Canucks came limping out of the gate in the 1997-98 season with a 4-13-3 record when Keenan took over.
Most Canucks fans remember that as a black day, now. But at the time it wasn't such a bad idea was it? To me it wasn't. Something had to be done. I can remember Renney's positive aura speeches after every Canuck loss. Mark Messier wasn't helping matters either, as he underachieved here. The concept to reunite the successful combo of Mark and Mike was a good one at the time.
This may cheese you off, but I was in agreement of Linden being stripped of the captaincy in favor of Mark Messier. I was and still am a Messier fan more than I was/am a Linden fan. There had to be drastic changes made on that team. Canucks fans still hate Messier to this day for the 'travesty' of Linden being stripped of the "C". They hate Keenan for running Trevor out of town. Linden was happy to get away from the mess, actually calling the trade a "relief".
Fine. But if you look at Linden's career stats, you can see that Trevor was 2 years removed from a 33 goal season. In 1996-97 he was plagued by injuries and managed 49 games played, 9 goal 40 point season. In 1997-98 in 42 games played before he got traded, Trevor played 42 games, but only amassed 7 goals and 21 points under Keenan's evil eye. Linden was being labelled as worn down. Long gone, seemingly were his iron man days. Keenan had said that he was not seeing the Trevor Linden of 1994.

There is a point I'm trying to make...
Keenan traded Linden to Mike Milbury's Islanders for Bryan McCabe (who Keenan thought would be a cornerstone of the franchise), a haywire underachiever in Todd Bertuzzi, and a draft pick, which turned out to be Jarko Ruutu. Linden was actually largely sought after at that time regardless of his injuries and Keenan's opinion.
Yes, the Messier-Mike era floundered regardless of all the changes made. But why just blame them? That team stunk it up badly in the latter stages of the 90's and needed all or most of the shakeups it recieved.
Upper management wasn't helping matters in the drafting category.
Best players drafted from 1995-1998?
Brent Sopel- 1995
Josh Holden- 1996
Matt Cooke- 1997
Bryan Allen/Jarko Ruutu- 1998

You can see the ugly trend there.
But in 1999 things changed and Keenan had his paw prints all over it, even though he was long gone. The Canucks drafted the Sedins in 1999. They got both twins together because they had traded Bryan McCabe and a 1st round pick in 2000 (Pavel Vorobiev) to the Blackhawks in exchange for a 1st round pick in 1999 on that draft day. The Sedins were drafted 2nd and 3rd overall. Thanks Mike, and Brian Burke of course.
Todd Bertuzzi scored 25 goals and 50 points for the Canucks in 1999-2000 and his stats continually escalated until 2002-03, where he scored 46 goals and 97 points. Those seasons provided career years for Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund as well. Thanks again, Mike.
Alas, Bertuzzi made a mental error with Steve Moore and had to get the hell out of town. So who else but Mad Mike Keenan trades Roberto Luongo and Lukas Krajicek out of Florida to Vancouver for Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Auld and Bryan Allen. Thanks again, Mike.
Krajicek, along with some guy named Simek were traded to Tampa Bay for Shane O'Brien and Michel Ouellet this season. The jury is out on that one still, mostly.
Vancouver fans should almost be loving Keenan by now. Isn't it amazing how one trade of a local hero shaped this team? At some point, you have to look at the Keenan hiring 11 years ago as a blessing in disguise. You just have to wade through all of his ego and near-insanity to find some form of appreciation and gratitude for what he's done. Whether you like it or not, Iron Mike has fingerprints on this team's history. And not all of them are bad. I think the good outweighs the bad actually.
Out of Linden's removal from Vancouver years ago eventually came most importantly Luongo and the Sedins, cornerstones of the franchise. In my opinion, I would trade the idolized Linden all over again if I knew ahead of time that those players would be playing here. Especially at a time when the team was so bad with or without Linden.

That's all.
Devil's advocate, out.

Canucks fan photo originated from Stick in Rink.

T Tags: Canucks+fire+Tom+Renney hire+Mike+Keenan Luongo Bertuzzi McCabe history trades

Nash goal, Clearly Cleary, O'Ree

Wow. I didn't see Rick Nash's goal against the Coyotes until just now. It looks like the goal of the year so far. What is it about the Coyotes surrending goals of this magnitude. You may remember Ovechkin's goal that he scored upside down and backwards came against the Coyotes as well. Well, if you missed Nash's goal, here it is:



Wow.

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Jimbuff brought up a good point by praising Daniel Cleary in the comments section, and that he was a Newfie and all. Now, I hate Red Wings and most players that play for them. But I just can't find it within myself to hate Cleary. Drafted in the 1st round 13th overall by the Black Hawks in 1997, the now 29 year-old winger had high expectations. But for whatever reasons, he did not put up the offensive numbers for Chicago.
In March of 1999, Cleary was traded to Edmonton along with Ethan Moreau, Christian Laflamme and Chad Kilger in exchange for Boris Mironov, Dean McAmmond and Jonas Elofsson. Cleary's speed and grit was evident in Edmonton, from what I remember, yet his highest out put in Edmonton over 4 years was 14 goals and 35 points in 81 games in 2000-01 (IHDB). Injuries played a negative role in Cleary's career over the next couple years in Edmonton and Phoenix (who claimed him as a free agent in 2003.)
Cleary was not signed by any NHL team in 2004, and ended up playing in Europe for that season, where he registered 11 goals and 37 points in 47 games.
I guess that was enough to impress the Red Wings who signed him in 2005. Cleary played in a checking role behind guys like Shanahan and Yzerman, but when both of those legends left for free agency and/or retired, Cleary got his chance to shine. And that is what he has done since then. A career-high 20 goals and 40 points in 71 games last season, including a strong playoff run proved that Cleary had something more to give. This season, he already has 18 goals and 34 points in 48 games. He looks to hit the 30 goal 60 point plateau. He also looks to be getting a substancial raise as he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. How much is Cleary making right now? How about a piddly $662,500 salary. Talk about a steal.
So, I am a sucker for underdogs. And Cleary is an underdog that is now hitting his prime. And regardless of the fact that he wears a stinky Wings jersey, I can appreciate his turnaround and respect that.

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Speaking of respect, I can understand a bit all the hooplah surrounding the 50th anniversary of Willie O'Ree being the first black person to play in the NHL. It was a ground-breaking event given the times no doubt. But forgive my harshness when I say: I don't really care about it. I don't get all teary-eyed over it. But I guess I wasn't even near being born during the racist years of the early 1900's. So I can't even begin to understand what O'Ree went through. Personally I find Inge Hammarstrom and Borje Salming's arrival into the NHL just as or more important.
What I mostly think of with this O'Ree situation is: when is a black player going to step up and become a dominant offensive/defensive player? Pokey Reddick and Kevin Weekes are/were decent goalies, and Anson Carter had a decent short offensive NHL career. But not one black man has yet to come along and make a serious impact, unless I am mistaken somehow. And no, Iginla doesn't count, because he is half and half. Just a thought.

T Tags: Rick+Nash+goal+of+the+year YouTube video Daniel+Cleary+profile Willie+O'Ree