Who was the greatest Canuck? A question asked to a panel of esteemed hockey poondits on TSN that yielded interesting answers.

The choices were Kirk McLean, Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden, Pavel Bure and Harold Snepsts. Ok, I added Snepsts.

First up was former Tampa Bay Lightning coach (not the dinosaur that was recently fired) John Tortorella. He chose McLean.

Snap! That’s the sound of Johnny losing his mind. Hey, how can you not love and respect Tortorella but really, it was a silly selection.

Next up, the enthusiastic Ray Ferraro. I fondly remember Ferraro (and Kevin Dineen, Ron Francis, Mike Liut, Sylvain Turgeon and Blaine Stoughton for that matter) skating and skillfully stick-handling for the forgetful blue and green colors of the Hartford Whalers.

Ferraro’s choice was Trevor Linden.

Yes, Linden was a great, productive, long standing captain blessed with all the so-called intangibles. He was a revered leader who bled for a franchise with a dubious track record of uniform design. Still.

Finally comes up the smooth and usually balanced Bob McKenzie. He chimed in with Markus Naslund. Alright. One can make a case for Naslund. So perhaps it’s not so crazy a choice.

I respect these choices but…

How can Pavel Bure not be the greatest Canuck ever?

Easily, Bure was one of the greatest pure goal scorers in the history of the NHL. He was also incredibly exciting. Hands down.

The Russian Rocket scored 437 goals in 702 games (.662 goals per game). He finished his career with 779 points (1.11 points per game). He won the Calder trophy in 1992 and the Rocket Richard trophy in 2001 and 2002.

It has always perplexed me as to why and how this guy is so under rated. Maybe it’s the Pacific wind or the high quality weed mixed in with the laid back nature of my West coast cousins. Who knows?

Imagine if his knees were healthy what he could have accomplished.

For the record, I enjoyed watching Thomas Gradin too.