FLAMESTR

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Calgary, AB • Canada • 55 Years Old • Male

IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME?

TIME?

Boy, if managers only knew! Every manager has made a bad transaction or trade. For this blog, I polled some of my friends to name the most memorable, horrible trades made by our beloved gm’s. I will be using their quotes with permission and of course putting my two cents worth at the end.

Jbug

That’s really a no brainer. For me, the worst Vancouver trade ever had to be Neely and Vancouver's first round draft pick in 1987 to Boston for Barry Pederson. Nothing could be worse than that one.

If most of Vancouver's fans had their way, they would turn back time to wave that trade off. Neely was hall of famer 50 goal scorer. The Boston forward is one of the best players ever to wear a Bruin Jersey. Good pick jbug.

Amoroq

Not sure of all the details, but the bottom line is the Leafs traded their first round pick which ended up being the 4th overall pick. That pick ended up being Roberto Luongo.

Luongo is one of the greatest goalies in the NHL in my mind. That ones hurts being a Leaf fan. Roberto carried the Canucks all of last year, should have been the MVP of the season last year. Great choice by Amoroq.

BuffaloMat

Darren Puppa, Dave Anderchuck, and a draft pick for Grant Fuhr. I believe this was in 1993. I think this was the worst trade ever in Buffalo's history due to the fact that Fuhr was not worth this trade at all. Anderchuck was still producing, and of course Darren Puppa was always a favorite and a great goaltender. I thought this trade was the worst because Fuhr actually declined and started to do even worse. Not only did we lose two stellar players, but we lose a draft pick too.

Great pick. Anderchuck is a hall of Famer wining the cup with the Bolts. Anderchuck showed great leadership role in the series - the Bolts beat my beloved Flames. Darren Puppa had a couple of great years in Tampa also. Great pick Matt.

gman_29

My team, the Montreal Canadians' worst trade, in my opinion, was Patrick Roy, and Mike Keen, for Jocelyn Thibault, Andrei Kovalenko, and Martin Rucinsky. This was a terrible trade for the Habs, as we traded away our best player; one of the main reasons for the ’86, and ’93 cups. We also traded a very solid player in Keenan. In return, we received a mediocre goalie to replace an all-star, Andrei Kovalenko who only played 51 games with the team recording 34 points. Martin Rucinsky a very good player, but not enough to compensate for Roy.

I quite agree, that was a horrible trade. The Avs went on of course to win a cup with Roy.
Patrick Roy went on to become a hall of fame goalie won a Cup before the trade, and the incident that caused the trade made it worse. Mike Keene was a clutch player and he would get the key goal at key times. A Great pick by gman.

jprobber (with two picks)

The trade I personally hated most involved Brad Park, Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi to Boston for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. Park was incredible, and Espo was no more a NY Ranger than Ted Williams was a Yankee.

Mr. Ratelle was Mr. Ranger and Brad Park was one of the best dmen in the league, a great pick by JP.

But the single most heart-tugging Ranger move of all time was the team's waiving Eddie Giacomin, who promptly returned to the Garden in a Red Wing sweater and beat the Rangers. The fans were chanting Ed-die! Ed-die! the entire game. Unforgettable.

This was a complete mis-calculation by the Ranger, a terrible pr move. Eddie proved them wrong by his play with the wings. Great choice by jp

Rpr

Pavol Demitra for Christer Olsson

Chister who? Exactly rpr’s point . Pavol Demitra is still a very talented player for the Wild and is very dangerous with the puck. A great shot and a tremendous passer. Again - who is Christer Olsson? Great pick by RPR

Js (also with two picks)

Philly traded Ron Hextall, Steve Duchesne, Kerry Huffman, Mike Ricci, Peter Forsberg, Chris Simon, first round picks in the 1993 and 1994 NHL Entry Drafts and $15 million to the Quebec Nordiques in exchange for the rights to center Eric Lindros.

Can you say ouch? Horrible deal that led the way for the Avs to win a cup. Peter Foresberg one of the greatest players in the game is bad enough; let alone the other players involved, and $15 million in cash. Great pick by Js .

The other was Dave Poulin for Kenny Linseman who was a well established NHL'er, but Poulin had several good seasons for Boston and Washington following the trade.

As for this trade, I hated this on too. The rat was a pest against the Flames and Linsman was a NHL'er for many years. Another great pick by Js.


Now of course you want my pick. Well, I had two trades in mind, but I think I will only mention the one. Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Natterss, Ken Manderville and Rick Wamsley for Gary Leeman, Alexander Godynuyuk, Jeff Reese, Michael Petit and Craig Berbe .

Do I really need to explain why Gilmour, took the Leafs to the verge of Stanley Cup, and Jamie, Macoun, and Nastress were Rocks in the Blue. This was probably the worst Flame trade we have ever made. About the only good news was the Leafs, my other team, greatly improved that year.

There you have a few of many one-sided Trades which my friends and I could have used. Many General Managers would love a “do-over” for some of the worst trades mentioned. Most of these deals have ruined careers or just tenure with that club. The General Manager job is never easy. One bad move could be with him for many years, but that is the reason they get paid the big bucks. I would like to thank my friends for participation; without them there would be no blog.

Flamestr