Stan Smyl and Trevor Linden; what more needs to be said?
Orland Kurtenbach was tough. Unfortunately his leg break the first season really hurt the Canucks, and he never fully recovered.
Stan Smyl was a little before my time (as a Canuck fan at least), but I think Linden was over-rated as a player in his first stint as a Canuck (and under-rated the second). Great guy in the community who scored a couple of big goals, but he never did much else. I think the only reason Vancouver has such a hard-on for Linden is because it's a city that's starved for hockey heroes and on ice success.
What would Vancouver do if they had someone to idolize like Stevie Yzerman, Mario Lemeiuex (as a Captain) or Joe Sakic?
Then again, what makes a good captain? Community involvement? Performance on the ice? Leadership in the dressing room? We can comment on the first two, but not the third. One thing's for sure that you need to be someone that makes other people want to go to war for/with you, and if you don't have a lot in one area, you'd better make up for it in the others. (and if Linden was a strong enough leader in the room to make up for his lack of on-ice performance, the team would have done better).