Music: {allcanada} July 28: Mark Messier leaves New York for Vancouver

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

{allcanada} July 28: Mark Messier leaves New York for Vancouver

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THIS DATE IN HISTORY: July 28

1997: Mark Messier, a free agent after six seasons with the New York Rangers, signs a three-year, $20 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Several teams talk to Messier, but the Canucks, after failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1996-97, make a major push to sign the 36-year-old center three years after he scores the winning goal against them in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final. However, the signing doesn't work the way Vancouver intends. Messier finishes his first season in Vancouver with 22 goals and 60 points, down from 36 goals and 84 points in his final season with the Rangers. Injuries limit Messier to 59 and 66 games in the following two seasons, when he finishes with 48 and 54 points, respectively.

The Canucks miss the playoffs in each of Messier's three seasons in Vancouver before he returns to New York for the 2000-01 season.

MORE MOMENTS

1999: The Canucks sign Swedish twins Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin to their first pro contracts. The Sedins are the best young prospects in Europe, and they want to play together if they are to come to North America. Canucks general manager Brian Burke makes a series of trades that give Vancouver the second and third picks in the 1999 NHL Draft; the Canucks take Daniel with the second pick and Henrik with the third.

2005: In a move that receives almost no attention at the time, the Rangers sign Swedish goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to an entry-level contract. The signing comes five years after New York selects Lundqvist in the seventh round (No. 205) in the 2000 NHL Draft. Lundqvist makes the Rangers at training camp a few months after the signing, becomes the starter early in the 2005-06 season and wins 30 or more games in each of his first 10 full seasons in the NHL, all with New York, on his way to breaking Mike Richter's record of 301 wins.

Henrik Lundqvist poses at the 2000 NHL Draft after being selected by the New York Rangers