What if: Mark Messier never went to the Canucks

Canucks fans all have a strong distaste for Mark Messier, but in this 'What if' we're going to talk about what could've been rather than disaster that it turned into. But there are lots of interesting outcomes from this. And just because, I'm going to remove Mike Keenan ever being the coach of the Vancouver Canucks given he came when Messier came along. 

Mark Messier joined the Canucks in 1997-98 season immediately given the captaincy from then-Canucks Captain and arguably the best in franchise history Trevor Linden. Fans didn't think much of it at the time because he brought two cups as a captain to Edmonton and New York. Now, I think Messier is one of the most overrated players given he's played a majority of his career with Gretzky and other big name stars. But Vancouver was desperate for a cup, where they decided to find the biggest fish in the pond where they lost out on Wayne Gretzky -- which would make for another good: 'What if.' And they found Mark Messier. But suddenly, everything changed in Vancouver, which led to Trevor Linden being traded to the New York Islanders for Bryan McCabe, Todd Bertuzzi, and a 3rd (Jarkko Ruutu). Bryan McCabe was traded for the 4th overall pick in the 1999 NHL Entry draft which led to the Sedins being picked together. Todd Bertuzzi was traded for Luongo, one of the best goalies in that franchises history that brought them to the 2010-11 Stanley Cup Finals. But Messier being bad also led to the Sedins being picked too. But it had also led to Pavel Bure to being traded to the Florida Panthers. 

But now, we're going to pretend Messier decided to retire a New York Ranger and never left. The Rangers likely still have the same timeline, but no big changes. 

As for the Canucks, I could joke about how Canucks fans said how they could've had both Messier and Gretzky. But I think Trevor Linden and Pavel Bure retire with the Vancouver Canucks, Marcus Naslund is still a star, but crazy enough Todd Bertuzzi never plays for them which some may say the incident never happened but Luongo likely never becomes a Canuck, or maybe he does. I think the dressing room is a lot healthier and they are a consistent team to either make the playoffs until the 2006-07 season. Also, the Sedins never played for the Canucks so that thought it out. Except, I think Cory Schneider is drafted and Brian Burke remains the GM which means Anaheim may never get Chris Pronger, hey may never had ended up in Edmonton so no cup run in 2006. After this the Canucks remain a bad team, where Brian Burke is drafting high starting in 2007-08 where I still think Cody Hodgson ended up a Canuck, in 2008-09 they ended up with Magnus Paajarvi, in 2009-10 I think they become a better team with Schneider in net but end up drafting Ryan Johansen except in this draft he falls in their lap, in 2010-11 I think they end up drafting Gabriel Landeskog who ends up turning into captain Canuck, in 2011-12 I see them drafting Ryan Murray, in 2013 I see them drafting Seth Jones top-three immediately steps into their blue line, 2014 I think they have a small run for contention where they manage to make it into the playoffs until 2017-18 where the teams tread wares down. Not the best or the worst team from 2018-19-2021-22. But I think this leads to the Canucks being the worst team in the league and drafting Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini present day. 

So had Messier never been a Canuck, you never know, Trevor Linden may have never retired a Canuck. But they would've never had those amazing seasons from 2009-2013. 

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