appearance. Prior to the lock-out shortened 1994–95 season, Quinn stepped down as head coach to focus on his managerial duties and was replaced by Rick Ley; Vancouver finished with a .500 record that year. Their elimination from the 1995 Stanley Cup playoffs in Game 4 of the second round marked the Canucks' last game played at the Pacific Coliseum, as the team moved into the new General Motors Place (since renamed Rogers Arena), a new $160 million arena situated in Downtown Vancouver, the following season. The Canucks made another significant move in the off-season by acquiring high-scoring Russian forward Alexander Mogilny from the Buffalo Sabres, reuniting Bure with his former CSKA Moscow and national team linemate. While Mogilny became the second player in team history to record 50 goals and 100 points in a season, chiefly playing with centre Cliff Ronning, the expected chemistry between Mogilny and Bure never materialized, with the latter suffering a season-ending knee injury early in the campaign. Vancouver finished 1995–96 two games below .500 and were defeated in the first round of the playoffs by the Colorado Avalanche. The season also marked the arrival of another future Canucks superstar, as Markus Naslund was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Alek Stojanov. The deal is regarded as one of the most lopsided trades in NHL history, as Stojanov soon became a minor-leaguer, while Naslund became the team's all-time leading goal- and point-scorer years later. Despite a late season swoon, Ley was fired and replaced by Quinn down the stretch. The team limped into the playoffs, losing to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round. In the 1996 off-season, Quinn hired Tom Renney whose tenure as the team's head coach lasted less than two seasons. Despite strong performances from Mogilny and team-leading point-scorer Martin Gelinas in Bure and Linden's absence (both of whom were injured for long periods of time during the season), the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first of four consecutive seasons that year. Making another high-profile acquisition on July 27, 1997, the Canucks signed free agent Mark Messier to a three-year deal. They had come close to signing Wayne Gretzky the previous summer, but were reportedly spurned away when they refused to continue negotiations and gave Gretzky an ultimatum to sign. Keenan and Messier (1997–1998) Heading into the 1997–98 season, Linden resigned his captaincy for Messier, who had developed a strong