Trevor Linden Trevor Linden , ( born April 11 , 1970 , in Medicine Hat , Alberta ) is a retired Canadian professional player . He played centre and right wing with four different teams : the Vancouver Canucks ( in two stints ) , New York Islanders , Montreal Canadiens , and Washington Capitals . Before joining the NHL in 1988 , Linden helped the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League ( WHL ) win consecutive Memorial Cup championships . In addition to appearing in two NHL All - Star games , Linden was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic team and participated in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey . Throughout his career , Linden has been recognized as a respected leader on and off the ice . He was named [ captain ] ] of the Vancouver Canucks at the age of 21 , making him one of the youngest captains in league history . While captaining the Canucks , Linden led the team to within a game of winning the Stanley Cup in 1994 . It was during this time that he began to be called Captain Canuck . In 1998 he was elected President of the National Hockey League Players ' Association ( NHLPA ) , a position he held for eight years . As President , he played an instrumental role in the 2004 – 05 NHL lockout , including taking a direct role in negotiations with league owners . Off the ice , Linden has taken an active role in charities , and was awarded the King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership on the ice and humanitarian contributions off the ice in 1997 , as well as the NHL Foundation Player Award in 2008 . After 19 seasons in the NHL , Linden retired on June 11 , 2008 , twenty years to the day after he was drafted into the NHL . Linden ' s jersey number 16 was retired by the Canucks on December 17 , 2008 , the second number retired by the team . Early life . Linden joined the WHL Medicine Hat Tigers for the final five games of the 1985 – 86 regular season , where he scored two goals ; he also appeared in six playoff games , scoring one goal . The next season , at the age of 16 , he made the team full - time . In his first full season in the WHL , Linden had 36 points in 72 games , and then had nine points in 20 playoff games , including two goals in the championship game , helping Medicine Hat win their first Memorial Cup as Canadian junior champions . The next year , Linden had 110 points in 67 games , and led the Tigers to their second consecutive Memorial Cup title . During the 1988 WHL playoffs , Linden set a WHL playoff record by scoring the fastest goal from the start of a game , scoring seven seconds into a 6 - 5 Tigers win over the Saskatoon Blades on April 15 1988 . At the 1988 NHL Entry Draft , the Vancouver Canucks selected Linden second overall , after the Minnesota North Stars selected Mike Modano . NHL career . Vancouver Canucks ( 1988 – 1998 ) . Linden made his NHL debut on October 6 , 1988 against the Winnipeg Jets , aged 18 . He scored his first goal on October 18 , 1988 , against Kelly Hrudey of the New York Islanders and later , on November 17 , he scored his first hat trick against the Minnesota North Stars . Linden finished the season tied for the team lead in goals ( 30 ) and second for points ( 59 ) . He was the first Canucks rookie to score 30 goals . Linden also became the first rookie to win the Cyclone Taylor Award , given to the Canucks ' most valuable player . He was named to the NHL All - Rookie Team , and finished second to Brian Leetch , of the New York Rangers , in voting for the Calder Trophy , given to the rookie of the year . The Canucks made the playoffs in the 1988 – 89 season , for the first time in three years , and Linden scored seven points in the Canucks ' seven - game series loss to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames . In his sophomore NHL season , Linden finished second on the team in goals , with 21 , and points , 51 , and finished third in assists with 30 . The following year , he was one of three Canucks to share a rotating captaincy ( the others being Doug Lidster and Dan Quinn ) . Linden led the team with 37 assists and 70 points , and made his first appearance in an NHL All - Star Game , where he was the youngest player . At the age of 21 , he was made sole captain of the team , becoming the youngest Canucks captain . That season , Linden led the Canucks in scoring for a second straight year with 75 points ( 31 goals and 44 assists ) , leading the Canucks to their first division title since the 1974 – 75 season . They repeated as Smythe Division champions the following year , setting franchise records for wins and points . For the third straight season , Linden surpassed 30 goals and 70 points , finishing with totals of 33 goals and 72 points . In the 1993 – 94 season , Linden scored 32 goals , the fifth time in six seasons he had scored at least 30 , but his points total fell to 61 as the Canucks finished 10 points behind the division leader . Although they were the seventh seed in the playoffs , the Canucks reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in 12 years and second time in team history . Playing the New York Rangers , Linden went up against Rangers captain Mark Messier and led the Canucks to a seventh and deciding game . Despite two goals by Linden , the Canucks lost , 3 – 2 . Linden finished second on the team in playoff scoring , with 12 goals and 25 points . In the 1995 – 96 season , Linden had 33 goals , 47 assists and 80 points , the most he has ever collected in all three statistical categories . The following season marked the end of Linden ' s ironman streak ; between October 4 , 1990 and December 3 , 1996 , he appeared in 482 consecutive games , the longest in the league at the time . The streak established a Canucks record ( broken in 2007 by Brendan Morrison ) . In his 49 games that season , he scored nine goals and 31 assists . At the conclusion of the season , the NHL recognized Linden ' s contributions to the Vancouver community and awarded him the King Clancy Memorial Trophy . At the start of the 1997 – 98 season , the Canucks added free agent Mark Messier , a six - time Stanley Cup winner , and coach Mike Keenan , who were , respectively , captain and coach , of the New York Rangers when they defeated Vancouver in the Stanley Cup finals . Friction developed between Linden and Keenan early in the season . As the relationship worsened , Keenan claimed that it was evident that Linden would be traded . After a 5 - 1 loss to the St . Louis Blues , Keenan openly blamed Linden for the loss , a moment Linden refers to as his " darkest time " . Playing in 42 games with the Canucks before the February Olympic break , Linden had seven goals and 21 points . New York , Montreal and Washington ( 1998 – 2001 ) . Linden was traded to the New York Islanders on February 6 , 1998 for Todd Bertuzzi , Bryan McCabe , and the Islanders ' third round choice ( used to select Jarkko Ruutu ) in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft . After the conclusion of the Olympics , in which he participated , Linden joined the Islanders and played 25 games with the team . He scored 10 goals and seven assists for 17 points to finish the season , with a combined 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points in 67 games . The following year , his first full season in three years , Linden was second on the team with 47 points , and third with 18 goals ; however , on May 29 , 1999 , the Islanders traded Linden to the Montreal Canadiens for a first round draft pick in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft ( Branislav Mezei ) , for mostly financial reasons . The thrill of playing in Montreal , the " centre of hockey , " was an exciting prospect to Linden after his time spent with the Islanders , where the arena was usually half - filled when he played there . With Montreal , Linden was often injured , and only appeared in 50 games during his first season with the Canadiens , scoring 30 points , while the next year he appeared in 57 games , scoring 33 points . While with the Canadiens , he signed a four - year contract worth $ 15 million ; however , he was traded for the third time in his career , this time to the Washington Capitals , going with Dainius Zubrus , and New Jersey ' s 2nd round choice in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft ( later traded to Tampa Bay who picked Andreas Holmqvist ) in exchange for Richard Zednik , Jan Bulis , and Washington ' s 1st round choice in the 2001 Draft ( Alexander Perezhogin ) . With Washington , Linden reached the playoffs for the first time in four years , in the 2000 – 01 season . Return to Vancouver ( 2001 – 2008 ) . After 28 games , over two seasons , with the Capitals , Linden scored only three goals and four assists . On November 10 , 2001 , the Capitals traded Linden with a second round draft pick in either 2002 or 2003 ( Denis Grot ) to the Canucks for their first round pick in 2002 ( Boyd Gordon ) and a third round pick in 2003 . He scored 34 points with Vancouver in 64 games , which included his 1 , 000th regular season game on March 26 , 2002 against the Los Angeles Kings . In his first playoff series with Vancouver in six years , he scored a goal and four assists in six games . The 2002 – 03 season was Linden ' s first full season with the Canucks since 1996 – 97 , though Linden sprained his knee in the season opener and had to miss two weeks . He returned in time to be honoured for his 1 , 000th career game , which he achieved the season before . As he did not want to distract the team from the playoff race , Linden asked for the ceremony to be delayed . On November 25 , 2002 , against the Minnesota Wild , Linden scored his 263rd goal with the Canucks , breaking former captain Stan Smyl ' s team record for most goals . He finished the year with 19 goals and 22 assists for 41 points , his highest goal total in seven seasons , and his highest points total since 1998 – 99 . The following season , Linden broke several more Canucks records . In a February 16 , 2004 , game against the Colorado Avalanche , he played in his 897th game as a Canuck , passing Smyl . On March 8 , once again playing the Avalanche , Linden had two points , including his team - record 674th point with the Canucks , a mark also previously held by Smyl . For the first time in five years , he played in all 82 games , recording 36 points . After a year - long break from hockey during the 2004 – 05 NHL lockout , in which he actively participated in new Collective Bargaining Agreement ( CBA ) negotiations , Linden again appeared in all 82 games during the 2005 – 06 season , scoring seven goals and 16 points . Linden became the first player to play 1 , 000 games with the Canucks on April 13 , 2006 when they faced the San Jose Sharks . In the 2006 – 07 season opener , on October 5 , 2006 , Linden scored the game winner against the Detroit Red Wings to become the first Canuck to score 300 goals with the team . After notching 25 points in 80 games , he helped the Canucks reach the second round of the playoffs . He scored two game - winning goals in the first round , including the series winning goal against the Dallas Stars in game seven of their first - round matchup , which was Linden ' s sixth game - seven goal of his playoff career . He finished the playoffs with a team - leading seven points in 12 games . This made Linden the Canucks ' all - time leader in playoff goals ( 34 ) , assists ( 61 ) and points ( 95 ) . After taking the summer to decide if he would return for another season , Linden signed a one - year contract with the Canucks in August 2007 . The season was not ideal for Linden , who was a healthy scratch 23 times . In the 59 games he played , he scored seven goals and five assists , by far the lowest totals in his career . Against the Calgary Flames on November 8 , 2007 , he earned his 412th assist with the Canucks , surpassing Smyl , once again . In Linden ' s final game , the last game of the regular season , a home game against Calgary , Linden was named the first star , skated a lap around GM Place to a standing ovation and received handshakes from the Calgary players . On June 11 , 2008 , after 19 seasons in the NHL , Linden announced his retirement . It was announced on the 20th anniversary of Linden being drafted into the NHL by the Canucks . Shortly after , Vancouver City Council stated that they would honour Linden by declaring the date of his jersey retirement to be Trevor Linden Day in Vancouver . The Canucks retired Linden ' s jersey number , 16 , from circulation in a pre - game ceremony December 17 , 2008 prior to playing the Edmonton Oilers . Linden became the second Canuck to have his jersey retired , joining former captain Stan Smyl , whose jersey number , 12 , was retired in 1991 . Earlier in the day , the Canucks changed the number of the entrance gate for players and VIPs from Gate 5 to Gate 16 in honour of Linden . NHLPA President . As a player representative to the NHL Players Association since 1990 , Linden was responsible for being the contact between his teammates and the NHLPA . He saw the experience as a chance to be involved in the business side of the sport . In light of this service , Linden was elected President of the NHLPA in June 1998 . Consequentially , Linden was actively involved in negotiations with Gary Bettman and the NHL on a new CBA that ended the 2004 – 05 lockout . This included a final meeting in January 2005 between Linden and Harley Hotchkiss , the chairman of the NHL Board of Governors , in an attempt to avoid losing the NHL season . Despite this meeting , a result was not found in time to keep the NHL from cancelling the 2004 – 05 season . International play . Throughout his hockey career , Linden has appeared in five international tournaments for Team Canada . He first appeared on the world stage at the 1988 World Junior Championships , a tournament Canada won , where he scored one goal . His first senior international tournament was the 1991 World Championship , in which he contributed one goal and four assists in ten games as Canada won the silver medal . Linden was also invited to training camp for the 1991 Canada Cup roster , but was released early . In the 1996 World Cup , the successor to the Canada Cup , Linden helped Canada to a second place finish with a goal and an assist over eight games . Two years later , Linden was selected as a member of Team Canada in the 1998 Nagano Olympics . Though he injured his knee only weeks before , he played in all six games , scoring one goal , a game - tying marker with 67 seconds left against the Czech Republic that sent the semi - final game to overtime . Canada finished fourth in the tournament . Later that summer , he participated in the 1998 World Championships . He scored one goal and four assists as Canada finished fifth .