The first team is an obvious no-brainer but the second is more open to debate.
It’s cold outside and heating up at Rogers Arena.
With all that in mind, here’s a welcome diversion.
The NHL announced the Canucks’ quarter-century teams Tuesday. It’s for those who excelled here from the 2000-01 season and is comprised of two teams.
The second team is more open to conjecture because a substantial book of work should count. To me, it’s also what the player meant to the team on the ice, in the room and, especially, in the heat of battle.
I had a vote and covered all the players mentioned by the NHL. I will admit to some bias with my second team and it differs from what was posted.
Big, bad, brash Bertuzzi
It’s important to note I’m not dismissing Bertuzzi’s disgusting and vengeful attack on Steve Moore in March of 2004. He pleaded guilty to an assault charge, arranged a plea bargain and was given a conditional discharge.
He was also suspended by the NHL for a 17-month period. A settlement was reached to avoid a trial.
As for the player, Bertuzzi was a menacing presence on the dominant West Coast Express Line with Naslund and Brendan Morrison that piled up 272 points in the 2003-04 season.
Bertuzzi hit career highs the previous season for goals (46), assists (51) and points (97), and in 2001-02, he put up 85 points (36-49). He skated well for a big and imposing winger and his one-handed bull rushes to the net couldn’t be stopped.
Bertuzzi ranks ninth in franchise scoring with 449 points (188-261) in 518 games. He was rough and gruff on the ice and even occasionally took an impatient issue with what I wrote.
‘We did a really good job of, I’m not going to say recapture the Vancouver market, but being an upward trend of really good teams for a long time,” said Morrison.
More than slaying the dragon
I was in St. Louis when frustrated coach Alain Vigneault didn’t know what to do with his lines. The Canucks were trailing in the third period and he put Burrows with the Sedins.
They instantly clicked.
However, it wasn’t slaying the opening-round dragon in overtime of Game 7 to keep the 2011 playoff run alive. It wasn’t two overtime goals in a monumental march to the Stanley Cup that defined Burrows and earned a place in the Ring of Honour.
He scored 203 goals here and 117 of them in a four-year span, but it was more about a small-town kid with big-city dreams. A guy who went undrafted and underappreciated.
He could have easily called it quits after earning just US$28,000 annually for riding the buses to East Coast Hockey League outposts like Greenville, S.C., Baton Rouge, La., and Columbia, S.C.
Burrows never quit and ranks 19th in franchise scoring with 384 points (193-191) in 882 games.
‘Macedonian Madman’ made grade
Jovanovski earned the “Macedonian Madman” moniker because he ended the career of Adam Deadmarsh in a pair of one-sided fights.
He also surpassed the 40-point measurement plateau for blueliners in three-straight seasons with 47, 48 and 46-point efforts and brought both skill and bite into the fight.
Jovanovski also had 17 goals in 2001-02 and a career-high 48 points to finish fifth in club scoring.
Jovanovski exceeded 100 penalties in three straight seasons, but bad decisions were often trumped by a bad opposition move to test his mettle. He didn’t fight often as he got better because word got around.
Jovanovski had that look. And he had that punch.
Sedins set high culture bar
It was always important for the Sedins to remain humble.
Aside from team and league accolades, having their numbers retired and being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, they were responsible and respected in the room and quietly contributed to the charitable community.
They were selfless and their pay-it-forward mantra remains in player development and in practices.
Henrik is the franchise leader in points with 1,070 (240-830) in 1,330 games, while Henrik is second with 1,041 points (393-648) in 1,306 games.
Vigneault: ‘I was tougher on the twins’
It’s only fitting to tell a good tale of heir connection with Vigneault.
In the 2007-08 season, the bench boss saw another side of the Sedins. They had shown the physical and mental resolve to help stake their place in the game. But they wanted more.
“I was tougher on the twins than any other players,” stressed Vigneault. “They came to see me in my office. I do a lot of teaching through video and they were growing in their leadership, responsibility and accountability.
“They said to me: ‘You know AV, if you’ve got something that might be more on the negative side — and if you could find us doing it — it might be better for the team.’”
What the Sedins meant was if Vigneault really wanted to get his message across, and especially those who needed a wake-up call, why not target the twins?
“It was just their way of saying if you need to be tougher on the group, be tougher on us. We’ll be able to handle it and it will send the right message. They were an extension of me and were able to take the message to the room.
“What an impact that had and it’s such a strong memory.”