I was travelling when the trade was announced. Back then (comparatively, medieval times) there was no internet. My brother called me to ask me if I heard about the trade. I replied, "What trade?" My brother said, "Montreal just traded Leclair and Desjardins to Philadelphia." My response was naturally "For whom?" My brother said "Recchi." And I then replied, "And what else?" When my brother said, "Nothing else," I almost threw up. I told my bother we have just shot ourselves in the foot and it would take years for us to recover from such a blunder. I was so dismayed that shortly after the trade, on February 13, 1995, I sent Roger Corey a 14 page analysis that eviscerated the wisdom of the trade which assessment ended by me saying:
"While Recchi and Desjardins have largely achieved the level that can be expected of them, the wild card in this trade is Leclair. If he attains his immense potential, Leclair will be, after Lindros, the predominant power forward in hockey. Even if he doesn't attain his full potential, Leclair is a prime time player. Ask any defenceman in the league. Just look at their eyes when they see Leclair closing in on them when he is forechecking. For the past two years, one of Montreal's best offensive plays was to dump the puck in the corner and have Leclair come up with it. I have yet to see a defenceman who has been able to physically handle Leclair when he tries one of his "wrap around" plays. In that regard, I positively cringe when trying to visualize Racine, Brisebois or Daigneault trying to physically stop Leclair. Finally, I give you my own prediction that by the end of the season, Leclair's scoring output will be only marginally lower than Recchi's. In fact, because of his immense potential, I wouldn't have traded Leclair even-up for Recchi."
And one wonders why Montreal hasn't won a Stanley Cup in almost 30 years.
