Markus Näslund 50 years old today!

[Gubbhornet]

Say happy birthday and share a memory to him! Great canuck and probably the greatest Swedish goalscorer of all time!

Click to read more...

 

[Mr. Canucklehead]

YouTube highlights weren’t as prominent during his time, but a couple of good ones;

His end to end rush vs Ottawa:


Penalty shot goal vs Curtis Joseph:


Goal against St. Louis in Game 7 in 2003:


He really could thread a needle with his shot when he was on.

Happy Birthday, Nazzy!

 

[Killer Orcas]

Happy birthday Nazzy you along with Bertuzzi and Morrison as the West Coast Express was one of the most exciting lines of the era. A true joy to watch indeed enjoy your day !!

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

Who

 

[PavelBure10]

Happy 50th Nazzy...

The best trade in franchise history. Alek Stojanov for Naslund.

Mogilny to the Devils for Morrison and Pederson.

Linden to the Isle for Bertuzzi, McCabe and a 3rd (Ruutu).

This created the West Coast Express. The most unstoppable, exciting line in the league for 3+ seasons. Bertuzzi was the best power forward in the league, while Naslund developed into the top left winger of the game. Even winning the Lester B. Pearson award as the "best player" voted on by his peers.

This line was so exciting. So many fond memories. I'll never forget the Minny series where the Canucks were eliminated by the Wild. That was their year, but like always, the Canucks fell short.

 

[Grip it N RYP it]

Started watching hockey in 1998. Loved Nazzy growing up. Always tried to emulate his moves and skating during roller/street hockey.

 

[Grip it N RYP it]

Just saw this today:

 

[Jyrki21]

Just saw this today:

From Gordle?

 

[Grip it N RYP it]

From Gordle?

Yeah, from today's.

 

[VanJack]

The relentless march of 'Father Time'.....seems like only yesterday when Naslund anchored the most dangerous line in hockey--the West Coast Express trio with Morrison and Bertuzzi.

But it was 20 years ago now......where does time go?

 

[Shareefruck]

Just saw this today:

That's really good.

 

[LandfiII]

I hope nobody at his celebration chokes on any cake.

 

[Canuckle1970]

Happy 50th Birthday Nazzy! Where did the time go?

Conversely, this summer is crawling along. Get movin.

 

[Burke's Evil Spirit]

Who's still playing Gordle in the age of Puckdoku

 

[Jyrki21]

Who's still playing Gordle in the age of Puckdoku

I play all of ‘em. Wordle, Worldle, Le Mot, WhereTaken, you name it.

 

[lawrence]

Happy birthday Markus naslund !

I still remember the rumour that Keenan gave up on nazzy. Ottawa senators offered us a 4th round pick for nazzy, Keenan at the time didn’t take it only because Alex mogilny was hurt or something.

The rest is history.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Happy birthday Markus naslund !

I still remember the rumour that Keenan gave up on nazzy. Ottawa senators offered us a 4th round pick for nazzy, Keenan at the time didn’t take it only because Alex mogilny was hurt or something.

The rest is history.

“I remember calling Brian Burke,” McPhee said in the podcast. “Markus hadn’t broken through. He wasn’t playing a lot. I asked Burkie if he would be interested in moving him. I offered a third-round pick. [Burke] said give me a day and I’ll give you a yes or a no. He called me back the next day and said he was not quite doing it yet. He’s not playing a lot under our current coach (Mike Keenan). But I think I’ve got to be a little more patient.”

The rest of the story is well documented. Naslund requested a meeting with Burke, who believed his underachieving winger was going to request a trade. Burke’s policy at the time was to trade anyone who asked for one.

“So Markus asked to come see me, he walks in the office, and I said, ‘Shut up. Don’t say anything.’ I said, ‘Sit down and shut up. Because I’m afraid you’re going to ask for a trade and once you do that it’s too late. So hear me out first,'” Burke said.

“So I said, ‘I’m not trading you. You’ll be here long after the coach is.’ But I said in the meantime, ‘You’re stealing money, Markus. You’re stealing money, you’re not backchecking, you’re not forechecking, you’re not scoring goals. You’re not playing hard. You’re a shadow of yourself.'”

This is from the UNREEL: West Coast Express podcast / docuseries.

 

[Gubbhornet]

You guys have probably heard it already, but Markus was also the driving player in his youth years in MoDo. And without him pushing the group it is unlikely that MoDo would have produced this many NHL players during those years (+ a few greats in the swedish leauge). These guys all played with Markus or maximum two years after:

Peter Forsberg, 708 NHL games
Niklas Sundström, 750 NHL games
Anders Eriksson, 572 NHL games
Mattias Timander, 419 NHL games
Per Svartvadet, 247 NHL games
Hans Jonsson, 242 NHL games

One could discuss if the spirit remained a few years after Markus left, in which he could also get some cred for the Sedins, Samuel Påhlsson, Toby Enström...

 

[bossram]

Nazzy was my favourite player growing up when I just started watching the NHL. Absolutely love #19.

 

[LemonSauceD]

Nazzy was my favourite player growing up when I just started watching the NHL. Absolutely love #19.

Some my fond memories were the early 2000’s hockey. Naslund, Bertuzzi, EdJovo, Ohlund, etc

There were a lot of fan favourites during these times. Canucks hockey was all about truculence, edginess, and determination. The WCE encapsulated that.

I honestly think if Cloutier didn’t shellshock the team by letting that beach ball goal, I truly think we could’ve gone all the way in 2002. We had that legendary Detroit squad on the ropes at home.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Some my fond memories were the early 2000’s hockey. Naslund, Bertuzzi, EdJovo, Ohlund, etc

There were a lot of fan favourites during these times. Canucks hockey was all about truculence, edginess, and determination. The WCE encapsulated that.

I honestly think if Cloutier didn’t shellshock the team by letting that beach ball goal, I truly think we could’ve gone all the way in 2002. We had that legendary Detroit squad on the ropes at home.

Attitude Era?

 

[Tim Calhoun]

I honestly think if Cloutier didn’t shellshock the team by letting that beach ball goal, I truly think we could’ve gone all the way in 2002. We had that legendary Detroit squad on the ropes at home.

Still don’t know if Cloutier’s 2002 performance vs Detroit was more unforgivable than 2003 vs the Wild.

 

[LuckyDay]

WCE era Canucks were a front loaded team who's terrific D men were instructed to have happy feat in a desperate effort by Burke to bring in fans (spoiler: it worked). But the team became a goalie graveyard as some of the best veterans such as Sean Burke and Felix Potvin were getting lit up. Burke finally landed Cloutier, the young goaltender he always wanted, who was the only goalie able to play within their system.

Maka benefited greatly in the "call everything" era by simply getting past the opposing D who inevitably poke or hook him. If he didn't score a goal on his knees the opponents would have to face the Canucks potent powerplay.

---
I was at this game in San Jose

Canucks 5-2 Sharks (Oct 21, 2002) Game Recap - ESPN

Expert recap and game analysis of the Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks NHL game from October 21, 2002 on ESPN.

www.espn.com

I got to tell two kids in front of me, who were having way too much to drink, "It's an Orca". They weren't around in the third period.
It was such a blow out the Sharks fans were getting pretty upset. Nazzy got cross checked to the ice in the final minutes and I yelled for a penalty. I heard a rather unhappy, "Shut up" from across the aisle. A guy with a 70's mustache apparently got a beer dumped on him but another unhappy fan. Great blowout but it was a little scary leaving. It was great to witness Markus live at the height of his career.

also this

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

Probably the forgotten era of the Canucks being a good team being that it happened between the 94 cup run core and the 2011 cup run core.

Nazzy gets super underrated by many because of the relative lack of playoff success but you can't build a team around a superstar winger (without sufficient support) and expect to go very far in the playoffs so I don't really blame him for much of that.

There was a 3 year period where he was arguably a top 2-3 player and this period was within about a 6 or 7 year period where he was a top 20 player.

In an era where hockey was at a real ebb in terms of entertainment value and most offensive players were being shut down, Nazzy was able to break through and run roughshod over the league offensively.

 

[Grip it N RYP it]

This is from the UNREEL: West Coast Express podcast / docuseries.

That was a good idea for a podcast. Listened to it routinely on the train to work.

A range of good stories, behind the doors information and plenty of insight.