Biggest "Almost" Deals Through History?

[Gorskyontario]

This is a pretty well known thing at this point, right? Gretzky himself has talked about it several times over the last decade.

Gretzky almost signed with the Canucks in 1996.

 

[McGarnagle]

Gretzky was true. Ownership was notoriously cheap after putting money into the team and them not winning during the Emile Francis years. They even told Espo they just want to make the playoffs and get to the finals here and there, and that risking money on a championship wasn't feasible.

Lindros was confusion on all parts happy it didn't happen. Return was too much.

I've always said Stamkos would have led to getting St.Louis earlier and 2-3 cups in that elite Hank era from 12-17.



Wasn't true per say. After 98 the Rangers were heavily after Cujo and were considering letting Richter walk. It was so close to happening that Richter was talking to Florida about signing there. In the end Cujo chose the Leafs. The Sakic one was mentioned and ughh.

But the biggest one imo was a trade not made in the summer of 95 Kovalev and Matteau to St.Louis for Shanahan. The trade was done but just needed Garden ownership to agree. Was so close to reality that Shanahan was in New York looking at apartments. He would have been the difference post 94 and a core of him, Sakic,Cujo,Leetch and Graves would have avoided the dark ages.

Speaking of Richter, didn't the Rangers agree to trade him sometime around 2000 or 2001 (I believe St. Louis was the other team) but the rumor goes they wanted to give him one last home game at MSG before making the deal and he happened to get a significant injury that game that nixed any trade?

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

Speaking of Richter, didn't the Rangers agree to trade him sometime around 2000 or 2001 (I believe St. Louis was the other team) but the rumor goes they wanted to give him one last home game at MSG before making the deal and he happened to get a significant injury that game that nixed any trade?

Yes and I believe the plan after was to get Khabibulin and potentially Tkachuk from the Yotes

 

[JianYang]

Joe Sakic and Jeremy Roenick were each offered straight up for Trevor Linden in 1990

Pat Quinn said no to both

Never heard of these ones before.

Linden was adored in Vancouver but saying no to the local guy in sakic is interesting.

Funny that Keenan went for Linden in 1990 if this is true. They crossed paths later in the 90s where Keenan was around to see Linden surrender his captaincy to the newly signed messier. It is also well documented that Keenan was ripping into Linden back then and shipped him out of town.

 

[VanIslander]

In 1990, Linden was the 6'4 responsible sophomore captain material 2nd overall pick coming up, beloved and expected to lead the team to the promised land (he did score both goals for Vancouver in a 2-3 loss in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals).

Sakic was the 15th overall sub-6-foot flashy sophomore with a career worst minus-40 +/- on a bottom-dwelling Quebec team. He took half a decade to later reach the cup in Colorado.

Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i wonder what value 1990 linden would have had, relative to his peers

his rookie year as by far the youngest player in the league was great for an 18 year old. after a relatively slow start over the first month and a half/20 games, he scored as much as any other rookie over the remaining 60. the other guys were dave volek (22 years old, four full seasons in the czech sr league under his belt), granato (24 years old), and leetch (20 years old, and had the same amount of pts as linden but in 10 fewer games). then linden followed that up going a pt/game in the playoffs and pushing the presidents trophy/eventual cup winning flames to game seven OT (where, ahem, otto kicked it in).

i was just a kid then but the main thing i remember about the linden conversation from his rookie year was it always made a huge deal about how young he was and how mature his game was. post-mario, the only 18 year old who outscored linden was jimmy carson. all the other heralded star scorers like turgeon, shanahan, simpson, damphousse, wendel clark, and also mario’s draftmates muller and olczyk, linden outscored them all out of the draft. so summer of 1989, his value was probably sky high.

but depending on where you are in the 1989-90 season, the picture might look different. linden sophomore slumped badly for stretches, putting up just 22 pts in the first 42 games. then the canucks sent barry pederson and tony tanti to pittsburgh for dan quinn and andy mcbain and linden rebounded to put up 29 pts in the 31 games immediately following the trade, before his season was ended prematurely by a separated shoulder.

over those two months and change, on a line with quinn and petri skriko, he was neck and neck with his draftmates roenick (32 pts) and modano (28 pts), and led the canucks. so at the end of the regular season, even though you could probably see pretty plainly that linden wasn’t as dynamic as roenick and modano, but he had salvaged the year enough that to still dine on two way ability and intangibles that his peers couldn’t sniff yet.

but roenick had a hell of a playoffs, 18 pts in a 20 game run that ended in game six of the campbell finals, and showed a knack for saving all his scoring for games where the series was on the line (over the last three games of each series, he scored a combined 9 goals, 3 assists). to be honest, it’s hard for me to imagine in the summer of 1990 that anyone would trade roenick for linden straight up. roenick’s game was just so high powered and energetic, you knew he was going not only going to be a superstar but that he was clutch and had a unique wildness that could galvanize a team.

sakic... well he was, rightly or wrongly, regarded as a one dimensional bad team scorer early on. quebec went into deep tank at the trade deadline, cutting bait on stastny and goulet. most would have predicted that sakic, who was pacing for a 95 pt season, would see a drop without his veteran future HHOF teammates. but from the deadline to the end of the season, sakic scored 10 goals, 21 pts in 14 games, second in the league over that span behind brian bellows’ career year, and ending the year with 102 pts, cracking the top ten. on the other hand, quebec lost all but one of those games.

Funny that Keenan went for Linden in 1990 if this is true. They crossed paths later in the 90s where Keenan was around to see Linden surrender his captaincy to the newly signed messier. It is also well documented that Keenan was ripping into Linden back then and shipped him out of town.

you have to remember that keenan didn’t actually have anything against linden, he was just being an ass. if there wasn’t a power struggle that keenan wanted to extract value from, he would have loved coaching trevor linden. ditto gelinas, whom he traded away for essentially brad may.

 

[Brodeur]

I meant to post in this thread, but bumped a similar one on the trade board by accident. Somebody posted the 1990 Draft on YouTube. Since that was a few years before I really got into hockey (especially prospects), that was an interesting retroactive watch.

At some point, Bob McKenzie mentioned that a Wendel Clark trade to Montreal for Claude Lemieux and Shayne Corson had been close but had fallen through. Butterfly effect would have been interesting as Corson eventually helped net Vincent Damphousse for Montreal. And then who knows if New Jersey without Claude Lemieux gets a Cup in 1995? And then for Toronto, does that get them over the hump in 1993?

 

[carjackmalone]

I recall there was a Pavel Bure trade to New Jersey proposed

Coming to Vancouver would have been Neidermeyer,Bill Guerin and Brian Rolston and a pick.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

speaking of sakic, here’s one i had never heard before today:

Before the trade deadline, many speculated it could be Hatcher – not Iafrate – who would end up being dealt by Poile. Hatcher said he heard the speculation about Los Angeles, Detroit and Quebec. But he denied a report he had told Poile, who allegedly had a deal for Joe Sakic, that he wouldn’t go to Quebec if dealt there.

March 23, 1994

for those keeping track at home this would be a scenario where lacroix cashes in sakic and rolls with sundin and ricci (and forsberg, who was about to come over) as his centers.

 

[Bileur]

Not the biggest trade but an interesting what if, apparently when the Sens and Lightning were discussing compensation for TB hiring away Rick Dudley, the lightning offered Darcy Tucker. The sens preferred Rob Zamuner and got him.

Imagining the battle of Ontario with Tucker on the other side is just weird.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Not the biggest trade but an interesting what if, apparently when the Sens and Lightning were discussing compensation for TB hiring away Rick Dudley, the lightning offered Darcy Tucker. The sens preferred Rob Zamuner and got him.

Imagining the battle of Ontario with Tucker on the other side is just weird.

Tucker going to Ottawa shifts the standings, playoffs, and future of Toronto and Ottawa forever. Would have been crazy

 

[carjackmalone]

1984

Glen Sather tried desperately to Aquire Guy Lafleur from Montreal and Gilbert Perrault from Buffalo in a vain attempt to reunite the 81 Canada cup line

 

[The Panther]

In 1990, Linden was the 6'4 responsible sophomore captain material 2nd overall pick coming up, beloved and expected to lead the team to the promised land (he did score both goals for Vancouver in a 2-3 loss in Game 7 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals).

Sakic was the 15th overall sub-6-foot flashy sophomore with a career worst minus-40 +/- on a bottom-dwelling Quebec team. He took half a decade to later reach the cup in Colorado.

Hindsight is 20/20.

A bit ironic that you point out "hindsight is 20/20" while using Linden's 1994 record to make a point about him in 1990 that was irrelevant at the time (in fact, it was non-exstent).

It's true that Linden was a higher overall draft pick than Sakic and he was certainly well regarded by 1990. On the other hand, Linden had declined in goals from 30 to 21, in points from 59 to 51, and Sakic was already a 100 point scorer, literally doubling Linden's output at the same stage. I think it was clear by 1990 that Sakic had a higher ceiling than Linden offensively, but If this trade-offer actually happened (I've never heard of it) then presumably Pat Quinn wanted something besides the huge skill-set of Sakic.

1984

Glen Sather tried desperately to Aquire Guy Lafleur from Montreal and Gilbert Perrault from Buffalo in a vain attempt to reunite the 81 Canada cup line

I've read that the Oilers made inquiries into obtaining Lafleur in summer 1984, but "desperately" seems invented. They'd just finished 1st overall, won the Cup, and scored 446 goals, so they were not desperate to get anyone. I think they just made inquiries.

 

[VanIslander]

It's true that Linden was a higher overall draft pick than Sakic and he was certainly well regarded by 1990. On the other hand, Linden had declined in goals from 30 to 21, in points from 59 to 51, and Sakic was already a 100 point scorer, literally doubling Linden's output at the same stage. I think it was clear by 1990 that Sakic had a higher ceiling than Linden offensively, but If this trade-offer actually happened (I've never heard of it) then presumably Pat Quinn wanted something besides the huge skill-set of Sakic.

Quinn didn't want a sub-6 foot non-backchecker, opting to praise size, defensive responsibility. Sakic in Quebec played loosy goosy. He changed his game in Colorado.

To be clear:

1. Linden & Sakic had elite work ethic but started their NHL careers in very different situations.
2. Linden vs. Modano was a narrative for years, and an open question until post-1994 (yes, hindsight is 20/20... Modano did so much more; Linden pushed out by Messier, bounced from Washington to Montreal to back in Vancouver, a non-fit thereof.)

 

[The Panther]

Quinn didn't want a sub-6 foot non-backchecker, opting to praise size, defensive responsibility. Sakic in Quebec played loosy goosy. He changed his game in Colorado.

Probably correct about Quinn, who was kind of 'old school' in such matters (not that there was anything wrong with Linden 1.0).

But the idea that Sakic suddenly changed his game overnight at the moment he arrived at Denver Airport is nonsense. This is the kind of narrative that also gets applied to Yzerman just because both players suddenly won Cups, so they were re-imagined as "two-way forwards".

To be clear:

1. Linden & Sakic had elite work ethic but started their NHL careers in very different situations.

How were their situations different? Both started on crappy clubs in 1988-89. (Sakic a bit older because he'd spent one further year in Junior.) If anything, Linden got the better situation, since Quebec was heading straight into the crapper.

2. Linden vs. Modano was a narrative for years, and an open question until post-1994 (yes, hindsight is 20/20... Modano did so much more; Linden pushed out by Messier, bounced from Washington to Montreal to back in Vancouver, a non-fit thereof.)

Linden was not pushed out "by Messier". He was pushed out by Keenan.