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Former Canuck Dana Murzyn Had a Lot to Say About How He Feels About Mike Keenan & Mark Messier
Photo credit: Nevin Reid /Allsport
Former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Dana Murzyn spoke recently about the negative impact he thinks Mark Messier & Mike Keenan brought to the organization.
The Mike Keenan and Mark Messier era in Vancouver is a time that Canucks fans try to forget as it left a bad taste in the mouths of many, especially after the former stripped Trevor Linden of his captaincy ahead of the 1997-98 season.
Several former Vancouver Canucks players have spoken out about the Keenan and Messier era and recently, Dana Murzyn was the latest to give his thoughts on how he viewed things when he was on the club during those years.
Former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Dana Murzyn opens up on Keenan & Messier era
In a recent interview with Steve Ewan of The Province, former Vancouver Canucks defenseman Dana Murzyn spoke about the Mike Keenan and Mark Messier era for the organization and didn't mince his words about his former coach and the future Hall of Famer.
Murzyn told Ewan that he was not a fan of Mike Keenan at all and when it comes to Mark Messier, he was being played in a first line center role when he should've been down on the third line.
He believed that the team became more about Keenan and Messier than it did about Vancouver and the Canucks.
"I'm not a big Mike Keenan fan at all. It actually caused so much destruction." Murzyn said.
He went on to add, "You had a Hall of Fame player who felt he could be a first-line centre, when, if he slotted in at third line and not blow everything up, I think we would have been a better team. The team almost became about Mike and Messier and not the Canucks."
He went on to add, "You had a Hall of Fame player who felt he could be a first-line centre, when, if he slotted in at third line and not blow everything up, I think we would have been a better team. The team almost became about Mike and Messier and not the Canucks."
Murzyn, 58, spent parts of nine seasons with the Vancouver Canucks between the 1990-91 and 1998-99 seasons, skating in 452 games for the club and helping them to their second Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history in 1994.
Source: Steve Ewan/The Province
Canucks alumni: Dana Murzyn on the Flames rivalry, and the hot mess that was the Mike Keenan era
Canucks alumni: Dana Murzyn on the Flames rivalry, and the hot mess that was the Mike Keenan era
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MARS 26 | 450 ANSWERS Former Canuck Dana Murzyn Had a Lot to Say About How He Feels About Mike Keenan & Mark Messier Do you think that the Vancouver Canucks made a mistake by bringing Mike Keenan in to coach in 1997? | ||
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| No | 63 | 14 % |
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