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Sunday, July 9, 2000 High price for failureThe way the story goes, Mark Messier's three-year Vancouver odyssey was actually born of a fit of pique by Canucks owner John McCaw. Thwarted in his bid to land the free-agent Wayne Gretzky in 1996 -- and to this day there are those who insist Gretzky was ready to come but balked when he was given a take-it-or-leave-it-right-now offer at 11 p.m. -- McCaw plunged back into the free-agent market the following summer determined it would not happen again. The high-profile guy this time was Messier. "Get him," he's supposed to have told Canucks management. "I don't care what it costs. Get him." Or so the story goes. Since no one in Vancouver sports circles was ever to get a real handle on what made the reclusive Seattle zillionaire tick, there was never a way to confirm it one way or another. And since the super-rich don't normally get that way by being stupid, the legend is not without its holes. But there is no doubt about the cost. In round figures, Messier signed for three seasons at $6 million US per with an option for two more years and a $1 million buyout for each of those two years should the options not be picked up. That's $20 million for three seasons in which the Canucks did not once make the playoffs. Which does seem a tad high, since they could have missed them without him. It could have been more, and technically still might be. What the Canucks wanted to do was pay off the $2 million in options, then attempt to re-sign the free-agent Messier for considerably less that whatever his salary would have been had they exercised them. They'd still like to do so. But with Messier apparently set for resurrection with the New York Rangers from whence he came, Canuck fans are left to plunge fretfully into the murky waters of what-if. What if Gretzky had taken the deal? Management says the ultimatum was given because the Canucks didn't want to wind up nothing more than the stick that gave No. 99 the leverage for a better deal with the Rangers. But what if he'd come? How much difference might he have made? Enough, perhaps, to lift the Canucks into the playoffs? Probably not. Even trickier question: Was having Messier as a Canuck worth $20 million, or even close to it? Probably not. Much is made of Messier's leadership qualities, of his invaluable presence 'in the room' -- the charismatic winner's aura tha, as much as anything, is what the Rangers are looking for as they poise to bring him back. The Canucks will tell you that Messier's work ethic rubbed off on the youngsters, that you can't put a dollar figure to what the young Canucks learned just by watching him in game and practice, as they felt the Sedin twins' progress would have accelerated had the Moose stayed at least one more year. But they didn't make the playoffs. Not once. So, was the experiment a $20-million success, or a $20-million ownership snit? Like beauty, the answer is in the eye of the beholder. John McCaw may rue it. Mark Messier, $20-million richer and heading back to the city where he was a god, would consider it a hell of a deal. 
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