Trevor Linden

Trevor Linden's grandfather, Nick van der Linden, emigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1929.

Trevor John Linden (born April 11, 1970) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former president of hockey operations and alternate governor of the Vancouver Canucks.

He spent 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), playing centre and right wing with four teams: the Vancouver Canucks (in two tenures; the first and last), New York Islanders, Montreal Canadiens and Washington Capitals.

Trevor was born on April 11, 1970, in Medicine Hat, Alberta to Lane and Edna Linden.

Linden was a skilled athlete; while hockey was his top priority, he also participated in baseball, golf, volleyball, basketball and speed skating.

An excellent student in school, he was offered a scholarship to Princeton University to play for their hockey team.

Instead, Linden chose to stay in Medicine Hat and play with the local major junior team, the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL).

Linden grew up watching the Tigers and idolized Lanny McDonald, who played in Medicine Hat before he joined the NHL.

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.

He ran a construction company until his son Lane (Trevor's father) replaced him in 1979.

He was the first Canucks rookie to score 30 goals and came within one point of tying Ivan Hlinka's team record of 60 points as a first-year player, set in 1981–82 (the record was later tied by Pavel Bure in 1991–92).

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 Memorial Trophy, awarded to the rookie of the year.

Fans voted him as the winner of The Hockey News' rookie of the year award.

After one season playing with the Medicine Hat Midget Tigers of the Alberta Midget Hockey League (AMHL), Linden joined the WHL 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 age 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 9 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.

Before joining the NHL in 1988, Linden helped the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) win consecutive Memorial Cup championships.

During the 1988 WHL playoffs, Linden set a WHL playoff record by scoring the fastest goal from the start of a game, 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.

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).

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 (21) and points (51) and finished third in assists (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 age 21, he was made sole captain of the team, becoming the youngest Canucks captain.

In that capacity, Linden was nicknamed "Captain Canuck" and led the team to back-to-back Smythe Division titles in 1992 and 1993, followed by a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994, where they lost in seven games.

A natural winger early in his career, Linden began learning to play at the centre position during the Canucks training camp in October 1992.

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.

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 was recognized as a respected leader on and off the ice.

He was named captain of the Canucks at age 21, making him one of the youngest captains in league history.

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 negotiations with league owners.

Linden retired on June 11, 2008, 20 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.

On April 9, 2014, Linden was named president of hockey operations for the Vancouver Canucks, a position he held until July 2018.