Bure, Ohlund and Sedin: The World Junior's All-Canucks Team

Mattias Ohlund, Pavel Bure and Daniel Sedin have all
starred in the World Juniors as Canucks prospects.

Until they actually make it to the NHL, the World Juniors is far and away the most closely-scrutinized and highly-celebrated stage for the league's best prospects. And when the average hockey fan is reduced to reading the same cliche scouting reports on their team's draft picks over and over and over, there's nothing like actually watching a player like Jake Virtanen or Thatcher Demko perform at the highest level among their peers.

And every so often, you'll be lucky enough to not only see your team's best prospects play internationally, but watch them absolutely dominate the tournament. A couple of years ago, we highlighted the very best Canadian Junior performances by Canucks prospects of all-time. Cody Hodgson's 16 points in 2008 was there. As was Luc Bourdon's All-Star Team performance at GM Place in 2006.

See also: The All-Time List of Canucks Prospects to Play for Team Canada at the WJC (up to 2013) 

But while Canadian prospects will always get more exposure at this tournament, Vancouver have a long history of drafting top flight international prospects. This year, Canucks fans are spoiled with a United Nations showing of Virtanen (Canada), Demko (USA) and Gustav Forsling (Sweden) playing for their respective countries. (Not to mention Cole Cassels narrowly missing a roster spot with the States.) So with this year's international flavour in mind, we've highlighted the best World Junior performances by Canucks prospects -- Canadian or not -- in the history of the tournament:

Bure night: Trevor, the wife and Ron frickin' MacLean

Well that's that. From Jim Hughson at the podium to Pat Quinn seated at centre ice to the spirited fans chanting his name, the pre-game ceremony at Rogers Arena last night was a proper blast from the past and a success in enshrining Pavel Bure's superlative time as a Canuck.

Pavel Bure joining Smyl, Linden and Naslund in the
highest-possible honour to be bestowed on a Vancouver Canuck.
Photo by Sheriff Earp on Flickr.

Gretzky on Malhotra for Bure: "I would not have retired"

Earlier this week, the Hurricanes made the announcement that Manny Malhotra was back in the NHL. Or at least on a two-way contract. As a result, fans on the West Coast couldn't be happier. For Vancouver, the love affair with Manny traces back to 2010, when he was first signed from Columbus as a free agent.

But as the under-explored story goes, Malhotra was nearly a Canuck long before 2010. With Vancouver still reeling from Bure night, the connection traces all the way back to the Russian Rocket's trade away from the West Coast in 1999.

As you know, Bure went to Florida, in exchange for a package that centred around Ed Jovanovski and Nathan Smith the promise of a first-round draft pick. A year after the trade, however, then-Canucks GM Brian Burke commented on a proposed that would have sent Bure to the Rangers instead. 

Similar to the actual return from Florida, the ask was centered around a very promising and high-profile young player, an 18-year-old rookie who was already centering a line for the Rangers named Manny Malhotra. 

Much like Kassian-Hodgson, Malhotra would have likely had to endure
a lifetime of comparison to the Rocket had the Rangers pulled the trigger in 1999.

The long-term implications of Bure to Florida

Fourteen years later: Ed Jovanovski and Kevin Weekes
 were two of Vancouver's key acquisitions in the 1999 trade.

It will continue to be the main sticking point for detractors of Pavel Bure's upcoming jersey retirement -- the trade.

Simply put, Bure wanted out. And that's gonna leave a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths long after November 2. But regardless of who was at fault for Bure's relationship with the team deteriorating, the trade ushered in a new era that the Canucks badly needed at the time.

Bald-deep in the Messier nightmare, Vancouver was a mainstay in the Western Conference basement. Rather than continue to shape the team around Bure, the trade allowed for then-marginal players like Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi to develop in the team's go-to guys. It is, in fact, no coincidence that Naslund emerged as the team's leading scorer the same year Bure was dealt.

After an initial close call with the Rangers, Brian Burke succeeded in dealing the Russian Rocket, sending him to Florida, along with veteran defenceman Bret Hedican, prospect defenceman Brad Ference and a third-round pick in 2000.

Here's what Vancouver got in return:

The Bures, the Sedins and fraternal scoring supremacy

After years of poring over stats upon stats upon stats, one begins to accumulate what I refer to as 'trivia records'. They have little significance or relevance and typically only represent unique scenarios that don't really reflect what the NHL is like as a whole.

For example, the "brothers record". Perhaps you too have once been told that Wayne and Brent Gretzky hold the all-time record for career points by a pair of siblings at 2,861 -- Brent's contribution being a whole 4 points. Puts a different spin on Gretzky's dominance in the league, I suppose, but ultimately, this record yields about zero relevancy in terms of its ability to illustrate the history of actual brother tandems in the league.

Pavel and Valeri in their lone season
together in Florida.

Enter Pavel Bure and his younger brother, DJ Tanner's husband Valeri. While there is a pretty sizable disparity in skill between the Bures, it is far smaller than that between the Gretzkys. As such, a record held by the two of them might actually have some relevancy. And wouldn't you know it, in 1999-2000, Pavel and Valeri combined for 93 goals in a single season -- a league-leading 54 from Pavel and 35 from Valeri. As a result, they topped a rather legendary pair of brothers in Bobby and Dennis Hull, surpassing their previous mark of 88 goals, set in 1968-69.

Pavel Bure and the progression of the Canucks point-scoring record

Recall Henrik Sedin's Art Ross-winning season three years ago. It was in that legendary final game against the Flames that Henrik eclipsed Alexander Ovechkin for the NHL's point-scoring crown. And in the process of securing the first Art Ross Trophy in team history, Henrik set another franchise mark. With his 111th point, he surpassed Pavel Bure for the highest-scoring season by a Canuck in team history.

Established in 1992-93, Bure's 110-point record, at the time, had stood for 17 years. In just his second season in the NHL, the Russian Rocket went all Soviet on goaltenders throughout the league and nearly doubled his output from the previous season. On the strength of 60 goals and 50 assists, he made a mockery of the previous team record of 91 points, set by Patrik Sundstrom in 1983-84.

The staying power of Bure's 60-goal record

The following is the fourth in BTD's 10-day series of posts counting down to Bure night.

Having played just 428 games as a Canuck, Pavel Bure is somewhat buried in the team's all-time stats lists. Though he left the Canucks as the second-highest goal-scorer (254, behind Smyl) and fourth-highest in points (478, behind Smyl, Linden and Gradin), both years and Swedes have gone by. As a result, he now stands fifth and seventh in those regards.

Nonetheless, Bure's name remains littered all over the Canucks single-season record books. Most power play goals in a season (25 in 1993-94). Most shorthanded goals (7 in 1992-93). Most shots (407, 1992-93). Most points by a winger (110, 1992-93). Though that mark stood for 17 years as the overall record until Henrik Sedin surpassed it in 2009-10.

The most impressive of them all, however -- and perhaps the safest  -- remains Bure's 60 goals, recorded in back-to-back seasons. Set in both 1992-93 and 1993-94, the mark is now 19 years strong and counting.

Pavel Bure, Alex Ovechkin and other All-Star voting fallacies

Counting down to Bure night, this is the third in a 10-day series of posts that I now regret promising chronicling the Russian Rocket's career.

With Bure night exactly a week away, the Canucks are returning home from their road trip where they'll await Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Monday. Ovie's pure skill and goal-scoring ability have drawn him comparisons to Bure ever since he broke into the league.

This past off-season, Ovechkin made headlines when he was dubiously voted to both the First and Second NHL All-Star Teams. Thanks to a collective balloting error from the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA), he was named to the First Team as a right wing and the Second as a left. As you can imagine, it was the first such All-Star deuce in NHL history (I feel like somewhere Roberto Luongo's ears just perked) and effectively cheated Taylor Hall out of a Second Team spot.

So what does this have to do with Pavel Bure? Well, the Writers Association does in fact have a history for this sort of thing. Only the reverse happened to Bure following his rookie campaign in 1991-92.

Bure, the victim of voting error, and Ovechkin, the beneficiary.

Pavel Bure's Top 10 Goals as a Canuck (honourable mentions)

Today's post is the second in a 10-day series chronicling Pavel Bure's career in anticipation of his jersey retirement on November 2.

As mentioned in yesterday's countdown featuring Pavel Bure's top ten goals as a Canuck, it is nearly impossible to isolate any number of the Russian Rocket's goals as 'the best'. Ten is just far too little.

So with that in mind, here are a few more of Bure's endless highlight reel efforts -- infused with the usual slapdash of trivia and facts -- that didn't quite make the cut:

First NHL goal vs. Los Angeles (November 12, 1991)

Pavel Bure's Top 10 Goals as a Vancouver Canuck

Today's article is the first of a 10-day series chronicling Pavel Bure's career in anticipation of his jersey retirement on November 2.

Consider it "Bure-mania", re-lived. Ten days from now, Bure's iconic number will be raised to the rafters, ending more than a decade of divisiveness regarding the Russian Rocket's place in Canucks history. YouTube montages, engage!

There is no shortage of online videos by which fans can re-experience the brilliance that was Bure's career in Vancouver. Nonetheless, BTD would be remiss if we didn't contribute something to the collection (you could literally spend hours watching quality highlight reels dedicated entirely to Bure), as endless and as saturated as it may be.

Of the videos currently out there, TSN's Top 10 Bure goals, uploaded by several different users, has hundreds of thousands of views. And as much as I love TSN's nightly countdowns, a revised edition of Bure's best goals is sorely in order.

Canucks to retire Bure's number 10

Back in April, a flurry of Bure activity in Vancouver seemed to offer fans of the Russian Rocket false hope that number 10 might finally end up in the rafters. Tonight, at the Canucks' annual Summer Summit, one of the team's most lively debates in history was resolved as it was announced that Bure's jersey would be retired.

Truth be told, the Canucks' end-game with Bure's April tour of BC Children's and Rogers Arena was more-or-less transparent.  By drawing out Bure's re-introduction to the Vancouver community, Canucks brass were afforded the opportunity to test the waters for reception.  And when the Rogers Arena faithful elected to give Bure a standing ovation during his in-game appearance, jersey retirement became a foregone conclusion.

Nonetheless, the organization did an impressive job of preventing the story from leaking in the days leading up. Save for a Sportsnet tweet mid-Summit, it appeared that all there would be for Canucks Nation to discuss at this event was Luongo and Tortorella.

As far as those issues are concerned, however, the crowd of 2,000 seemed to be uniformly behind Luongo (apparently season ticket holders don't accurately reflect say, the Twitter population) and Tortorella really couldn't be saying better things in his first month of appearances.

Nonetheless, just as detractors for Tortorella remain, so too do they exist for Bure's jersey retirement. This was no slam dunk on Aquilini and Gillis' part.  The reasons for number 10 to remain in circulation (to be worn by the Trevor Letowskis and Ryan Johnsons of Vancouver's hockey world) are well-documented.  Let alone Bure's less-than-ceremonious departure, this clearly seems to disrupt the community service requirement that Gillis once declared for jersey retirement.

As Bure and the city of Vancouver continue with this mutually-ingratiating process, however, the door is wide open for the Russian Rocket to start in that regard.  A handful of BC Children's patients back in April would likely argue that he's already begun.  And without reading too much into him being put on the spot, Bure's comments tonight seem to illustrate him as entirely receptive to any charity event that Gillis might ask of him. 

With regards to that infamous holdout, if you're familiar with a similar falling out that Patrick Roy had in Montreal (just a couple of years prior to Bure's West Coast depature), then you might have some added insight to the way things have seemed to resolve themselves here.

Once the Hall of Fame offered league-wide recognition for Roy, it no longer made any real practical sense for Montreal to deny him of local honours.  Within two years of his induction, the Canadiens finally put water under the bridge and gave one of their best ever a hero's return.  Enter Bure's Hall of Fame nod last summer.  Fast forward a year and here we are.  The Canucks have granted Bure official prodigal son status.

Let it be known that I am in no way insinuating that Bure's contributions and significance to this organization are analogous to Roy and the Canadiens.  But the parallels of historical bad blood and divisiveness among fans are there, nonetheless.  So too now is the practice of repairing broken relationships and giving their superstars what's due to them.

The detractors will say what they will, but truly, the Canucks need this.  Consecutive 60-goal seasons, a Calder and yes, a Triple Deke.  For an organization that doesn't have a lot of history to celebrate, the opportunity to celebrate and recognize Bure's unprecedented achievements should be welcomed. 

Without exaggeration, Bure was the most skilled and most exciting player the team has ever had.  And as put by Gillis, his generation of NHL players yielded no match in those regards either.

So commence the mad appetite for ceremony admission and retro skate jerseys.  Congratulations, Mr. Bure.  Well-deserved and long overdue.

Pavel Bure, the Green Power Ranger and DJ Tanner

I've never made it a point to watch the HHOF's annual induction ceremonies.  Speaking for all my fellow twenty-something diehards, we're really only now entering an era in which the careers of the players being honoured are truly relevant to us.  Five years ago, for example, of course we recognized that Mark Messier and Al MacInnis were players that belonged in the Hall, but as our demographic goes, when those two were in their primes, we were really more preoccupied with, say... Devil Sticks.  Or Tommy, the green Power Ranger.

So while it did take me a full week to actually sit down and YouTube it, this year's HOF ceremony was different – for obvious reasons.  Last Monday, Pavel Bure (yes, he of triple deke fame) stood behind the mic in Toronto, capping off the latest flurry of debate regarding his merits as an NHL and Canucks legend.  Before we delve into the Russian Rocket's slice of this year's HOF pie, however, how about the other three inductees?

Though he made a living terrorizing Canucks fans, Joe Sakic deserves special recognition around here, having been born and raised in Burnaby.  In the same way that Griffiths Way pays homage to the Canucks' former owner, about ten kilometres east, people are similarily reminded of the former Nordique and Avalanche captain when they turn on Joe Sakic Way to access Bill Copeland Arena.  Simply put, he's the greatest hockey player ever to have called Vancouver his childhood home.

Conversely, it's easy to dismiss Mats Sundin's induction in this city, considering his brief and uneventful tenure with the Canucks (if you remember, much was made in the media about the Swede receiving equal attention to Bure on the team's website when they were initially voted in several months back).  But believe it or not, the guy deserves some credit from a Canucks point-of-view.  Sundin left a team he captained for over a decade to play for us.  His signing also arguably coincided with Ryan Kesler's breakout as an offensive threat.  And that's a valuable legacy around these parts.  If you're not buying it, you have to admit it was fun knowing Vigneault could have thrown out a line of Sedin, Sedin and Sundin at any moment, just to mess with Don Cherry.

As far as Adam Oates goes... much respect, but unlike the rest of his class, his career had little impact on the West Coast.  Being the eldest of the 2012 quartet, his best years were played in the aforementioned Power-Rangers-before-hockey era of my generation.

And so we come to Mr. Bure.  While the HOF commitee may have deemed him least-deserving of hockey's highest honour by way of his six-year wait (Sakic and Sundin were inducted in their first years of eligibility; Oates was in his fifth), Bure is undisputed as the most exciting, talented and skilled of the four.  Call it the Most YouTube-Friendly Award.

To actually comment on his speech, Bure came across as a truly humbled individual.  That may seem like a given considering the honour in question, but to a lot of people who have followed his career, his character hasn't always been portrayed as such.  If you believe the reports that Bure declined an invitation to the Canucks' Ring of Honour, you may not consider him to be the most appreciative person. 

With that in mind, it was refreshing to watch the ten minutes allotted to Bure last Monday, because it was exclusively a celebration of the guy's God-given talent.  It wasn't a debate pitting him against the Canucks' former management.  It was Pat Quinn comparing him with Bobby Orr in a class of the most skilled and exciting players ever.  Sounds like hyperbole, but Quinn is not a man short on hockey cred.  Sadly, Bure's on-ice reputation is too often overshadowed by his supposed character off of it.

...Valeri Bure's answer to
his brother's HOF ring.

Finally – given the early-ninetees flavour of this article, I would be woefully amiss if I didn't ask: Was that really Candace Cameron of DJ Tanner fame all grown up and back on television, sitting behind Bure's mom in the audience?  (You can add Full House to the list of things that were more important than Mark Messier's career in my formative years.)  I suppose that's the universe's way of evening things between Pavel and Valeri.

So here's to the Hall for finally getting it right and Quinn for speaking the truth.  Here's to Pavel for hockey's highest honour and Valeri for his.

-HC

The Rushin' Rocket and Geoff Courtnall's HOF foul

The Province ran an article today, blasting Mikael Samuelsson for a recent Swedish interview disparaging Alex Burrows and his finger-biting antics in the 2011 SCF.  Good for Botch.  But he and his paper missed another interview foul in their own backyard when they reached former Canuck Geoff Courtnall for comment regarding Pavel Bure's HHOF induction just over two weeks ago.  Read on for the article they should've printed.

My apologies to Pavel Bure.  For a blog sullying his good name by association, BTD has been woefully silent on last month's Hockey Hall of Fame induction.  Somewhere out there, sitting on millions of rubles and memories of Anna Kournikova, I know the Russian Rocket's been waiting for my two kopecks on the matter...

By now you've surely read the dozens upon dozens of articles covering the drama of Bure's overdue selection into the Hall.  If not, don't worry...as with anything in the media, they're all echoes of the same stories we've been hearing since his departure 13 years ago:

*Most electrifying Canucks player ever, yes.
*Most electrifying player of his time, (arguably) yes.
*Vancouver needs to retire his number, of course.
*The Canucks organization hated (and still hates) Bure, naturally.

The last one is questionable, but that debate is a can of worms worthy of putting the current Luongo-Schneider drama to shame.  (You can read the Sparknotes version of Bure vs. the Canucks in this Province article.)   At any rate, those four statements essentially form the skeleton for 99% of the media's coverage on Bure's pending induction.  That's why one particular article stood out last month in the wave of coverage following the announcement.

In an interview with The Province, former Canucks teammate Geoff Courtnall provided some bold insight into Bure's previous non-selections.  Word for word, Courtnall blamed the Hall for "prejudice towards Russian players in the NHL."  While it's not an original perspective (here's to you, Don Cherry), nor one of much consequence to Courtnall (I doubt he has any illusions of receiving a call himself from the HOF), it's interesting nonetheless. 

Here's why.  In addition to Russians, you can presumably extend this prejudice that some feel exists in the NHL towards Europeans, in general.  For all the hype Bure's HOF snubs have garnered over the last half decade, it's kind of poetic that in the year he does get the call, another glaring pass has been made towards Brendan Shanahan, a Canadian.  In addition to Bure, Shanahan was overlooked in favour of Swedish centre Mats Sundin (perhaps the Hall isn't so much anti-Russian as it is pro-Toronto).  It's hard to imagine such a prejudice as Courtnall has suggested exists when a Russian and a Swede get voted in for the Hall ahead of a Canadian with 600 goals.  The retired power forward and current league disciplinarian now enjoys the distinction of being the most prolific point-scorer in NHL history not in the Hall of Fame (among those who are eligible¹).

Besides Shanahan, another Canadian remains waiting in the wings in Eric Lindros.  The latter is arguably much less of a snub than Shanahan, but the former Flyer's injury-shortened career is almost a carbon copy of Bure's.  Along with Bure, pre-concussion Lindros had few peers to match his skill and dominance in the 90's.  Their stats are near-identical.  779 points in 702 games for Bure; 865 in 760 for Lindros.  Both starred in their teams one-off playoff runs – Bure in 1994 and Lindros three years later.  And while the Rocket garnered a few more individual awards by comparison (a Calder and two Maurice Richards), Lindros's Hart holds considerably more NHL cred.  Even off the ice, Lindros' departure from Philadelphia had all the controversy Bure's did in Vancouver.

So.  Geoff Courtnall.  While you gotta admire him coming to Bure's defence, his claim appears to be unfounded.  For what it's worth, his accusation does provide an effective starting point to analyze the Hall's incosistencies.  At any rate, Vancouver can finally put the issue to rest.

Regarding his play on the ice, the NHL was exceedingly lucky to have seen as supremely talented and entertaining a player as Bure was.  This city, all the more so to have had him on our side.  I can appreciate the reasons why he wasn't chosen in his first six years of eligibility – first and foremost, for lack of longevity – but byegones will be as such.   Starting now, we can officially appreciate Bure's place among the league's very best of all-time.  Meanwhile, Detroit and Philadelphia can continue the same weeping and wailing we've endured for our former superstar.  (Only difference is, Geoff Courtnall, theirs are Canadian.)

-HC

¹ Ahead of Shanahan are Jagr and Selanne, who are still active, as well as Recchi and Modano, for whom the three-year waiting period has not yet passed.  Next on the list is Pierre Turgeon.

*See the discussion regarding this article on the Canucks.com forums here.