Does Bo have it in him to be a "Linden Type" Leader?

[JM_]

3 minutes ago, the grinder said:

 ovie says hi at number 16 in hits this year ,watch ovie tomorrow   he always throws one or 2 big hits  a game   , not saying bo has to be in top 20 but just hit a lil more  

OK Ovie. How many Ovie's are there?

 

Its just a random thing to pick, given the duties Bo has been given. Seems to me face offs has been far more important for us than hits this year. 

[ey40]

11 minutes ago, Baratheon said:

I have so many awesome Linden memories but here's the thing.  Linden became great when it was all on the line in the playoffs.  His game elevated at big moments.  It was noticeable because Trevor didn't always play that way.  

Be careful that you are not comparing your memories of Linden at his best to Horvat in the middle of November lol.

Sadly, this is exactly what OP did, and he managed to trash Henrik in the same post. Last time the Canucks were in the Playoffs I believed the then-Captain was one of the best players in the series, and given what he accomplished in the NHL I don't know how you could conclude that Henrik is "nothing like Linden".

 

I have no doubt Bo has the winner-mind set and he sure will elevate his game when it is Playoffs time. 

[Gaudette Celly]

Bo was arguably our best forward in the 2015 playoffs against Calgary.  As a rookie.

 

That did it for me.

[the grinder]

1 minute ago, Jimmy McGill said:

OK Ovie. How many Ovie's are there?

 

Its just a random thing to pick, given the duties Bo has been given. Seems to me face offs has been far more important for us than hits this year. 

well ovie is a captain   I just answered your question  , ovie is a freak , I am not saying saying bo need to hit or score like ovie   im happy with bo as a captain  , he just has to play a lil meaner  make a hit  when he can,      he just plays better when he is  pissed off  .  it is in there with bo , he just needs to unleash it a lil more   that's all 

[JM_]

1 minute ago, the grinder said:

well ovie is a captain   I just answered your question  , ovie is a freak , I am not saying saying bo need to hit or score like ovie   im happy with bo as a captain  , he just has to play a lil meaner  make a hit  when he can,      he just plays better when he is  pissed off  .  it is in there with bo , he just needs to unleash it a lil more   that's all 

different styles - look at what guys like Burke have to say about Bo, they don't want to play against him because he's a beast. Is he throwing hits as much as Ovie? No but Ovie isn't the guy you'd put out for defensive matchups either. Bo's more of an all around player, works his ass off, leads by work ethic. I don't see why he has to be a "Linden" or an "Ovie" to be a better captain. 

[ruilin96]

5 minutes ago, Gaudette Celly said:

Bo was arguably our best forward in the 2015 playoffs against Calgary.  As a rookie.

 

That did it for me.

Drove me nuts that series Bo didn’t get anymore ice time that round. To this day, I still believe the Canucks were the better team in 2015 and should of won that round. We prob get destroyed in round 2, but hated losing to the overrated Flames.

[-AJ-]

7 minutes ago, Gaudette Celly said:

Bo was arguably our best forward in the 2015 playoffs against Calgary.  As a rookie.

 

That did it for me.

This has always stuck out in my mind and gets me so excited for him to return to the playoffs. Our top scorers in those playoffs were in a three-way tie, all with 3 points: the Sedins and Horvat.

 

I'm pumped to see him get another shot at playoff hockey. 

[-DLC-]

Geez, the guy just took over as Captain and we're already assessing him in that role?

 

We're an impatient bunch, aren't we?

 

Here's what I know about good captains...they do whatever is asked of them and try to do it well.  Bo appears to have zero ego and that's a HUGE plus...just like Linden, who lay on the ice with broken ribs, Bo's the type of guy that will grind himself down to fulfill his responsibility.  He's a no I in Team guy who supports the team.  Which is what he's done when others have fallen to injury and he's had to carry a huge load.

 

I love Bo, think he's the perfect Captain and feel no need to compare him to others.  

 

[the grinder]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy McGill said:

different styles - look at what guys like Burke have to say about Bo, they don't want to play against him because he's a beast. Is he throwing hits as much as Ovie? No but Ovie isn't the guy you'd put out for defensive matchups either. Bo's more of an all around player, works his ass off, leads by work ethic. I don't see why he has to be a "Linden" or an "Ovie" to be a better captain. 

I never compared him to ovie or linden   , bo is his own player  , I just said he needs to play a lil meaner like he has in the past , that's why I am a big bo fan   I see that lil bit of piss and vinegar in him just need to see it a bit more  . bo is great all around player  , just  like linden was a good all round player   now ive done it I compared them lol 

[JM_]

3 minutes ago, the grinder said:

I never compared him to ovie or linden   , bo is his own player  , I just said he needs to play a lil meaner like he has in the past , that's why I am a big bo fan   I see that lil bit of piss and vinegar in him just need to see it a bit more  . bo is great all around player  , just  like linden was a good all round player   now ive done it I compared them lol 

leadership styles are hard to compare, theres so many ways to be effective. 

 

Interestingly just looked it up, Bo's never really been that much of a hitter. Seems to be under a hit per game normally (in the 60s for full seasons) but over a hit per game in his 6 playoff games. Maybe he saves it for the post season. 

[Coconuts]

Bo is his own person and player and I'm thrilled to have him. He isn't and doesn't need to be Linden as a player or as a person. If anything he'll be a Horvat type leader, each of our captains have their own individual legacies. 

 

I loved Linden while he was here, but I was 3 when they went to the final in 94. I saw Linden later. I loved Naslund and I loved Hank. This being said, I've seen people fetishize what Linden did as a captain and I don't think it's fair. I get that a lot of older Canucks fans have fond memories of what Linden was like at his best and how close that team got to bring Vancouver a cup but come on. Linden's a huge piece of Canucks history but folks often put him on a pedestal in regards to what a captain "should be". Maybe it's just what I've seen, but when people bring up Nazzy or Henrik as captains they're often slagging them whereas Linden's the golden boy. It's tiresome. "The Sedin's pack all the motivational punch of a Maroon 5 CD", "Nazzy's too quiet", "Henrik's too quiet", "I want a warrior as a captain". That sort of $&!#. 

 

Bo's great, he's doing his best out there with some big defensive pieces out of the lineup. No, he'll never be Linden but we're very fortunate to have the player and person he is. He's less than three months into his captaincy, we're a young team on the rise. There's lots of time left for him to lead us to glory. 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by Coconuts

[RonMexico]

@EdgarM you never miss a chance to trash Henrik because he wasn't a grinder type body checking captain. The guy led his team to 1 win away from the SC....same as your hero captain Linden did.

 

Captains come in many forms. Bo will find his own groove and style eventually.

[Gaudette Celly]

15 minutes ago, ruilin96 said:

Drove me nuts that series Bo didn’t get anymore ice time that round. To this day, I still believe the Canucks were the better team in 2015 and should of won that round. We prob get destroyed in round 2, but hated losing to the overrated Flames.

If Bo had scored after snapping the ankles of that poor dman, it would have been 4:0 and the Canucks would have likely won that game, and had a great shot to win the series back home.  With all the veteran presence still on the team, who knows what kind of run they could have gone on.

[Squamfan]

it depends, will he play on crutches

[coolboarder]

In my opinion, a Linden type leadership role is overblown and overhyped.  It has not done anything for us as a franchise so Bo should be his own man, his own leadership type.  The Horvat's type should be personified.  It should be unique. Neither do we should duplicate the Sedin type, or Naslund type.  For next captain of this team 5-10 years later, should be its own type, not Horvat's type.   

[Kevin Biestra]

4 hours ago, CRAZY_4_NAZZY said:

Each captain carved out an identity that resonates differently for each era, fan, but most importantly what the team needed in each era.

 

Smyl - hard-nosed, gritty, and fearless

Linden - all about the people, professional, represented the community, heart and soul

Naslund - soft spoken, composed, and skillfully placing the team on his back offensively

Henrik - quiet intensity, integrity on and off the ice, leader by example

 

Based on our perceptions and experience, we all have different interpretations on what Horvat should look like as a captain and leader for this team.  To definitively say that he needs to be this or that, or try and fit him into a particular schema will always leaves us wanting. Bo will find his way, but with that, will be some struggle to find what his identity is.  Should be interesting what he does with it, but everything points to his commitment, work ethic, and desire to become a great leader.  You hope that Bo will force his own identity as the captain of the Canucks, and it might/will look different than what we have been accustomed to. 

 

 

I'm an admirer of all four players / captains you listed, but I wouldn't agree that each was what the team needed in his era.

 

Smyl and Linden, yes, no doubt, and without question.  They both got their teams as far as they were ever going to go.

 

Markus Naslund...  Was he the captain that team needed at that time?  Great player, great guy.  The team would have been better if he had been the skilled Mats Naslund to work with captain Bob Gainey (1986 Canadiens) for example.  He wasn't really a great pressure player, he didn't particularly dial up the intensity when it mattered most, etc.  He had a fine, fine Canucks career but to say that he was exactly the captain the team needed in that era...  I think he was probably meant to wear an "A" and be a scoring star to put the puck in the net while a warhorse type of guy rallied the troops.

 

As to Henrik, kind of similar to Naslund.  The Canucks blew a lot of games and series when it mattered.  They just barely pulled it out of the fire in 2011 but boy oh boy if they hadn't won that seventh game against Chicago, the Sedin era would have been considered to be quite similar to the Marc Crawford coached era.  They did beat Chcago and avoided becoming a laughingstock but they laid one of the biggest eggs ever in game 7 vs Boston, and then became one-and-done first round exit Presidents' Trophy winners the next year.  So...  It went better than the Naslund years, but as to Henrik being the captain that the team needed for that era...  In some ways yes, but in some ways no.  There is a lot of desire to shake off that Sedin-led soft team identity (getting speedbagged by Marchand) as opposed to continuing it.  Nobody ever wanted to shake off the Linden era, or the Yzerman era, the Scott Stevens era.  They'd have been happy to continue it essentially unchanged to the next chapter.  There wasn't really a Linden-esque option for captain instead of the Sedins (Kesler had the skillset but not the personality) so there wasn't another choice and the C had to come off Luongo's mask pronto...  But had there been a Brind'Amour / Iginla / Kirk Muller type, with A's on the Sedins' jerseys, it probably would have made for a better game 7 vs. Boston.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by Kevin Biestra

[LowerMainLander18]

At a quarter season mark in his first year as our Captain, I think he has shown a lot. 

He looks mature on the ice playing and also off the ice handling tough interviews. 

 

I am surprised he's -10. Probably all those tough minutes and face off duty contributed to it. 

Even in bad games that we have played, he showed consistency and a lot of fire in him to steer the team to the right direction. 

Also, I noticed some players on the other team targeting a blindsided hit on him to shake our team. (Forsberg in 2nd period in Preds' corner, left side of Rinne. He was coming from behind Bo who was already battling a defenceman and as he turned around, Forsberg tried to deliver a blind hit up high but bounced right back. Also, Tkatchuk on our side of blue line when we played in Calgary earlier in the season.. There's more but I remember these 2)

 

We don't know what goes on in the dressing room but Beagle saying that he thought Bo was older than him tells a lot. 

 

And the team is trying to respond back from their tough losing streak in November. 

I don't see anybody panicking, complaining or irritated on the bench. I think those all refer back to good leadership (Perhaps not solely on Bo but all vets and "A"s combined)

 

Comparing a first year Captain to Linden isn't just. 

I think Bo has a lot of room to grow as he picks up more experience in the league. 

For now, it's hard to tell if he will be as good as Linden was.

But he definitely seems to be on the right track and has his best foot forward. 

[EdgarM]

1 hour ago, RonMexico said:

@EdgarM you never miss a chance to trash Henrik because he wasn't a grinder type body checking captain. The guy led his team to 1 win away from the SC....same as your hero captain Linden did.

 

Captains come in many forms. Bo will find his own groove and style eventually.

 

I know Trevor was a hard act to follow but so was Bure. To sit here and say all of our past Captains were great and they had there own special attributes is crap. Either you were a great captain or you were so-so or somewhere in between. We can be such Homers when we talk about past players but the reality is that NOT ALL PAST CANUCK PLAYERS WERE GREAT! Some actually lacked something. 

Some praise Hank like he walked on water but in reality?, he could not lay any kind of hit like Linden. He could not skate like Bure and definitely could not stick up for his fellow line mates. Did he do other great things? Sure he did but he was not perfect. 

Would I put him up their with other great Captains such as Linden,Yzerman,Sakic or Lemieux? Probably not. 

Right now, I classify Bo as an "in between" and as we already discussed, maybe he steps it up in the playoffs and that would be great. Time will tell.

[EdgarM]

1 hour ago, Jimmy McGill said:

leadership styles are hard to compare, theres so many ways to be effective. 

 

Interestingly just looked it up, Bo's never really been that much of a hitter. Seems to be under a hit per game normally (in the 60s for full seasons) but over a hit per game in his 6 playoff games. Maybe he saves it for the post season. 

Maybe LE is saving it for the playoffs too. 

[6string]

No doubt in my mind: the bigger the game gets the bigger Bo gets.

 

He's that kind of leader.

Edited November 23, 2019 by 6string