After much debate in Vancouver, Pavel Bure is about to be properly honored by his first NHL team.
Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province hears from former Bure teammate Gino Odjick about how Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini will meet with The Russian Rocket to bury the hatchet and honor him by retiring his number.
“It was touching, to have an owner that’s involved and recognizes he’s the first player with the Canucks to enter the Hall of Fame,” Odjick says.
“For him to fly from Vancouver makes this a really great week, I tell you. Francesco has been talking about [retiring his jersey] for quite a while.
“I don’t see it not happening.”
It’s been hotly debated in Vancouver for years about how Bure’s number hasn’t been retired by the team.
In seven seasons with Vancouver, Bure scored 254 goals with 478 points while leading them to the 1994 Stanley Cup finals before asking to be traded in 1999.
His demand to be moved still sits poorly with many fans and is the reason why many don’t want to see him honored the same way as former captains Stan Smyl, Trevor Linden, and Markus Naslund.
All that aside, he was their most dynamic and exciting player during his time in Vancouver and it was his time there that led to him being elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
