What exactly did Mark Messier do to this team?

[canucktican]

I only started following hockey around 2009ish so I am not too familiar with the team history. I noticed that he gets a lot of hate within the Canucks community. Why is that? What did he do? Don't tell me he totally messed this team up or he was the reason for our downfall back in the late 1990s. What did he do exactly that messed the team up??

[Jägermeister]

He did everything wrong.

[thejazz97]

Signed with the team.

Brought Maki's number back into circulation.

Kicked Linden out of town.

Brought in Mike Keenan (Torts x2)

Wore that stupid little helmet

There's probably more but that's enough to earn our disdain on its own.

[Warhippy]

He came here full of arrogance not 2 years after basically abusing our team to a cup win, demanded HUGE money and a coaching change, all but stripped Linden of the captaincy and ensuring he was traded and went from being the best PWF and leader in the game to literally just lacing them up for a pay cheque

He was the epitomy of terrible and having Kennan here all but ensured the tearing down of what was once a great team with bure Linden Mogilny etc

[HC20.0]

Wore the late Wayne Maki's number which was completely disrespectful, tore the C off Linden and ran him out of town, he pursuaded management to bring in Mike Keenan, which was the worst thing for this franchise. He was a horrible captain who never stood up for his players to Mike cause him and Mike were besties, and to top it off, from day one of his lucrative contract, he gave no effort on ice to the Canucks. Every shift was the same, half assed effort, and he only cracked 60 pts once. One of the best players in the world, and he gave the middle finger to Vancouver with his performance on and off ice. On top of this, he had the audacity to sue the Canucks for more money afterwards.

[aGENT]

You remember Biff Tannen in Back to the Future before Marty went back in time and helped his dad grow a pair?

Messier was very much like the original Biff and the Canucks were George McFly.

[Nucksfollower1983]

You remember Biff Tannen in Back to the Future before Marty went back in time and helped his dad grow a pair?

Messier was very much like the original Biff and the Canucks were George McFly.

so which one of us is going to go back in time to fix it?

[aGENT]

so which one of us is going to go back in time to fix it?

Sounds like fun. I'll go

[TOMapleLaughs]

He did nothing. It was the Canucks themselves who made the errors regarding Messier. They signed him to that deal even they knew where his career was at. They let him where #11. They hired Keenan. They saw fit to give those guys all the power to make changes and personnel moves. Linden gave him the C, he didn't ask for it. And when it didn't work, he didn't say boo when he left. Only years and years later he popped up and asked for some money that that Canucks rightly owed him.

Mark Messier is just the scapegoat for one of darkest periods in Canuck history and personifies how a 'quick fix' star UFA signing to a team at the start of a rebuilding process simply doesn't work. Also, he was a distraction for when the team was undergoing the process of losing it's only superstar, Pavel Bure, due to money concerns.

Messier and McCaw were necessary evils at the time because the team was on the verge of financial collapse, but imho it has always been unfair to put this dark period all on Messier. There were clearly other more significant problems, from the top down.

[elvis15]

Sounds like fun. I'll go

My neighbour has a DeLorean - shotgun?

[thejazz97]

My neighbour has a DeLorean - shotgun?

I call dibs on the trunk.

[4thLineGrinder]

he came in and ate up all the potato chips in town, didn't even share

[Cerridwen]

There was/is a HELL of A LOT more to that story. The pressure on Trevor must have been untenable. Messier may not have 'asked for it outright' but the writing was on the wall and his intentions clear to those on the team, in managment and to the coach.

Messier's relationship and obviously favoured treatment by Keenan only further alienated team members and fans alike

As soon as Messier stepped on the ice, fans knew he was not the same player he was even a year ago. Game footage from the 1997-98, 1998-99, and 1999-2000 seasons clearly show that Messier was not interested from the very start. Statistics affirm this as well. He was a disastrous signing, proving to be a lazy player who took short shifts, shied away from physicality, did not shoot the puck, nor carried with him his mean streak from past years. Those who witnessed those seasons know how dreadful he was.

Mark Messier looked like only a shell of his former self. He was a totally different player, despite wearing the captain's "C" and being paid $6 million. Mickey Redmond mentioned in an early game between the Canucks and Red Wings during the 1997-98 season that Messier did not look like himself. He showed no heart, no grit, no passion. He played a lazy game and was often a liability.

Keenan played favorites, often allowing Messier to roam in whatever role he was comfortable with. Messier, meanwhile, was often seen socializing with Keenan at Vancouver Grizzlies games. The two had a clear connection that the rest of the team did not share. As the Canucks continued to sink with Messier and Keenan at the helm, the organization did the unthinkable and traded away all of the fan favorite players, including the beloved long-time captain, Trevor Linden. Keenan traded away Linden, Gino Odjick, Kirk McLean, Martin Gelinas, and Dave Babych that season, leaving the Canucks with barely any of its previous personality. They were soulless, cycling through goaltenders, swapping parts, and remaining a bottom-dweller for three seasons. Keenan and Messier were in full control until Keenan was replaced by Brian Burke the following year.

Messier lost a lot of respect in the dressing room for his hypocrisy: he was lazy, offered some of the most uninspired play of anyone on the team, provided no leadership in the dressing room, and yet seemed to demand that changes be made to shape the room into something more inspired. He isolated himself from his teammates and spent no time developing any sort of relationship with the community. That's not the way to go. He wanted to play the role of manager while also being one the most overpaid players on the team and a terrible role model; to make matters worse, the team's long-time captain was present in the room while all of this unfolded. Linden and Keenan clashed; Messier was on Keenan's side. That was not a very pleasant dressing room.

Without a doubt, Mark Messier was the face of evil for Canucks fans throughout the 1990s. Along with his role in the destruction of the team with his former Rangers bench boss in the latter half of that decade, Messier's greed continues to carry into the business of the Canucks organization. Prior to any of these events, he was responsible for ending the Canucks' hopes of a Stanley Cup in 1994 and injuring Linden in the Finals. From 1997 to 2000, he and Keenan forced Linden out and ruined the team from internally.

Perhaps the most encapsulating moment of the relationship between Canucks fans, Trevor Linden, and Mark Messier is from the dying seconds of Game 6 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals. It was Messier who was responsible for taking a cheap shot at Linden while he was already down injured, injuring him even further, away from the play in the final seconds of the game in Vancouver. You can see it all in the video below at the bottom of the screen. Linden was left broken physically, but pieced himself together for the mightiest performance of his career. The moment spawned one of the most memorable quotations in franchise history: "He will play, you know he'll play."

Messier played the diva his entire time as a Canuck....he was NOT a team player, the team was basically gutted because of him and his lack of respect for the team, his fellow team mates, the fans here in Vancouver and the game of hockey itself will forever earn him a black mark in the eyes of many Canucks fans. You can count me as one of them.

(The quoted passages are from someone who wrote them far better than I could but sum it up most succinctly)

[Shift-4]

_{Mark Messier is my most favourite player of all time yet possibly least favourite Canuck. Chew on that. lol}

_{TOML hit it pretty bang on with an appropriate addendum by Cerridwen}

[-Vintage Canuck-]

[cyoung]

He did nothing. It was the Canucks themselves who made the errors regarding Messier. They signed him to that deal even they knew where his career was at. They let him where #11. They hired Keenan. They saw fit to give those guys all the power to make changes and personnel moves. Linden gave him the C, he didn't ask for it. And when it didn't work, he didn't say boo when he left. Only years and years later he popped up and asked for some money that that Canucks rightly owed him.

Mark Messier is just the scapegoat for one of darkest periods in Canuck history and personifies how a 'quick fix' star UFA signing to a team at the start of a rebuilding process simply doesn't work. Also, he was a distraction for when the team was undergoing the process of losing it's only superstar, Pavel Bure, due to money concerns.

Messier and McCaw were necessary evils at the time because the team was on the verge of financial collapse, but imho it has always been unfair to put this dark period all on Messier. There were clearly other more significant problems, from the top down.

This 100%. The organization is to blame.

[aGENT]

My neighbour has a DeLorean - shotgun?

As long as you bring a hover board

Oh, and beer.

[desiboynux4lifee*******]

at one point, this team had Linden, Bure and Messier, but still couldn't get it done. Goes to show something was wrong in the locker room. Keenan came into town with baldy and they screwed up this team. Bure was traded and Linden was also traded.

The Bure trade landed us - Ed Jovonaski (if my memory is right)

and the Linden trade landed us - Todd Bertuzzi

Either way, Messier made empty promises and didn't deliver.

[TOMapleLaughs]

There was/is a HELL of A LOT more to that story. Ya think Trevor woke up one morning and thought "Oh, for the good of the team I'll just hand over the captaincy of my team this morning" ???? Oh hell, no, that's not that how that happened at all. Messier may not have 'asked for it outright' but the writing was on the wall and his intentions clear to those on the team, in managment and to the coach.

Messier's relationship and obviously favoured treatment by Keenan only further alienated team members and fans alike

Messier played the diva his entire time as a Canuck....he was NOT a team player, the team was basically gutted because of him and his lack of respect for the team, his fellow team mates, the fans here in Vancouver and the game of hockey itself will forever earn him a black mark in the eyes of many Canucks fans. You can count me as one of them.

(The quoted passages are from someone who wrote them far better than I could but sum it up most succinctly)

Sigh... Linden and Messier were both grown men at the time. And warriors. You think Linden hated Messier forever because of that spear in the playoffs? That's something that a conversation over a beer can solve. As for the captaincy being given to Messier, that was 100% Linden's call. He had to have agreed to it. If he didn't, then it's the Canucks brass who did it for him. Either way, part of the Messier sell at the time was about his 'great leadership'. The leadership that saw the Rangers beat the Canucks in 1994. So the C going to him was part of the sell. Again, a Canucks decision and failure that should not be put 100% on Messier.

[johngould21]

He did nothing. It was the Canucks themselves who made the errors regarding Messier. They signed him to that deal even they knew where his career was at. They let him where #11. They hired Keenan. They saw fit to give those guys all the power to make changes and personnel moves. Linden gave him the C, he didn't ask for it. And when it didn't work, he didn't say boo when he left. Only years and years later he popped up and asked for some money that that Canucks rightly owed him.

Mark Messier is just the scapegoat for one of darkest periods in Canuck history and personifies how a 'quick fix' star UFA signing to a team at the start of a rebuilding process simply doesn't work. Also, he was a distraction for when the team was undergoing the process of losing it's only superstar, Pavel Bure, due to money concerns.

I'll call bs to everything you said above. Quinn didn't want him, Trevor certainly didn't "give" him the C. Quinn didn't hire Keenan, McCaw did, and McCaw wanted Messier too. He was far worse than a scapegoat, he was exposed for what he was, an old hockey player cashing in.

McCaw signed Messier going over Pat Quinn's head to do so. Quinn wanted no part of that deal.

Messier and McCaw were necessary evils at the time because the team was on the verge of financial collapse, but imho it has always been unfair to put this dark period all on Messier. There were clearly other more significant problems, from the top down.

He did nothing. It was the Canucks themselves who made the errors regarding Messier. They signed him to that deal even they knew where his career was at. They let him where #11. They hired Keenan. They saw fit to give those guys all the power to make changes and personnel moves. Linden gave him the C, he didn't ask for it. And when it didn't work, he didn't say boo when he left. Only years and years later he popped up and asked for some money that that Canucks rightly owed him.

Mark Messier is just the scapegoat for one of darkest periods in Canuck history and personifies how a 'quick fix' star UFA signing to a team at the start of a rebuilding process simply doesn't work. Also, he was a distraction for when the team was undergoing the process of losing it's only superstar, Pavel Bure, due to money concerns.

Messier and McCaw were necessary evils at the time because the team was on the verge of financial collapse, but imho it has always been unfair to put this dark period all on Messier. There were clearly other more significant problems, from the top down.