How Trading Trevor Linden In ‘98 Led To The Canucks Dominating The 2010s | Trade Trees

Steve Dangle breaks down how trading away Trevor Linden to the New York Islanders hugely benefitted the Vancouver Canucks and led to their dominance in the early 2010's. On the other side of things, he also explains how poorly the transaction worked out for the Isles.
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How Trading Trevor Linden In ‘98 Led To The Canucks Dominating The 2010s

[@fpjrzman]

The Draft Day heist where he landed the Sedin Twins was still pretty damn amazing. Still awaiting that mess of a trade tree.

[@shiv3510]

I mean he pretty much covered it. Henrik was taken with the Canucks own draft pick so there's nothing really to cover there.

[@fpjrzman]

@@shiv3510 Oh no, I mean the ENTIRE sequence of trades that involves FIVE different teams.

[@raymondwildeman2730]

@@fpjrzman He did. Traded 1st 2000 + Mccabe for 4th overall. Traded 4th overall + 2 3rds for 1 st overall. Traded 1st overall for 2nd overall + 3rd round pick. It's not that complex.

[@BobBob-et9io]

@@fpjrzman there's a Hey Burkie about it too. Definitely worth a listen

[@Smolder09]

@@fpjrzman would also recommend the hey Burke episode. It's pretty interesting

[@a1service414]

Steve, Mike Keenan was the acting GM of Canucks as Pat Quinn had just been let go in November 1997. Brian Burke was hired as GM in the 1998 offseason. Therefore it was Keenan who made the Linden trade to Islanders.

[@riot121212]

He’s got no clue about the canucks history. They should have actual fans of the teams do the trade trees.

[@gordanblansky7137]

@@riot121212 why on earth would they do that exactly?

[@JaredtheRabbit]

I'm guessing he was also acting as GM because of... dare I say his name... MARK MESSIER.

[@Canuck867]

Hey, we don’t like to give Mike Keenan credit for anything good in Vancouver. Let us live the lie. What a trade by Burke!!

[@TylerAven10]

@@Canuck867 Keenan might’ve made the initial trade, but it was clearly Burkie who made it great turning it into the twins

[@canucks8294PatRiot]

Now you gotta do how the Canucks got Linden back. Thank you Steve Dangle

[@mccor002]

Wow, Mike Milbury needs his own like trade forest series. What a career he had as a GM. None of it good for his own team.

[@jimrockqc]

I want a battle of the trade between, Milbury,Rejean Houle and Peter Chiarelli

[@donnysavitsky967]

The Islanders legit had a core of Luongo, Chara, Berard, McCabe, Kenny Jonsson, Spezza and either Heatley or Gaborik in the palm of their hands and wasted it

[@donnysavitsky967]

Also Bertuzzi

[@davidbarter757]

And Olli Jokinen, if he still does the Palffy trade, but not the Luongo / Jokinen trade

[@danevertt3210]

Haha trade Forrest

[@Draconic178]

Fun fact, Lukas Krajicek (24:40) was the defenseman in front of Ovi when Ovi scored his “hot stick” goal.

[@idgafnation8620]

As a Canuck fan (sigh) the 2009 to 2012 chapters were highlightrs of my life. From Bobby Lou to the Twins and the pattented Hip Checks to the 2011 cup run and the tears that followed. THIS TRADE TREE ROCKED!

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hello what’s up

[@dana102083]

Nah the best days were linden and Bure 😊

[@mattdixon8816]

There are few things I enjoy as much as your trade trees, Steve. The enthusiasm for the sport, the respect you put on everyone's name because making it to the NHL is damned near impossible, the history lessons and walks down memory lane ... I absolutely can't get enough of these things. Thank you so much for making them.

[@michaelsinger73]

It’s a shame he left Sportsnet…. Hope he continues to make these videos, they’re awesome

[@therealxenith3237]

"And Mike Milbury is the GM of the New York Islanders" that's all I need to hear in order to know that the Islanders were going to suffer from this.

[@johnciolfi5085]

Still hoping to get a rundown of the Ron Francis HFD-PIT trade in 91 - absolute monster of a trade tree, includes something like eight hall of famers and several other all-stars (although the Hartford side is admittedly a bit tangential, some of the assets from that trade were eventually used to get the draft pick to take Chris Pronger in 93, and that branch is where most of the big names lie on the Whalers/Canes side of the tree). You could probably spend an episode on each team, honestly, since both ended up winning Cups with assets they picked up over the following years.

[@TheShinyFeraligatr]

The Ron Francis Trade is such a massive, major event in NHL history that they probably will eventually get around to it.

[@ozma6918]

Before you mentioned who that second overall pick for the Canucks was, I had it in the back of my mind. Although, I had NO idea WHATSOEVER that it originated from so much chaos! This is just incredible, thanks a million for this trade tree!

[@ironlungs10]

I've been a canucks fan throughout this whole tree. I had no idea that it was the linden trade that brought the sedins. And ended up getting all those players in the process. Man, Linden has done so much for this organization. That's why we love him. Great video!

[@thunderwing1974]

Thank you, Steve. I have been waiting for this one for awhile. Was sad to see him go, but glad he made his return back to Vancouver. A gentleman on and off the ice.

[@allthingscdl4374]

2011 finals with Boston is still one of the better ones to date . Two teams that hated each other

[@manzac112]

I mean when you have two teams that were known for having punishing offenses, brutal defense, & two really good goalies on each side, there was bound to be an incredible and violent series.

[@harshbirbrar2830]

@@manzac112 Brutal defense? In 2010-11 the Canucks had the fewest goals against in the league, the bruins had the second fewest. The Canucks also had the 3rd best PK.

[@gordanblansky7137]

@@harshbirbrar2830 he means brutal as in its literal term. Feisty, mean, and violent

[@harshbirbrar2830]

@@gordanblansky7137 i c

[@grangerjung4129]

One of the other best series was Vancouver vs NY Rangers in 1994. I liked that team a little better because they were decided playoff underdogs.

[@mcj88]

1:34 - I was 9 when Mark Messier went to the Canucks, so it's easy for me to forget how _doomed_ from the start his tenure there was. First they make him the captain, even though Trevor Linden already had been for 7 years, then they let him wear #11 which had been unofficially retired for Wayne Maki after his 1974 death from brain cancer! That was two strikes against him, as far as the fanbase was concerned, before he'd even played a game as a Canuck; then he actually played for them for 3 seasons, and wasn't really that good while he was there! Crazy.

[@drunkreapermatt]

The Dany heatly / Marian Hossa trade... Do it Steve, you know you have to address it

[@SILVYSPARK]

You damn well know Drew edited this video because of all the images to use of Jarome Iginla, he chose the one with the Avs. Not Calgary, not Pittsburgh, Boston, or LA...

[@nickgodfrey646]

This is awesome, finally thank you. One important detail from Burke about trading 1st down to 2nd overall in ‘99, he got Atlanta to guarantee they would draft Stefan and not one of the Sedin brothers.

[@briandurocher8675]

Thank you Steve for all you and your teams hard work I absolutely love these trade videos

[@ajyu7289]

My inner kid let out a huge cheer at the Daniel Sedin bit. The twins were my childhood heroes.

[@christopherrego8706]

You gotta wonder how good the Islanders could have been in the 2000s if they kept Luongo, Chara, Spezza, Bertuzzi, McCabe, Jokinen. Such a shame

[@markdaigle4030]

Love these trade history lessons. Great job Steve 💯

[@panman644]

One of these days I'm gonna see the Ron Francis to Pittsburgh trade given the Steve Dangle treatment. I've researched it myself but Steve really gives it the extra something that makes it special. (BTW the tree is bonkers with 10 HOFs involved including the entire Chris Pronger trade as a sub-branch).

[@TheVinceterence]

Thanks for this Steve!

[@deltagolavista1]

So back in the day, teams were awarded draft picks if they lost a UFA AND didn’t sign one, hence the extra picks in the later rounds. Theo Fleury was a Shark for a hot second to take advantage of this rule.

[@kevinstull8552]

Mark Messier was also a Shark for a hot second, right before he signed with the Vancouver Canucks.

[@GLrebirth]

I thought Mike Keenan dealt Linden to the Islanders...not Brian Burke

[@lankancheetah]

Keenan was also the GM of the Panthers who dealt Luongo to the Canucks.

[@aidan8473]

Wow this is crazy. Didn't realize how good the Sedin twins were, as my dad is a Flames fan and hated them.

[@scottelement]

Along with his fantastic career; the Trevor Linden trade being a main component to the greatest era in Canucks hockey is why he’ll forever be loved in this town.

[@brew1116]

Yeah? Because I always got the feeling it was a bit more sheepish than that; like people will think "Oh, we never should have traded Linden, he should have played his whole career here", and just kind of gloss over the fact that we got an unspeakable hoard of insanely talented players out of a single Hall of Very Good center. Probably a lot of them don't realize the deep, bone-scraping extent of the fleecing, I don't fault them for that.

[@azisles02]

It's deals like this that I (& fellow Islanders fans) laugh so hard when NBC tried to promote Milbury as a "hockey expert".

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey just need to ask lol how have you been doing?

[@forktrus]

Luongo getting just enough of a piece of that Pavelski attempt at the 2010 Olympics is burned into my head forever. I can't describe it -- but to me that stop is way more iconic in my head than the Iggy Iggy Iggy goal. Iggy to Crosby for the game winning goal just seems like a thing that's supposed to happen. The Luongo stop is singularly denying an unwanted alternate reality by sheer will and contortion of body. I still sleep with the lights on in fear of it.

[@jasonpaul4308]

oh! my trade tree request made it into the video! haha honestly, the first ever trade would probably be the shortest trade tree ever and not interesting, but my thought was MAYBE it had something interesting digging a little deeper in it...but unlikely...in my dream world some how the first ever trade is still going lol but no no you guys do the trades you will enjoy and are fun to make! :) keep up this amazing work!!!

[@Brendan_Seka]

I think the Brendan Shanahan for Chris Pronger trade could be a really cool big trade tree. I mean you have Shanahan, Pronger, Paul Coffey, and Rod Brind’amor all involved and a ton of other good players

[@RetepAdam]

It directly resulted in like six different teams winning Cups.

[@coreylineberry8557]

​@@RetepAdamAnd it could still lead to teams winning a cup today, with those players as coaches.

[@tugrequired]

How can you talk about Ruutuu without talking about that one time he made an absolute clown out of Dion Phaneuf

[@BestSomebodyNA]

His little stick trick to this day cracks me up - Y O I N K !

[@louisyank5326]

Another great video! I am again suggesting the James Neal trade tree for a moderately sized vid

[@patricklee4581]

No no, you had it right the first time Steve. Linden was the captain. and number 11 was retired for Wayne Maki and NEVER WORN AGAIN AFTER THAT DAY. IT WAS NEVER WORN AGAIN. By ANYONE. We do not acknowledge this Messier guy. Don't know who he is, never heard of him.

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey just need to ask lol how have you been doing?

[@jfenner8645]

Please do the Ron Francis-Ulf Samuelsson from Hartford to Pittsburgh trade tree. It was so bad it moved a franchise.

[@williamlin2684]

Great show!

[@abaddoniaband]

Steve, you should look into the STL-WSH TJ Oshie deal! Insane amount of stuff in it, including picks that brought us Sanford, Tage Thompson, and RoR!

[@Nebocsid]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd into my favourites you go. I've been dying for this one, and the icing on the cake is you were essentially annoyed into submission.

[@HockeyGod619]

Bertuzzi was also a big part of the West coast Express line 👍

[@esteads2.010]

Thank you Steve ❤

[@Hokage222]

I was just rewatching "Hey Burkie" the episode in which Brain Burke send so many picks to get to the second and third overall pick for the Sedin twins but what happened to all the other picks that was traded to move up and down the draft pick?? from Lighting to Blackhawk to Thrasher/ Jets??

[@lankancheetah]

One thing that could be added is how much Mike Keenan was involved in all of this. Both the initial Linden trade out of Vancouver and the Luongo trade out of Florida.

[@jonmendelson1104]

13:46 The reason there were 35 picks in the 2nd round of the 2000 draft is compensatory picks. The Islanders (who traded it to Vancouver who traded it to the Devils) for not signing Mike Rupp, Sens for not signing Mathieu Chouinard, Avs (who traded it to Calgary) for Theo Fleury (who was a free agent), Avs again for Valeri Kamensky (who was a free agent), and Devils for not signing Mike Van Ryn all had compensatory picks in the 2nd round of the 2000 draft. The Bruins had a compensatory pick at the beginning of the 3rd round for not signing Ben Clymer. ETA: Started grabbing those details from wikipedia, but they didn't list what the picks were compensating for, so I went to capfriendly.

[@philipdawson7800]

Speaking of terrible Islanders trades & Roberto Luongo, do the original Luongo trade tree (from the Islanders to Florida, in 2000). A bad trade for the Islanders, but there's an even worse one hidden within it for the Isles. Note: it involves one of our "favorite" rats in NHL history...

[@manzac112]

Oh god, I think I know who you're talking about.

[@rjay._.1]

I forget his draft pick bounced around so much

[@spoof1234]

How about the Rod Langway trade that pretty much saved the Caps in Washington. This resulted in a ton of riches for Washington; the Habs, not so much (Steve and other Leafs fans would love it). I did a quick and dirty one (It would be cool to see Steve's research on it), and noticed something rare, 2 separate branches combine.

[@boerhae]

yes please

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey what’s good

[@phreak811]

I saw the name Bryan McCabe and I went..."Oh its THAT trade tree! I know what this is!"

[@vougiedipond6979]

A Cardiff Devils player made it on a trade tree, scenes. Max Birbraer Played 7 seasons there and also played for Telford

[@calvink.guentherjr]

Goalies should be allowed to wear a "C" or "A".. that rules billshut

[@loganklausner7672]

The Sedin's and Luongo live in my nightmares as a Sharks fan. All i remember from the 2010-2014 season is the Canucks and Blackhawks bodying us in the WCF

[@manzac112]

Kings: Would like to talk about those last 2 years?

[@loganklausner7672]

@@manzac112 I refuse to acknowledge the City of LA purely due to spite

[@manzac112]

@@loganklausner7672 Dallas: Oh look, it's one of our little brothers, San Jose. Hey LA, I would just give the Sharks a broom; so, they can have an imaginary sweep and feel better about themselves.

[@loganklausner7672]

@@manzac112 what is this, the early 2000's?

[@swaggleboon]

Trade trees are so good that I'm almost not looking forward to the season starting because it means these will be on hold again. Still holding out hope for the Jordan Staal trade tree someday because that trade ended up building like half of Pittsburgh's back to back Cup teams.

[@DeathOnTwoLegs_]

I really wish you hadn't mentioned the prospect of doing the first ever NHL trade ad a new episode, because now I really need to see that...

[@01NeilHD]

"Dominating the 2010s" is a stretch there, and this is coming from a Canucks fan. That's a word I'd use for what Tampa Bay did.

[@lucrenault9474]

3/24/98 draft pick trade between TBL and SJ. Was the pick that got Lecavalier but the trades connect to Karlson going to the sharks and the draft pick back to Ottawa that gave them Stützle

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey just need to ask lol how have you been doing?

[@kurtmooreca]

The 99 Draft was a great swindle, Watch the "Hey Burkie" or w/e animation about the story from Burke about the 99 draft.

[@chrisABR8185]

The 3rd round pick being pick 93 in a 30 team league is very easy to explain. All the extra picks were made in round 2, because the NHL has a rule that if you don't sign a prospect that you selected in the first round, you will receive an extra 2nd round pick as compensation. Happens all the time, thus all the extra picks in round 2. For example, Minnesota had an extra second in the 2022 draft because they didn't sign Filip Johansson from 2018.

[@holofech9744]

21:20 Jarome Iginla, Avs legend

[@jakeolive3220]

I know it's still early but MAN it'd be nice to look back on the EK65 trade. Lots of storylines to play with there, at least!

[@jimdraven2432]

Please do the Scott Stevens "trade" saga from 1991. Washington ended up with 5 first rounders, & when Stevens was "traded/awarded" to New Jwrsey for Brendan Shanahan, New Jersey got a future first rounder i cant seem to account for. From the initial trade though, St. Louis finally ended up with G Jordan Binnington

[@Feril1]

Thanks for a great birthday present Steve!

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey what’s good? How you doing and how about the weather over there?

[@vinceven]

just had a look at the star-studded 1999 draft. phoenix coyotes drafted players that played a grand total of 14 NHL games. how? just.. how?

[@hockeyed]

Brian Burke wasn't the Canucks GM at the time of the trade. It was the next year he was hired. Mike Keenan was wheeling and dealing back then.

[@brew1116]

Couple of weird side notes: 1. Roberto Luongo was also an Islanders draft pick, so for some Islanders fans this was probably the trade that keeps on giving you bouts of shower-screaming for like a decade; 2. Anyone remember when Vancouver was a goalie graveyard? This is the trade tree that turned our goalie karma around, Vancouver has had some of the best goaltending in the league for most of the last fifteen years now; 3. I forgot Ruutu was in this, he was one of the best pests going for a while there. Look up "Jarko Ruutu owns Dion Phaneuf", if you haven't seen it before you can thank me later; 4. I will be rewatching the 99 draft breakdown part again and again, because it is probably the most audacious draft day performance by a GM in NHL history (unless you want to count the Sens drafting a dead guy, that's ballsy) and it turned out soooo, so well.

[@skylarsoper241]

Btw thanx for this one dangle 😎👍🏻

[@nuck97]

14:50 The Sedins scored a ton of pretty goals. That one might just be the best.

[@08hymas]

After finishing my fantasy draft what better way to end the night than with a trade tree video

[@howamidriving27]

I'm here for as many bad Mike Millbury trades as you wanna do Steve

[@noahwilson3208]

As a Canucks fan, you will hear no complaints calling Linden the captain

[@derekbird9276]

I know it's still young but the Erik Karlsson trade tree is so good! If you're and Ottawa fan..

[@markwager8294]

Nice to see not one, but two former Belleville Bulls (Mezei and Matthias) mentioned in the vid. With PK and Spezza retiring I'm not even sure how many are left in the league.

[@Halfhoff]

There were compensatory picks for teams not (being able) to sign certain draft picks within two years.

[@andyweinberg8100]

The better note on Branislav Mezei is that the two players you mention him playing with were born 4 and 5 years AFTER he was drafted!

[@davidakerlund7396]

A 1981 trade between the Buffalo Sabres (3rd round 1981, 1st round 1983) and the Los Angeles Kings (Rick Martin) is quite interesting.

[@arilipkin7816]

The trade that sent Linden from MTL to WAS could be interesting. Jan Bulis eventually made his way to Vancouver as well! Too bad the draft picks in that deal on both sides really didn't pan out.

[@spoof1234]

I would love to see a trade tree of the Rod Langway trade. The Caps absolutely FLEECED the Habs in that trade.

[@neroameealucard945]

Also, with the Bryan McCabe part of this trade, The Blackhawks traded Bryan McCabe to Toronto for Alexander Karpotsev, who was then traded to the Islanders. He was traded for the draft pick used to pick Niklas Hjalmarsson

[@nhlvan]

Been waiting for the Linden trade tree for a while

[@tmoore4075]

Isn't the title wrong? He was traded in 97/98, not 95. Edit: It's been fixed. Good job guys.

[@ryrad44]

Rick Wamsley from Montreal to St louis Trade would be epic, Flames and Blues obviously know who he was packaged for later, but leads to many significant trades for the Habs as well.

[@assidoashd]

Steve! You should check out how the Tampa Bay Lightning’s trade for Dan Boyle in 2002 results in them getting Vasilevskiy in 2012

[@supermadhawk100]

That how Vancouver got these players love the trade trees

[@jasonpaul4308]

!!!!! ok....what?! this trade tree is epic!! I should have known when the mention of the sedin twins happens HALF WAY THROUGH THE VIDEO

[@BearkatUrbanKnight]

Hello Steve and producers. Can you all please create content on Valmore James and Larry Kwong? Thank you for the hard work and great entertainment.

[@danielejnarsson8574]

Love this

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey what’s good? How you doing and how about the weather over there?

[@WithScienceAsMySheperd]

@7:45 was Jarko related to Christian Ruutu ?Of Sabres fame?

[@Drscience31415]

Can you do the Guy Lafleur trade tree that contributed to the Golden Seals folding

[@jessicapowell3981]

Hey just need to ask lol how have you been doing?

[@jacobsmall4585]

How about the Erik Karlsson trade tree? Not too long on the San Jose side, but for the Sens, some miscellaneous pieces, but one key acquisition that is helping the team in the present and for the future

[@benfollett2977]

I can't believe you used a headshot of Iggy with the Avs instead of with the Flames...

[@brettski3152]

before the jets came back to the peg, all we had were the manitoba moose. sergei shirokov was great in the 2 seasons he played in the ahl

[@you_want_some_gamer8553]

When I look at hockey DB some of the stats don’t match up to what Steve said?

[@ignacybenjamin]

Can you please do the TJ Oshie trade tree?

[@HappyOilersFan]

Can you please do the mark messier trade tree? It just ended with Oscar Klefbom’s contract expiring

[@williamfischer3990]

Can you guys do the Tyler Seguin trade tree??

[@erikpawelski3460]

The yearly 'Big One before the season starts'

[@HT-jj5sx]

"Some how" lol. Nuff said Steve.

[@aaronchalupa4901]

Guerin or Weight Trade Tree please, Oilers in the mid 90's were wild!

[@williamm.buttlicker3870]

Finally... the most meaningful trade tree ever!

[@WithScienceAsMySheperd]

@20:10 millbury... did he draft John Tavares and Kyle Okposo? Cuz it's them who rebuilt this boat... canoe of the fisherman captain highliner debacle

[@jjblake4941]

I can’t wait in the future for the trade tree for the Karlsson trade, I know a player from each team got traded for a draft pick

[@alexlee1087]

As a Canucks fan I always wished Linden had been a lifelong Canuck. Now that I know the full repercussions of the trade I am glad he wasn't.

[@marcorizzardo3243]

Please do some trade trees from the 50s 60s and 70s. There isn't near as many. But could be interesting