Speculation: Craziest trades that almost happened

[SEALBound]

Kunitz for Oshie was also on the table. Kind of crazy how much JR was in trade talks lol

Imagine having brought in Kessel AND Oshie in addition to Horny and Hags. Daaaaaaamn son.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Vancouver was interested in Brad Richards before he was traded to Dallas. Nonis apparently turned down a trade involving Kesler, Bourdon, Schneider, and Raymond.

Canucks tried to trade Gudbranson for Demers but Demers wouldn't waive to Vancouver.

Canucks offered their 1st (22nd overall - ended up being Jordan Schroeder), Burrows, and Bieksa for 2nd overall (Hedman), which Yzerman turned down .

Yzerman had yet to been Tampa's GM. It was Lawton.


But, that being said a crazy one was Seguin for Vanek.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

There's a rumor that Lou got offered Datsyuk for Scott Gomez in 2007 and declined. Would definitely put that in the "crazy" category if it happened.

 

[Lockin17]

Drouin for Sergachev
That was stupid as F%$/ for a rumor

Oh wait it did happen

 

[LevelingSolo]

Sens had a deal for Rick Nash at the 2012 draft but he wouldn't waive for Ottawa

 

[hamzarocks]

I wonder how far along this got but Garth Snow was rumored to have offered every pick in the 2012 draft he had for the #2 overall to select Ryan Murray.

That is crazy considering the islanders had the 4th OA pick themselves

Jumping 2 to 4 in a draft wont cost a team all their other picks lol. Especially 2012 where Yak, Murray, Galchenyuk were all super close

 

[bleedgreen]

LaFontaine for Yzerman almost happened in the early 90s. Detroit coveted LaFontaine since juniors. If that trade happens Sabres win the cup in 99 and possibly even 98 or another year. Hasek+Yzerman would have been incredible. Hasek alone nearly carried the Sabres to a cup, add a bonafide superstar center and they would have.

Lafontaine was at a very similar impact level to Yzerman before the injuries got him.

Yzerman was also almost traded for Yashin.

 

[5 Minute Major]

I’m not going to be able to post a link or prove this, but in the early 80’s there was an article in Sports Illustrated about the Edmonton Oilers and how they were built and the Oilers were on the verge of trading Paul Coffey to Buffalo for Rick Martin but the deal fell through.

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

Kaberle, Antropiv and either Boyes or a 1st for Lecaviler was agreed to in 2001 but blocked by Tampa ownership.

Jeff Carter and a 1st for Kaberle was agreed to but blocked by Kaberle.

I thought that was the deal where both teams thought they were getting the 1st and that's why it didn't go through

 

[miscs75]

That is crazy considering the islanders had the 4th OA pick themselves

Jumping 2 to 4 in a draft wont cost a team all their other picks lol. Especially 2012 where Yak, Murray, Galchenyuk were all super close

The crazy thing is that if they made that move, they would have most likely never made the trade that became Barzal and Beauvillier. Also picked in that draft by Garth was Adam Pelech.

 

[NeverForget06]

young Draisaitl for Subban just before he left MTL is one that still haunts me

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

I thought that was the deal where both teams thought they were getting the 1st and that's why it didn't go through

No that was Kaberle for Kessel.

 

[hamzarocks]

The crazy thing is that if they made that move, they would have most likely never made the trade that became Barzal and Beauvillier. Also picked in that draft by Garth was Adam Pelech.

Yeah islanders were blessed that Snow didnt make that trade

No Pelech, Barzal, Beauvillier would make the isles current team just completely different (may just be heading out of a rebuild if this had happended)

 

[miscs75]

Yeah islanders were blessed that Snow didnt make that trade

No Pelech, Barzal, Beauvillier would make the isles current team just completely different (may just be heading out of a rebuild if this had happended)

They’d still have Toews (if everything fell the same way after) which would have been a huge plus but I’m not sure if he would have even developed the same way. It seems like his play style compliments Makar perfectly, just like Pelech and Pulock.

 

[Beerfish]

I'm sure this one has been brought up earlier.

Mike Comrie for Corey Perry and a 1st round pick.

Kevin Lowe scuttled it becasue he demanded Comrie pay back some of his rightfully earned bonus money.

 

[Snuggs]

Wayne Gretzky to Detroit Red Wings Could Have Happened, but at What Cost?

What would it have cost to have Wayne Gretzky play for the Detroit Red Wings ? It is a question worth asking after The Great One revealed that his potential destinations were New York, L...

bleacherreport.com

In Graveland's article, Gretzky said, "I got sold. I didn't get traded. ... At the end of the day and this is kind of unique the Oilers said, ‘what city do you want to go to?’ I had the choice of New York, Detroit or L.A."

Gretzky went on to say that "Everyone thought that my wife (actress Janet Gretzky) had picked L.A. and my wife said, ‘you should play in Detroit.’ It was my dad who called me and said, ‘you should play in L.A.’ For whatever reason, he said, ‘I think you should move to L.A.’ and I became an L.A. King after that."

Would have seen some ridiculous teams with Yzerman/Gretzky/Federov/Lidstrom/etc.

 

[boredmale]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/leafs-and-oilers-almost-swapped-cities-pocklington-1.797182

Former Edmonton owner says he might have taken whole team to Toronto​

The Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 11, 2009 3:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 11, 2009

A new hockey book says the NHL's Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs almost traded cities in the early 1980s.

The biography of one-time Oilers owner Peter Pocklington says the scheme called for the entire team to move to Toronto to play in Maple Leaf Gardens.

The Leafs, in turn, would have found a home in Edmonton's new arena, which at that time was called the Coliseum.

In the book I'd Trade Him Again, Pocklington says Leafs owner Harold Ballard was having financial troubles and made the proposal in 1980.

Ballard also wanted Pocklington to pay him $50 million in cash.

Pocklington, who was vilified in Edmonton when he traded Wayne Gretzky in 1988, says he was all for the market swap, but Ballard backed out in the end.

"I was actually pretty excited," Pocklington says in the book, which hit store shelves last week. "I did the numbers … I would have made a fortune in Toronto."

 

[Brodeur]

No offer: Sens ship Meszaros to Tampa

www.sportsnet.ca

Maybe not a trade, but a cautionary tale for offer sheets. Fresh off drafting Steven Stamkos in 2008, Tampa wanted to pair him with a young proven NHL defenseman. The player they targeted was Andrej Meszaros. Problem was that they had previously traded away their 2009 3rd rounder, so they couldn't sign him to an offer sheet; Penguins GM Ray Shero apparently was unwilling to trade back the pick since he didn't want to enable an offer sheet. Ottawa was a year removed from a Stanley Cup Final appearance, so they didn't want future draft picks as compensation.

Eventually the two sides worked out a trade which sent veteran defenseman Filip Kuba and a different first round pick.

If Tampa had been able to do the offer sheet as they originally intended, they would have unwittingly traded away the Victor Hedman pick.

 

[Benedict Kovalchuk]

That is crazy considering the islanders had the 4th OA pick themselves

Jumping 2 to 4 in a draft wont cost a team all their other picks lol. Especially 2012 where Yak, Murray, Galchenyuk were all super close

It's crazy for the reasons you've outlined but I'm inclined to believe it for a couple reasons. One is that Snow was not at all afraid of unorthodox moves. The other is the Islanders at the time were absolutely desperate for decent defensemen, and Murray looked like he could step in immediately. All they had was Streit, a very young Hamonic, MacDonald playing waaaay above where he should, and just the abyss after those three.

 

[OmniSens]

Heatley to Edmonton

 

[boredmale]

It's crazy for the reasons you've outlined but I'm inclined to believe it for a couple reasons. One is that Snow was not at all afraid of unorthodox moves. The other is the Islanders at the time were absolutely desperate for decent defensemen, and Murray looked like he could step in immediately. All they had was Streit, a very young Hamonic, MacDonald playing waaaay above where he should, and just the abyss after those three.

I still to this day believe the 4 to 2 was in the case Yakupov dropped to #2. At the time the difference between 2 and 4 wasn't that huge, although I do think Yakupov was considered a step above(at the time of draft compared tot he 4-5 people below him,

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Hall to the Sens for Ceci

 

[thrillhous]

I still to this day believe the 4 to 2 was in the case Yakupov dropped to #2. At the time the difference between 2 and 4 wasn't that huge, although I do think Yakupov was considered a step above(at the time of draft compared tot he 4-5 people below him,

That makes sense to me, especially since word was out that the Oilers scouts wanted Murray despite Yak being the consensus #1 (overwhelmingly so) in the publicly available lists.

 

[HisIceness]

Ray Whitney to the Kings in 2010 but he execerised his NTC because he didn't want to leave his kids during the school year.

Fox Sports Carolinas used to air a segment called "Driven" where they sat down with regional athletes. In Rod Brind'Amours segment he mentioned he almost demanded a trade in 2004 because he didn't like Peter Laviolette and vice-versa. I guess the two patched things over during the lockout because the 05-06 season its like whatever beef they had never existed. But I guess had the 2004-05 season gone on as scheduled there's a possibility Brind'Amour ends his career elsewhere.

 

[Benedict Kovalchuk]

I still to this day believe the 4 to 2 was in the case Yakupov dropped to #2. At the time the difference between 2 and 4 wasn't that huge, although I do think Yakupov was considered a step above(at the time of draft compared tot he 4-5 people below him,

Definitely plausible. We know Snow considered getting Tavares a higher end scoring winger a huge priority over shoring up either goaltending or defense as the Vanek trade later showed.