The answer is one we all know.
“Who is the most reviled Vancouver Canuck in team history?”
Before you’ve even finished the question, the answer has already been spat at you:
“Mark Messier.”
The man was supposed to lead the Canucks to glory when he was signed in 1997. Instead, he split the room and the Canucks spent three seasons in the wilderness.
That decline was probably inevitable, no matter what Messier did. But the reality remains that he came in, the team was terrible off the hop, the beloved Pat Quinn got canned by ownership, Messier pushed for the hiring of Mike Keenan who ended up trading most of the franchise’s beloved 1994 Stanley Cup finalist core.
You know the story. Keenan did get Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe, who was traded for one of the picks that became a Sedin, in the fold, but the process was painful, and the Canucks were terrible. Messier is the man most fans associated with all this.
Canucks Mark Messier and Trevor Linden laugh out loud during a press conference at Yoyogi Arena where Linden announced he would be handing over the captaincy to Messier.
Canucks nation just has no time for the guy the rest of the league has often called The Greatest Leader In Hockey.
Messier even gets to hand out an NHL award in his name every year — the Mark Messier Leadership Award — notably the 2024 recipient was Jacob Trouba, who was dumped over the side by the New York Rangers last season and has now been replaced as captain by former Canuck J.T. Miller.
On Tuesday morning, the Rangers announced they have a new jersey sponsor — an outfit known as Mark Messier’s Game7.
Game7, we’re told, is “a multiplatform sports and entertainment brand underscoring the journey to success. We are creating a community that celebrates the stories of perseverance, success, and performance under pressure — through league-backed products, premium events, and authentic experiences that bring untold stories to life.”
Whatever that means.
At the core of it is Messier’s apparent outstanding ability to lead his team to victory in the toughest games — he was 7-2 in his career in Game 7s, including twice to win the Stanley Cup.
The second time, of course, was in 1994, a heartbreaking moment in the lives of Canucks fans. The Canucks came close to winning the Cup, to pulling off a huge upset against a team that was stashed with so many former Edmonton Oilers that there were fans who normally might cheer for the Calgary Flames but were cheering for the Canucks. (Don’t believe me? Ask my dad, who was in Calgary during that epic seven-game Stanley Cup Final and came across a sports bar that had a sign on display outside which read “C’mon Canucks, beat the Oilers!”)
Vancouver Canucks captain Mark Messier celebrates his first period goal with Trent Klatt and Markus Naslund against the Edmonton Oilers at GM Place in Vancouver on Friday April 7, 2000.
The idea that Messier is leaning into his victories like this will bring nothing but pain to Canucks fans.
“Everybody in life can have a Game 7 moment,” Messier told The Athletic last year, after this Game7 project was announced. “You don’t have to be an athlete to be faced with the decision where you have to perform, and that performance changes the trajectory of your life one way or another. … I think for our boys and girls watching. We are arming them with tools so they can make great decisions and are prepared for when that Game 7 moment comes around for them.
“I think that’s an important thing that made this whole project very interesting for me personally — being able to use my own experiences to pay it forward.”
That’s nice, Mark. Vancouver hockey fans don’t care. You beat our team when it mattered, and then you couldn’t lead our team anywhere when it mattered after you came here for the money.
Good luck with your project, though.