Blues Trade History: Best and Worst Ever

[LastWordArmy]

The History of Trade is a mini-series going through each team’s best and worst trades of all time. Each team has their own history and some may cross over, but the series will try to stick to each team. This article will focus on the St. Louis Blues trade history, finding the best and worst of all time.

St. Louis Blues Trade History: Best and Worst Trades of All-Time - Last Word on Hockey

 

[Celtic Note]

The Demitra trade might just be the biggest steal. How that was missed and the Schenn trade was included seems amateur.

The more I see of the Last Word, the less impressed I am with their work.

 

[mw2noobbuster]

Pronger trade was pretty brutal for the Blues. Schenn was an absolute steal.

 

[Robb_K]

The Demitra trade might just be the biggest steal. How that was missed and the Schenn trade was included seems amateur.

The more I see of the Last Word, the less impressed I am with their work.

How did they miss The Red Berenson trade to The Blues. They got Berenson AND Barclay Plager for an over-the-hill Ron Stewart, who only had one decent year left, and career minor leaguer, Ron Attwell. That was one of the great steals in history. And what about The Blues trading Doug Gilmour away for chump change?

 

[Fez Whatley]

Didn' they also flip Berenson for Superstar Garry Unger?

 

[67Blues]

Didn' they also flip Berenson for Superstar Garry Unger?

Yes. At the time, I was devastated because I loved Red. But that quickly passed as the Ironman was very good wearing the 'Note.

 

[Robb_K]

Didn't they also flip Berenson for Superstar Garry Unger?

I wouldn't exactly call that "flipping", as Berenson did play 4 years for The Blues before traded for Unger. I felt terrible, as he was my favourite Blue. But, I knew how good Unger was. Also, the pain didn't last long, as they got Red back a year and a few months later, and The Blues then had BOTH. Berenson had lost his #7 to Unger, so, he used #9 in his 2nd stint with The Blues.

 

[simon IC]

Ron Caron made some doozies. Ronning, Courtnall, Momesso and Dirk for Butcher and Quinn. Next year, Brind'amour and Quinn for Ron Sutter and Baron.

 

[Renard]

The Pronger and Gilmore trades were made for non-hockey reasons and should be excluded from consideration.

Here is my candidate for the worst trade. The Blues were one of the best teams in the NHL in 1980-81. But they needed a big, tough defenseman. So the Blues traded Ed Staniowski, Bryan Maxwell and Paul MacLean to Winnipeg for Scott Campbell. MacLean went on to be a 40 goal a season forward for years, but Campbell suffered for migrane headaches, and couldn't lace 'em up for the Blues

 

[Renard]

Ron Caron made some doozies. Ronning, Courtnall, Momesso and Dirk for Butcher and Quinn. Next year, Brind'amour and Quinn for Ron Sutter and Baron.

Brian Sutter, the Blues coach at the time, lobbied hard for both of those trades. He really wanted Butcher and Ron Sutter. I think it cost him his coaching job when they didn't work out.

 

[PiggySmalls]

Ron Caron made some doozies. Ronning, Courtnall, Momesso and Dirk for Butcher and Quinn. Next year, Brind'amour and Quinn for Ron Sutter and Baron.

Yes he did. But he also made some amazing trades. He will go down as the most aggressive and best Blues GM to date IMO.

 

[Robb_K]

Yes he did. But he also made some amazing trades. He will go down as the most aggressive and best Blues GM to date IMO.

Caron did a very good job, given that he ALWAYS had tough budget issues, forcing him to get rid of good players The Blues could no longer afford. Believe me, he would NOT have wanted to get rid of Gilmour, and so many of the other good players for questionable returns had he not been forced into that position (similar to what Pleau faced, - only worse).

 

[PiggySmalls]

Caron did a very good job, given that he ALWAYS had tough budget issues, forcing him to get rid of good players The Blues could no longer afford. Believe me, he would NOT have wanted to get rid of Gilmour, and so many of the other good players for questionable returns had he not been forced into that position (similar to what Pleau faced, - only worse).

The whole Gilmour thing just flat out sucked. The whole molestation allegations and the girl’s family attorney getting arrested for trying to extort the Blues out of money to keep the family quite. Blues just wanted to move on from that drama. Wish we would have kept him. It is crazy how many trades the Blues and Flames did in the 80’s.

 

[Bluesguru]

Ron Caron made some doozies. Ronning, Courtnall, Momesso and Dirk for Butcher and Quinn. Next year, Brind'amour and Quinn for Ron Sutter and Baron.

Those were really Brian Sutter deals. I love Sudsy and I liked him as HC, but when he got the authority to request deals, that was a massive setback for the organization. Throw in the deal where the Blues traded away a First Rd pick for Richie Sutter. Another Sudsy deal. And that trade was made around the same time when Pittsburgh traded away a 2nd round pick for Joe Mullen. I just shake my head at that one. Ouch.

 

[KingBran]

Guys. Nobody cares about the Blues. Unless someone writes specifically for the Blues / about the Blues then they are an afterthought and when lists are made that include all NHL teams the Blues are overpassed with minimal effort.

 

[member 83027]

It is crazy how many trades the Blues and Flames did in the 80’s.

There was a built in relationship with Calgary.

Leo Ornest of the Flames was the brother of Harry Ornest.

 

[CitizenSnips]

Ron Caron made some doozies. Ronning, Courtnall, Momesso and Dirk for Butcher and Quinn. Next year, Brind'amour and Quinn for Ron Sutter and Baron.

I still consider the first to be the worst trade ever right ahead of the Gretzky trade. The second trade here was very bad too and made the first one even worse

 

[TheDizee]

worst trade was the pronger- eric brewer trade.

traded probably the best defenseman of the era, a player who literally played every phase of the game at hall of fame levels, for a stooge and fringe nhl players. i still cant believe they made brewer captain too LOL, guy had zero leadership skills. id rather they would have made petr cajanek captain.

awful move and you can thank bill laurie for that. why they thought it would be better to trade pronger but keep tkachuk and doug weight instead is a joke. people linked to walmart seem to love screwing over STL.

 

[Halak Ness Monster]

The Chris Pronger trade is by far the worst. Especially when you consider that Edmonton got a much better return from Anaheim for Pronger a year later.

It is very clear we didn't get CLOSE to market value.

It still amazes me that we didn't get one draft pick in return. We were entering into a clear rebuild and we traded perhaps the best d-man in the game for a 2nd pairing d-man and two average D prospects.

 

[Robb_K]

I still consider the first to be the worst trade ever right ahead of the Gretzky trade. The second trade here was very bad too and made the first one even worse

The Gretzky trade wasn't anywhere near the 2nd worst Blues' trade. The Blues only gave up a late 1st Rounder, and a 2nd, and a fringe prospect who never made The NHL. If thje Pronger trade was the worst, The Gilmour Trade, and The "Quinn" and Rich Sutter and other trades were worse.

 

[Bluesguru]

If you guys are voting on the worst trade in Blues history, it has to be the Doug Gilmour deal.

I understand what everyone is saying about Pronger but at the time he was dealt the organization was headed for a rebuild and Prongs career eventually got cut short as well.

The Gilmour deal was terrible because the guy was just entering his prime. We had already acquired Hull and just 2 years later the Blues got guys like Jeff Brown, Rod Brind A Mour and Adam Oates. And a year after that Scott Stevens. You get the picture.

Can you imagine the Blues during the 90-91 campaign with Gilmour and Oates as your top 2 Centers? As Dick Enberg would say "Oh My!"

 

[PiggySmalls]

If Rob Caron was still alive today I would ask him, if Mike Shannahan had the cash. Would the Blues have offered the Oilers more for Gretzky than the Kings did, blues certainly had the prospects and picks.

In the 90’s I recall (barely) hearing that the Blues just didn’t have the cash to offer up to the Oilers owner (who was in such financial ruins he cared more about the cash than the players coming back in the deal).

I know that missed opportunities is the story of this franchise, but sometimes you just got to wonder. What if.

 

[Bluesguru]

If Rob Caron was still alive today I would ask him, if Mike Shannahan had the cash. Would the Blues have offered the Oilers more for Gretzky than the Kings did, blues certainly had the prospects and picks.

In the 90’s I recall (barely) hearing that the Blues just didn’t have the cash to offer up to the Oilers owner (who was in such financial ruins he cared more about the cash than the players coming back in the deal).

I know that missed opportunities is the story of this franchise, but sometimes you just got to wonder. What if.

That's news to me. I never heard the Blues were actually in the picture when Gretz requested a trade from Edmonton. It was pretty much send me to LA to be with Janet. I don't think there was any other alternative, it was basically all in LA's hands to work out the details for a trade. Besides, I think the Blues were better off the way they were in 90-91 with Oates and Hull. It was just the dumb Butcher deal that derailed everything.

 

[PiggySmalls]

That's news to me. I never heard the Blues were actually in the picture when Gretz requested a trade from Edmonton. It was pretty much send me to LA to be with Janet. I don't think there was any other alternative, it was basically all in LA's hands to work out the details for a trade. Besides, I think the Blues were better off the way they were in 90-91 with Oates and Hull. It was just the dumb Butcher deal that derailed everything.

My memory could be completely failing me or be confused, but I could have swore it came out a little after he came to STL from LA. Janet was already pregnant with their first child before he got traded to LA and something to the extent of being around her family and raising it in STL. That’s what I remember, I could be 110% wrong though.

 

[Renard]

The Chris Pronger trade is by far the worst. Especially when you consider that Edmonton got a much better return from Anaheim for Pronger a year later.

It is very clear we didn't get CLOSE to market value.

It still amazes me that we didn't get one draft pick in return. We were entering into a clear rebuild and we traded perhaps the best d-man in the game for a 2nd pairing d-man and two average D prospects.

The trade was a salary dump. Bill Laurie wanted to sell the Blues after he was unable to get an NBA franchise to locate here. And, the Blues reportedly lost $22 million the year before the trade, and Pronger and Tkachuk made almost $20 million between them. The Blues would probably have traded Tkachuk too if they could have found someone to take on his bloated salary.

Call the Pronger deal a bad trade, but I call it Ron Laurie not wanting to lose more money, and wanting to sell the franchise. I don't know who was advising him, but selling off the team's biggest asset wasn't good advice.