This Friday, Pavel Bure will finally be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Although his career was cut short due to injury, he left a lasting impression on the hockey world with his electrifying speed and skill.
This column was originally published on the Canucks Army in the fall of 2011.
The 20th anniversary of Pavel Bure’s first game as a Canuck was this past Saturday. Trevor Linden may be the greatest Canuck of all time, but Pavel was the best. At his peak, he made you want to catch every second of Canucks games (sure would be nice to have him on the team nowadays for those Minnesota divisional games…). Throughout his career, he was the fastest and most powerful skater in the league. He had Sidney Crosby’s strength and Marian Gaborik’s acceleration (and then some), combined with Alex Ovechkin’s hunger for scoring goals.