It appears that ex-Vancouver Canuck captain Markus Naslund has decided it is time to end his NHL career.
I'll start by saying that Markus Naslund was & is one of my favorite NHL players. Now, saying this 3-5 years ago I'd have the vast majority (if not all) Canuck fans shouting their agreement with me. His smooth skating, slick stick handling and laser-like wrist shot skills were enough to get just about any Nuck fan on his bandwagon.
But in his most recent years the aging "Nazzy" has lost some of his explosive speed and goal scoring ability. This, along with being forced to play a different, more defensive style of hockey, helped him to rapidly lose his perfect hero status among the common fans. Not being able to keep up with past years performances, as well as being part of a underachieving Canuck team and supposedly being paid far more than he was worth, all lead to his inevitable trade (to the New York Rangers) when the team was rebuilt this last year.
I am always amazed how quickly a player can fall in & out of favor with the hockey mob. After over 7 seasons of being a top point producer for the team and being the face of the team, it only takes 2 subpar seasons to be demoted to the rank of "loser with no heart". I won't go into this anymore, as I've already taken longer than I wanted writing this up.
I will say that along with Nazzy's incredible wrist shots, which just about any hockey fan will agree are top notch, I've always admired his goal celebrations. To be more precise, his lack of goal celebration is what I was always intrigued by. Not usually more than a raised hand or slight fist pump, he never had a spaz attack/dancing on ice session that is now commonplace after a sweet goal. Not that there is anything wrong with being excited about scoring a big goal, but it just appeals to me to see someone be so humble/relaxed after pulling something like that off.
Ok, I must stop now.
I sifted though some YouTube stuff and gleaned out a couple worthy vids.
Short video of one of his slick shootout goals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOuhgrdjFrY&feature=relatedNazzy Tribute -(Longer)
Farewell Video (Longer)
