As the 2007/2008 season nears its conclusion, it's around this time that many start to wonder which players deserve to get recognized for their play this season by winning a team award. Who will win the Fred J.Hume Award, awarded to the Vancouver Canucks' unsung hero, this year? Mason Raymond? Ryan Kesler? Alex Burrows? Alex Edler? Canucks Fanz columnist Farhan Devji shares his nominee and you might be just a little surprised. 

Take this for example. Over the past weeks, the subject of the Vancouver Canucks 07/08 unsung hero has taken full force through the media airways. Ryan Kesler (the next Mike Modano), Alexander Edler (the next Nicklas Lidstrom) and Alexandre Burrows (the next Vincent Lecavalier) have repeatedly appeared as top candidates for the award. You need not look further to find the leading supporter of the three players listed above. Kesler (who many “fans” thought should have been sent packing to Philly two summers ago after signing an offer sheet worth 1.7 million), Burrows (who many “fans” thought was the second coming of Jarkko Ruutu) and Alexander Edler (who many “fans” thought should have been traded for a rental player at last season’s trade deadline) are all having career seasons and have established themselves as bonafide NHL’ers in the process. However, it is a general consensus that these three players have been among Vancouver’s top performers this season, so how does that make them unsung? Perhaps, it might be helpful to take another look at the definition of “unsung hero” before you are dumbfounded by my nominee.

Unsung hero: Not honored or praised; uncelebrated. Don’t tell me that Kesler, Edler, and Burrows have been uncelebrated this season. Forget Obama and Clinton because Kesler, Edler and Burrows have been all deemed next President of the United States at one point or another this season by the Canucks faithful (despite the fact that only Kesler hails from below the 49th parallel). A more suitable candidate for unsung hero might be Aaron Miller, possibly Byron Ritchie or Mike Weaver, players that do not receive adequate recognition. Get the point? The unsung hero should be a player that is actually unsung, so that raises the question, who is the Canucks’ unsung hero? (Drum roll please). 

How about Markus Naslund? Yes, that one. The same overpaid, over aged, underachieving, cliché spewing Markus Naslund. And no, I am not consuming any illegal substances as I write this brilliant piece (may Aldous Huxley rest in peace). Naslund has been ripped apart for not providing enough offense, yet he has surpassed the 20 goal-mark for a ninth consecutive season and is second to only Daniel Sedin for the team lead in goals. The native of Örnsköldsvik, Sweden has been continuously criticized for not putting the puck on net enough, yet oddly enough, he finds himself second to only Daniel Sedin for the team lead in shots. Above all, the captain has drastically adapted his game to that it fits into Coach Alain Vigneault’s defensive oriented system, a feat that is easier said than done.

Even I’m not enough of a bandwagon jumping, swaggering, knee-jerking human being to say that Markus Naslund has earned his hefty 6 million dollar pay check this season; because he hasn’t. However, he certainly shouldn’t be considered the scapegoat that he has been made out to be either. Markus Naslund is Vancouver’s 07/08 unsung hero, because despite what the so-called experts might say, he has been just that.

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