The Canucks are a beloved team in Vancouver and one of the most memorable players for the team to date has been Trevor Linden. Born and raised in Medicine Hat Alberta, Linden has always been a skilled athlete participating in sports such as baseball, golf, volleyball, basketball and speed skating with his top priority being hockey. He was also very successful academically and received a scholarship for hockey to Princeton University, an ivy league school in New Jersey. However, Linden chose to stay in Medicine Hat and play for the local junior team Medicine Hat Midget Tigers. After one season of playing he joined the Western Hockey League Medicine Hat Tigers, a team he had grown up watching. After playing 3 years with the Tigers Linden was drafted second overall to the Vancouver Canucks in 1988 when he was 18 years old. He played with the Vancouver Canucks from 1988-1998 and was traded to the New York Islanders where he played with them from 1998-2001. He was traded back to the Vancouver Canucks in 2001 and continued to play for them until 2008. Linden played with the Canucks for exactly 20 years to the day and was a franchise leader with 1140 games played and 415 assists which was a team record until it was surpassed by Henrik Sedin in 2010. On and off the ice Linden was highly respected by his teammates and fans, he spent much of his free time doing charity work primarily working with children. He often visited children at the BC Children’s hospital and in 1995 started the Trevor Linden Foundation to raise money for local charities and also hosted an annual golf tournament to fundraise for the BC Children’s Hospital. Linden’s jersey number 16 was retired in 2008 after his retirement, VIP gate 5 was also changed to the number 16 in honour of Linden and his legacy remains everywhere at Rogers Arena. 

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