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Worst NHL trades of all-time

wolverine

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http://www.edmontonsun.com/Sports/OtherSports/2008/02/24/4872444-sun.html

10. Emile Francis, St. Louis Blues 1981

The Blues dealt steady goaltender Ed Staniowski, tough defenceman Bryan Maxwell and rookie winger Paul MacLean to John Ferguson's Winnipeg Jets for defenceman Scott Campbell and winger John Markell. MacLean went on to score 324 goals and put up 673 points in 719 NHL games, while Staniowski started 92 games and Maxwell played 191 games. Campbell and Markell combined to play five games with the Blues and neither recorded a single point.

9. Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers, 1992

The Flyers wanted top prospect Eric Lindros in a big way and paid dearly to get him. Clarke sent a package to the Quebec Nordiques which included Peter Forsberg (by far the best player in the deal), Mike Ricci, Steve Duschene, Chris Simon, Kerry Huffman, Ron Hextall, a first-round draft pick and $15 million in order to get Lindros. In 760 games during a career cut short by injuries, Lindros had 865 points. Meanwhile, Forsberg alone has more career points than Lindros and the principals in the trade helped the Colorado Avalanche win two Stanley Cups.

8. Jim Devellano, Detroit Red Wings, 1989

The Red Wings dealt setup man Adam Oates and winger Paul MacLean, who was coming off a 36-goal season, to the St. Louis Blues for aging forward Bernie Federko and forward Tony McKegney. Federko played one season in Detroit and had 17 goals and 57 points before retiring and McKegney had all of three points before being traded away to Quebec. MacLean only played two more seasons, but Oates scored 102 points in his first season with the Blues and put up 1,231 NHL points after being traded away from Detroit.

7. Doug Risebrough, Calgary Flames, 1992

Risebrough had just taken over from Cliff Fletcher as GM of the Flames and decided to deal with his predecessor, who had joined the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bad move. Fletcher fleeced Risebrough in a five-for-five deal that featured plenty of chaff but at least one golden nugget. The Leafs got Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Rick Wamsley and Kent Manderville for Gary Leeman, Michel Petit, Jeff Reese, Craig Berube and Alexander Godynyuk. Gilmour went on to score 765 NHL points, most of them as heart and soul of the Leafs, and Macoun had seven productive seasons in Toronto. Almost everyone else in the deal was a bust, especially Leeman, who had just 11 goals in two seasons with the Flames.

6. Craig Patrick, Pittsburgh Penguins, 1996

The Penguins needed toughness, apparently, so they made a move to acquire Alex Stojanov from the Vancouver Canucks. To get this tough guy, who would go on to play 45 NHL games, the Penguins gave up forward Markus Naslund, who has 748 points in 12 seasons with the Canucks.

5. Mike Keenan, Florida Panthers, 2006

The Panthers were worried they wouldn't be able to sign goalie Roberto Luongo, so they dealt him along with defenceman Lukas Krajicek to the Vancouver Canucks for forward Todd Bertuzzi, goalie Alex Auld and defenceman Bryan Allen. Luongo is widely considered one of the top-five players in the NHL after his 47-win season in Vancouver last year, while Florida got a bunch of duds. Bertuzzi had seven points before becoming a free agent and Auld was released after posting a 3.35 GAA and recording only seven wins. Allen is the only player still with Florida and he has 37 points in two seasons.

4. Mike Milbury, New York Islanders, 2000

Milbury could easily make this list a few times. He once traded Zdeno Chara and a first-rounder that turned out to be Jason Spezza for Alexei Yashin. He once dealt a young and effective Todd Bertuzzi and a young and effective Bryan McCabe to the Vancouver Canucks for Trevor Linden. But the cake-taker was when he dealt goaltender Roberto Luongo AND forward Olli Jokinen to the Florida Panthers for forwards Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha. Luongo and Jokinen have become stars, while Parrish is a decent scorer with the Minnesota Wild and Kvasha has long since departed for Europe after scoring 81 NHL goals.

3. Tommy Ivan, Chicago Blackhawks, 1967

The Blackhawks made a major blunder that changed the balance of power in the NHL when they dealt forwards Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge and Fred Stanfield to the Boston Bruins for forward Pit Martin, goalie Jack Norris and defenceman Gilles Marotte. Esposito went on to score 643 more goals in his career, Hodge had 763 more points and Stanfield had 594 more points. Although Martin put up a solid 702 points for the Hawks, Norris played only 10 games and Marotte had 10 goals in three seasons. The Bruins, of course, became a powerhouse and won two Stanley Cups. Bruins GM Harry Sinden made the deal even better by trading Hodge to the New York Rangers in 1976 for Rick Middleton. Hodge scored 23 goals over two seasons for the Rangers, while Middleton had 400 goals and 900 points for the Bruins.

2. Harry Neale, Vancouver Canucks, 1986

The Canucks dealt promising power forward Cam Neely AND a first-round draft choice that turned out to be defenceman Glen Wesley to the Boston Bruins for forward Barry Pederson. The Canucks got a total of 45 goals from Pederson in three seasons, while Neely went on to have three 50-goal seasons and score 349 goals over the rest of his NHL career, during which he was considered the ultimate power forward. To add insult to insult, Wesley has played 1,439 NHL games and is still active today.

1. Mike O'Connell, Boston Bruins, 2005

Somehow, O'Connell thought it made sense to trade one of the most talented players in the NHL in Joe Thornton and it immediately looked like an idiotic move. It got worse for O'Connell when Thornton went on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies for the San Jose Sharks that same season. Boston got forward Marco Sturm, defenceman Brad Stuart and plugger Wayne Primeau in return for a player who has 274 points in two and a half seasons in San Jose. Sturm has been decent for Boston, but Stuart and Primeau are long gone. So is O'Connell.
 

wilde

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Jun 4, 2003
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How about Denis Savard for Chris Chelios? I still feel that one everytime I see Detroit plays.

Or Jocelyn Thibault, Martin Rucinsky and Andrei Kovalenko for Saint Patrick and Mike Keane? We practically handed the Stanley Cup to Colorado, but at least Saint Patrick is retired now.


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KYG

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Jan 31, 2005
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When Pittsburgh made the trade for Stojanov for Naslund, they had a lot of offence power that year and wanted someone who could fight Lindros. Although Stojanov was a bust, Pittsburgh will say, they did win the cup that year....
 

Bartdude

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Jul 5, 2006
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The Lindros trade isn't quite fair, IMO.

If Clarke had traded for better goaltending - he had a chance at Curtis Joseph in his prime - Philly would have had a shot at a cup for sure.

The one year they did make it to the final, they had the misfortune of facing Detroit at the beginning of their mini modern-day dynasty.

No question Forsberg turned out to be a better overall player, but Patrick Roy played way more of a role in two cups than Ricci or Simon.
 

timmy!

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Jun 1, 2003
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When Pittsburgh made the trade for Stojanov for Naslund, they had a lot of offence power that year and wanted someone who could fight Lindros. Although Stojanov was a bust, Pittsburgh will say, they did win the cup that year....
huh? Pittsburgh never won the cup that year.
 

planetsmurf

papa smurf
Apr 13, 2005
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how about the trade where mad mike milbury sent loungo to florida so he could draft dipetro first overall. dipetro good but he is no where in loungo league. i think basically any trade milbury made probably could go down has one of the worst trades in history
 

schizo_man

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Oct 18, 2003
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I still think that the gretzky to LA trade was the worst trade in the nhl. it sparked the age of inflated player salaries, not to mention it would have been amazing to see what the oilers might have accomplished if they could have kept the team together
 

wolverine

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Nov 11, 2002
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I still think that the gretzky to LA trade was the worst trade in the nhl. it sparked the age of inflated player salaries, not to mention it would have been amazing to see what the oilers might have accomplished if they could have kept the team together
They won another Cup without Gretz while he didn't win any more of them. And some would argue that the age of inflated salaries and player's greed started long before that, which is why Coffey was dealt the year before Gretzky.

Another bad deal the Habs made was trading John LeClair to Philly. He's their Cam Neely.
 

threepeat

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Sep 20, 2004
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I still think that the gretzky to LA trade was the worst trade in the nhl. it sparked the age of inflated player salaries, not to mention it would have been amazing to see what the oilers might have accomplished if they could have kept the team together
True, but Sather and Gretzky have both said his deal to LA was more of a sale than a trade. To make a hockey deal for Gretzky in his prime would require getting pretty much the whole other team back in return; look what Quebec got from Philly for Lindros. The Oilers got $15 million for Gretzky in 1988 dollars, which is probably like $30 million(!) today. That's like 2/3 of a NHL team's entire payroll.

I agree that the trade did spark the escalation of salaries, especially when Gretzky's skills started to decline. Guys like Lindros could say, "I get as many points as Gretzky, so I should get paid $3 million a year too."

As for how many Cups the Oilers would have won if they kept the team together, well, the '94 Rangers were half Oilers when they won. Mind you, Mario and the Pens were on the rise then, but I think at least six or seven Cups is a safe estimate, and up to ten maybe on the outside. But ten Cups assumes they keep the whole team together and no one loses any of their hunger to win, which is kind of unlikely after that period of time.
 

lucky85

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Sep 22, 2007
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Canucks robbed the Panthers in the Luongo deal. Nucks robbed the Pens in the Naslund deal to.
 

harrington

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Aug 26, 2005
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Ron Francis trade..

Another trade that was probably very close to making this list was the Ron Francis deal to Pittsburgh.

Francis was traded by the Hartford Whalers with Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings on March 4, 1991 for John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski.

John Cullen soon retired and I don't think Parker and Zalapski did too much while Samuelsson and Francis helped the Pens win 2 Stanley Cups.
 
Sep 17, 2004
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Vancouver
Another trade that was probably very close to making this list was the Ron Francis deal to Pittsburgh.

Francis was traded by the Hartford Whalers with Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings on March 4, 1991 for John Cullen, Jeff Parker and Zarley Zalapski.

John Cullen soon retired and I don't think Parker and Zalapski did too much while Samuelsson and Francis helped the Pens win 2 Stanley Cups.
I believe John Cullen was diagnosed with cancer while playing. He was an above average player.

Ron Francis is probably the classiest player in NHL history.
 

LonelyGhost

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Apr 26, 2004
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1. How can anyone say that the Naslund deal was a good one?

Maybe on paper, but in reality that $6 million dollar tub of lard
has NOT taken the team anywhere and has all but disappeared
at this point in the season ...

2. "Inflated salary era" began when Ottawa paid a complete unknown
$20 million dollars because he was bilingual ... his only claim to fame
was boinking Pam Anderson ... name that player!

3. Cam Neeley ... yup maybe a bad move, but despite his output, he
was also playing in an easier conference and was given lots of off time
to rest his bad knees ... Vancouver needed (and still needs) players that
can handle the brutal schedule and travel ... Cam would have been long
gone in Van but managed to have a career in Boston (probably because
Bobby Orr sacrificed HIS knees to make a point!)

4. Lindros for Forsberg et al ... Lindros came in expecting to carry the
whole team, franchise and Bobby Clarke's luggage ... Forsberg came in
as a silly-Swede who joined an already good team and made it better ...

If Lindros had played with Sakic??? Could have been another dynasty ...

Bottom Line is NOT the trade, its what each team can do with those
players ...
 

LonelyGhost

Telefunkin
Apr 26, 2004
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and another thing ...

you could have given Vancouver the ENTIRE Oilers franchise and
I would bet they wouldn't have made the play-offs!

Vancouver has a nasty reputation for bad management, scouting,
etc ... and show an unfortunate tendency to make bad decisions
not only on who they recruit but how they use those assets.

Look at the crap with Kesler/Burrows as a 'checking line' ... sure,
they are not 'top' scorers, but they have speed, and if let loose to
try scoring they might be more effective than the Swede-sisters
and their constant cycling to nowhere ...

the 4th line should be the shut-down line ... aargh ...

bloody Canucks ...
 

LonelyGhost

Telefunkin
Apr 26, 2004
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That is a rediculous statement. The guy scored 50 goals on one leg. He was one of the most amazing players EVER in the league. Let's see.. he scored goals, was a captain, players, fans, media all loved him, played with heart and passion, dropped the gloves and kicked the crap out of guys, played defence, destroyed the Canucks everytime he played them..........no maybies about it..........it was a pathetic move. Cam played a brutal style of hockey and put his body on the line while scoring at an amazing pace. Not to mention the wonderful work he still does in Boston raising money for Cancer reseach. But hey, you're entitled to your opinion. I just think there is no logic in it.
and if you got your head out of your ass for a moment you would
have read that I said he did it in Boston because they treated him
well ...

If I can find the source, in an interview he talked about how Boston
gave him what he needed to CONTINUE being the player he was ...

The main point about my post was that in Van, given how they treat
players and the tough schedule/travel, I doubt he would have had the
career he had!

And next time I see him I will ask him that very question ...
 

Qtip

A Tribe Called Quest
Feb 25, 2005
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wasn't there a draft pick thrown in with McCabe and Bertuzzi 4 Linden trade that ended up being Jarko Ruttu?

If you are looking at stats only and not his recent play the naslund 4 Stojanov trade is pretty lop sided.

As a Canucks fan I think trading away Cam Neely still hurts a little

I do miss Mad Mike and his wacky trades though.
 

LonelyGhost

Telefunkin
Apr 26, 2004
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Sounds good...my head get's stuck in my ass a lot. As for the "continue being the player he was"....that's called being gracious even though it is not quite reality. So if he was in Vancouver they would have "made" him play even though he was hurt? Cam Neeley would have been the same player here as he was in Boston....he was awesome. So my man, we agree to disagree. Any chance you could swing by and help me with my head in ass problem? ;)
sure ... i'll bring some Heinekin and a crowbar ...

I do agree it was maybe the stupidest trade of all time ... and maybe
he could have done it here ... but I do have some doubts ...

Mind you, the way the nucks are playing right now, I'd put duct tape
on his knees and a broomstick up his ass and he could outskate naslund
and out-hit the whole team ...

lazy buggers ...
 

Right Said Fred

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Feb 2, 2003
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Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
I still think that the gretzky to LA trade was the worst trade in the nhl. it sparked the age of inflated player salaries, not to mention it would have been amazing to see what the oilers might have accomplished if they could have kept the team together
I thought I heard somewhere that the Oilers were intially pushing for Robitialle instead of Jimmy Carson but then relented and as a result they settles for Carson. I wonder what might of been if we ended up getting Robitialle other thsn having to let him go a couple seasons later because we couldn't afford to pay him at the time.
 

LonelyGhost

Telefunkin
Apr 26, 2004
3,935
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A hockey joke for hubbahubba ... :)

Hubbahubba was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when he
turned to her and said, 'Let's talk. I've heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'

The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to him, 'What would you like to talk about?'

'Oh, I don't know,' said Hubbahubba. 'How about hockey?'

'OK, ' she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass -
Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?'

Hubbahubba, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, 'Hmmm, I have no idea.'

To which the little girl replies, 'Do you really feel qualified to discuss
hockey when you don't know shit!

:)

just kidding! have some Heini's
 
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