Markus Naslund's #19 Retirement Ceremony and Legacy

[Robbie]

Several articles about Saturday night's Canucks game in which they will honour long-time Canucks captain Markus Naslund when they retire his #19. There seems to be mixed feelings as to whether his #19 was worth retiring. His long-time - teammates Sedins and Ohlund will be there.

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/Wake ... story.html
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Markus ... story.html
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Naslund ... story.html

A rather sentimental statement about him in the Province article:

Even though Naslund would watch countryman and former Modo teammate Peter Forsberg capture the Hart and Art Ross in 2003, it paled in comparison to never advancing past the second round of the playoffs — especially during his eight-year reign as captain. Aside from silver medals at world hockey championships, Naslund never captured Olympic gold with Sweden or sipped from the Stanley Cup with the Penguins or Canucks. He didn’t play for his country when it won Olympic gold in 2006 and world titles in 1998 and 2006.

All this still bugs him today.

Will you be at the game on Saturday night?
And adding a poll: Do you agree with Vancouver Canucks retiring Markus Naslund's #19?

I'd say that for the highest-scoring , Naslund deserves the honour despite the fact that the team never made it past the second-round of the playoffs. An analogy for long-term Lions vs. Canucks would be like how Jim Young's #30 is retired and has made it to the dream team despite the fact that his team never made it to the GC game.

[Dan_Payne_fan!!]

the jersey raising from my phone

[Rammer]

Looks like a split (8 - 8)at this point, and really that constitutes that his jersey shouldn't have been retired.

[Toppy Vann]

Don Taylor had to back pedal pretty fast when confronted by Mike Gillis on this issue on 1040 yesterday.

Gillis said look at the entire body of work and the situation a great player is in before you make that kind of assessment the jersey should not be retired.

I question retiring any jerseys but say 99's and the people of that ilk.

Eventually you run out of numbers.

Hang the jersey up, but keep the number in play is my view. Teams and players will know when to bring it out.

[Rammer]

Don Taylor had to back pedal pretty fast when confronted by Mike Gillis on this issue on 1040 yesterday.

Gillis said look at the entire body of work and the situation a great player is in before you make that kind of assessment the jersey should not be retired.

I question retiring any jerseys but say 99's and the people of that ilk.

Eventually you run out of numbers.

Hang the jersey up, but keep the number in play is my view. Teams and players will know when to bring it out.

I understand that Gillis was referring to the community work as part of his criteria for retiring the number. IMO, that is the final determining factor in making the retirement decision, not really a part of the selection, but you wouldn't want any bad apples within the community to get their number retired. Naslund really represents just how poor the Canucks have been over the course of their time in Vancouver, rather than a hands down slam like many other teams have with their superstars.

[Soundy]

I understand that Gillis was referring to the community work as part of his criteria for retiring the number. IMO, that is the final determining factor in making the retirement decision, not really a part of the selection, but you wouldn't want any bad apples within the community to get their number retired. Naslund really represents just how poor the Canucks have been over the course of their time in Vancouver, rather than a hands down slam like many other teams have with their superstars.

By this criteria, neither #12 nor #16 should be up there either, as about the ONLY thing they did with the team that #19 didn't was get farther in the playoffs, ONCE each.

[KnowItAll]

I think King Richards number should be up there

[Soundy]

And BTW, I don't disagree with #12 and #16 being up there either.

Ultimately, retiring a jersey is done BY THE TEAM, and should be done to recognize that player's contribution TO THAT TEAM, irrespective of anyone else in the league, or what their criteria are for retiring their jerseys, or what superstars they may or may not have had over the years.

[WestCoastJoe]

Teams need to build their legacy.

Even teams that have not won the Stanley Cup should have some numbers retired, IMO.

We've been to the Cup Final twice. Against the Rangers we came within a whisker of winning the whole thing. I think we certainly can hang some jerseys in the rafters with some pride.

Smyl #12. Linden #16. Naslund #19. All good choices IMO.

Toppy makes a good point, however. Some teams like the Yankees and the Canadiens have had so many amazing players they have to be somewhat concerned about what numbers remain available.

I recall Larry Bird of the Celtics was asked why he always stared up into the rafters of Boston Gardens before games. Communicating with the Almighty? Looking at the U.S. flag? Nope. He was looking at Bobby Orr's #4 for inspiration. Very cool. Orr was very emotional when he heard the story.

The Yankees have retired 16 numbers: 1 3 4 5 7 8 8 (twice) 9 10 15 16 23 32 37 44 49. As with Gretzky's #99, MLB retired Jackie Robinson's #42 for all teams.

http://mlb.mlb.com/nyy/history/retired_numbers.jsp

Montreal has retired ...

1 Jaques Plante G 1950/51-1962/63
2 Doug Harvey D 1947/48-1960/61
4 Jean Beliveau C 1950/51, 1952/53-1970/71
5 Bernie Geoffrion 1950-1964
7 Howie Morenz C 1926/27-1936/37
9 Maurice Richard RW 1942/43-1959/60
10 Guy Lafleur RW 1971/72-1984/85
12 Dickie Moore 1951-1963
12 Yvan Cournoyer 1963-1979
16 Henri Richard C 1955/56-1974/75
99 Wayne Gretzky (Retired by NHL)

http://www.rauzulusstreet.com/hockey/nhl/montreal.html

[sj-roc]

Montreal has retired ...

1 Jaques Plante G 1950/51-1962/63
2 Doug Harvey D 1947/48-1960/61
4 Jean Beliveau C 1950/51, 1952/53-1970/71
5 Bernie Geoffrion 1950-1964
7 Howie Morenz C 1926/27-1936/37
9 Maurice Richard RW 1942/43-1959/60
10 Guy Lafleur RW 1971/72-1984/85
12 Dickie Moore 1951-1963
12 Yvan Cournoyer 1963-1979
16 Henri Richard C 1955/56-1974/75
99 Wayne Gretzky (Retired by NHL)

http://www.rauzulusstreet.com/hockey/nhl/montreal.html

Missed a few recent additions that are listed in the 2011 NHL OG&RB:
3 Emile "Butch" Bouchard (1941-56)
16 also retired for Elmer Lach (1940-54)
18 Serge Savard (1966-81)
19 Larry Robinson (1972-89)
23 Bob Gainey (1973-89)
29 Ken Dryden (1970-79)
33 Patrick Roy (1984-96)

That's 15 retired numbers in honour of 17 players — almost an entire lineup's worth — plus Gretzky.

[Hambone]

I understand that Gillis was referring to the community work as part of his criteria for retiring the number. IMO, that is the final determining factor in making the retirement decision, not really a part of the selection, but you wouldn't want any bad apples within the community to get their number retired. Naslund really represents just how poor the Canucks have been over the course of their time in Vancouver, rather than a hands down slam like many other teams have with their superstars.

By this criteria, neither #12 nor #16 should be up there either, as about the ONLY thing they did with the team that #19 didn't was get farther in the playoffs, ONCE each.

And even then Smyl gets an asterisk. The only reason he wore the "C" for that playoff run was because team captain Kevin McCarthy broke his ankle with only a handful of games left in the regular season. Smyl didn't officially become team captain until the offseason following their Stanley Cup run. In the 8 years Steamer was captain the Canucks never had a winning record, never won a playoff series and missed the playoffs 4 times. This all in an era when 16 of the NHL's 21 teams made the playoffs. Conversely the Canucks never had a losing record under Naslund's captaincy. They made the playoffs 5 of 7 seasons in an era when 14 teams are on the outside looking in at season's end. In the 2 years they missed they had 88 and 92 points missing a playoff berth by 3 points both times. In many ways the Naslund era represents the best of Canuck times. In 39 years they've posted a winning record 15 times with 7 coming in Naslund's 7 years as captain.