July 28: Messier leaves Rangers for Canucks

THIS DATE IN HISTORY: July 28
1997:
Mark Messier
, a free agent after six seasons with the New York Rangers, signs a three-year 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 with 60 points (22 goals, 38 assists), 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
1984: Zach Parise is born in Minneapolis. The son of longtime NHL forward J.P. Parise plays for his father at Shattuck-St. Mary's School and attends the University of North Dakota before joining the New Jersey Devils in 2005. He scores at least 30 goals five times in a span of six seasons and helps the Devils reach the Stanley Cup Final in 2012. But less than a month after Parise and the Devils lose to the Los Angeles Kings, he signs a 13-year, $98 million contract with the Minnesota Wild.

1999:The Canucks sign
Henrik Sedin
and
Daniel Sedin
to their first NHL contracts. The Sweden-born twins 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 No. 2 and Henrik No. 3. The Sedins spend their entire 17-season NHL careers with the Canucks before retiring after the 2017-18 season. Henrik wins the
Art Ross
and
Hart
trophies in 2009-10; Daniel wins the
Art Ross
in 2010-11. Each also wins the
King Clancy Trophy
for leadership and humanitarian contributions in their community. They retire together after the 2017-18 season.