Speculation: Craziest trades that almost happened

[Brodeur]

It wasn't just Allison for a 1st.
Brett Hull, Peter Bondra and Sergei Gonchar were also part of the trade(Hull and a 1st for Bondra, Allison, Gonchar and a 2nd).
The Blues ownership shot it down because of Hull, not the 1st(which really put a lot of fuel into the Keenan/Hull feud).

And it's notable that this trade was early in '95; before we made the trade for Chris Pronger. The Pronger deal probably doesn't happen if Keenan had been able to push this deal through.

Interesting, that would have been a history changer for sure. Trying to remember where I had heard the story originally. Might have been a random TSN radio interview where the topic was if there was ever additional pressure on the draft hosts to do something. And then somebody mentioned how St. Louis was the host in 1996 and ownership was worried about dealing their 1st ahead of time and having nobody show up. Similarly the Devils agreed to trade their top pick the night before the draft in New Jersey in 2013, but they didn't announce it until the next day if only to make sure folks showed up.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Patrick Kane for Ryan miller in 2012.

"Almost happened?"

This was nothing but pure fantasy on the part of some HF members.

 

[Heretic]

Tyler Seguin for Thomas Vanek almost happened. Darcy was gun shy, didn't want to give up whatever prospect the Bruins wanted, which based on the time period was probably not a good prospect. Oops.

 

[ottomaddox]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but Kunitz was supposed to be part of the Kessel deal. He just wouldn't waive his NTC to be a leaf.

 

[Trendkill101]

Pretty sure Quebec offered Forsberg to Ottawa for the Alexander Daigle draft pick.

 

[God King Fudge]

I've seen things said about a stupid package TB was offering for the #1OA when the Panthers took Ekblad.

I'd like to think it's not true, but man. That would have been wild.

 

[Hogie Hogilthorpe]

In 2001 Toronto had a trade agreed with Tampa where they would have sent Nik Antropov and Tomas Kaberle for Vincent Lecavalier, however the Tampa owners at the time overruled Rick Dudley from going forward with the deal.

Another 2001 trade would have seen Nik Antropov and Danny Markov for Eric Lindros, however according to Pat Quinn the deal was agreed upon and he said Bobby Clarke changed his mind at the last minute.

There was also Tomas Kaberle to the Flyers for Jeff Carter and the Flyers 2008 1st round pick, which Kaberle turned down due to his no trade.

In 2006 they could have traded Kaberle and a draft pick to the Oilers for Chris Pronger, however they also wanted Alex Steen and JFJ didn't want to give him up.

Finally another 2001 trade which almost happened was them getting Rob Blake from the Kings, before he was traded to the Avalanche.

Down Goes Brown: The all-time almost-a-Maple-Leaf team - Sportsnet.ca

Owners didn’t overrule. Colin Campbell of the nhl office called Dudley and knocked sense into him. Damn Colin Campbell

 

[LeafsNation75]

Owners didn’t overrule. Colin Campbell of the nhl office called Dudley and knocked sense into him. Damn Colin Campbell

I don't know if you are trying to make a joke or are being serious when you say that. It's clearly stated that Tampa's owner at the time overruled Dudley who agreed to the trade with Toronto.

Down Goes Brown: The all-time almost-a-Maple-Leaf team - Sportsnet.ca

Chemistry matters, so we’ll pair the two Lightning legends on the same line. While Lecavalier’s status as a French-Canadian star meant he was often linked to Montreal, the Leafs actually had a deal done with Lightning GM Rick Dudley back in 2001. Toronto would have sent a package that included Antropov and Tomas Kaberle to the Lightning for the 21-year-old former first-overall pick, pending a trade call with the league. That call never happened after Dudley was overruled from within, and Lecavalier ended up playing another dozen years in Tampa.

When Vinny Lecavalier was nearly traded to the Maple Leafs

"We were a trade conference call away," said Jay Feaster, former Lightning GM.

With Lecavalier and then coach John Tortorella's relationship strained, the former No. 1 overall pick requested a trade in December 2001. GM Rick Dudley was quick to oblige, agreeing to terms on a deal the Maple Leafs that would have brought back a package that included Nik Antropov, Jonas Hoglund and Tomas Kaberle. All the teams had to do was complete a trade conference call with the league to make it official.

 

[skyo]

Im not sure if anyone posted this one, but in one of the early episodes of "31 Thoughts: the Podcast" Elliotte Friedman mentioned that at the 2016 draft, Montreal had an agreement to trade PK Subban to Vancouver for the #5 pick, but only if Pierre-Luc Dubois was still available.

Unfortunately for Montreal, Columbus took Dubois at #3 and it caused the trade to dissolve.

Yeah crazy how that almost came about, & the Canucks were almost set for 3rd overall in the 2016 draft lotto too, but the Winnipeg Jets and Blue Jackets won the 2nd + 3rd oa spots bumping the Oilers and Canucks down a couple spots.

 

[Hasbro]

It was Luke Schenn and the 7th overall pick in 2009 for the #2 pick from Tampa Bay. Brian Burke confirmed that when he was interviewed with Kadri right after drafting him. His words were they could have moved up to the #2 pick but they had to put Luke Schenn in the trade.

I don’t buy that for a minute.

I seem to recall Burke shooting his mouth off about trading up for Tavares or later on B Schenn and forgetting he needed the other GM to agree to a deal.

His “and Mexico is going to pay for it moment” was saying he wouldn’t include Luke and either Lawton or Snow said publicly “No Luke, no deal!” Just to shit Burke up.

Burke had to save ruddy face and said Luke was a deal breaker. He also made a show of turning down Ottawa’s trade offer on camera and was smarting from Montreal fans booing him.

This was the ego trip that eventually lead to him trading for Kessel.

 

[LeafsNation75]

I don’t buy that for a minute.

I seem to recall Burke shooting his mouth off about trading up for Tavares or later on B Schenn and forgetting he needed the other GM to agree to a deal.

His “and Mexico is going to pay for it moment” was saying he wouldn’t include Luke and either Lawton or Snow said publicly “No Luke, no deal!” Just to **** Burke up.

Burke had to save ruddy face and said Luke was a deal breaker. He also made a show of turning down Ottawa’s trade offer on camera and was smarting from Montreal fans booing him.

This was the ego trip that eventually lead to him trading for Kessel.

Burke had a microphone on at the request of TSN, so when he told Bryan Murray they were selecting Kadri it wasn't for the camera. Pierre McGuire even said how Murray didn't even attempt to offer him anything so they could select Kadri.

 

[Hasbro]

Burke had a microphone on at the request of TSN, so when he told Bryan Murray they were selecting Kadri it wasn't for the camera. Pierre McGuire even said how Murray didn't even attempt to offer him anything so they could select Kadri.

When HASN'T Burke done something that wasn't for the camera?

Giving him access to the Toronto media was like locking Lindsey Lohan in distillery.

 

[alko]

Pretty sure Quebec offered Forsberg to Ottawa for the Alexander Daigle draft pick.

Any source?

 

[Outlaw Samurai]

Wasn't it Sakic for that 1st OA? I seem to remember that.

 

[Trendkill101]

Any source?

"Speculation is the Quebec Nordiques offered up a spectacular trade package – possibly including Peter Forsberg — to the Senators for Daigle."

Daigle serves as Draft Day reminder

"As the draft approached, the Quebec Nordiques, who were hosting the event, were reportedly so eager to draft the next French-Canadiansuperstar that they were rumored to have offered star players such as Owen Nolan, Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, and draft picks, but Ottawa management disregarded all offers."

What If The Ottawa Senators Selected Chris Pronger 1st Overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft? - Puck Planet

 

[Brodeur]

Maybe not so much crazy as interesting......

In 1995, St. Louis GM Mike Keenan had a deal in place to send the Blues' 1996 1st round pick to Washington for Jason Allison. But Blues ownership declined to approve the trade since St. Louis had been named the host of the 1996 Draft (and perhaps they didn't want to deal another first round pick after having given up their previous five for Scott Stevens/Brendan Shanahan).

St. Louis would end up using that pick on Marty Reasoner. Years later, Keenan would end up coaching Jason Allison in Boston. Allison would have his peak seasons with Keenan. Those late 90s/early 00s Blues teams were pretty good, so it's interesting to imagine if Allison instead of Reasoner would have been enough to get them through that Dallas/Colorado/Detroit mine field in the West.

But in 2001, Allison was up for a new contract which Boston wasn't prepared to pay. Allegedly Mike Milbury offered up the same package to Boston that he had for Alexei Yashin (2nd overall pick, Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt). The rumor was that new Boston GM Mike O'Connell wanted Dave Scatchard instead of Muckalt, which led to Milbury pulling the trigger on the Yashin deal. Years later O'Connell would sign Scatchard, but would trade him 16 games into a four year contract.

Had this podcast snippet land in my YouTube feed last night. Milbury shed some additional light on the Boston/Allison deal. According to him, he agreed to trade Chara+Scatchard+2nd overall. He had just hired Peter Laviolette as head coach; Laviolette had spent the previous season as an assistant coach for the Bruins and had first hand experience with Allison.

Milbury then went to co-owner Charles Wang to approve the deal and Wang refused. According to Milbury, Wang appreciated all the off ice charitable work that Scatchard had put in and didn't want to trade him. Milbury didn't expand, but I can only assume he tried to make a modified deal with Boston and the Bruins were pissed since they already agreed.

 

[BLNY]

I would have to say the Price/PK/Pac for Lecavalier trade is the craziest trade that never happened.

Bullet dodged.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I wanna know if the rumored Subban deal to Edmonton for 3 OVR (Dry Sandal) + was real or just crap

 

[Brodeur]

Pretty sure Quebec offered Forsberg to Ottawa for the Alexander Daigle draft pick.

Wasn't it Sakic for that 1st OA? I seem to remember that.

"Speculation is the Quebec Nordiques offered up a spectacular trade package – possibly including Peter Forsberg — to the Senators for Daigle."

Daigle serves as Draft Day reminder

"As the draft approached, the Quebec Nordiques, who were hosting the event, were reportedly so eager to draft the next French-Canadiansuperstar that they were rumored to have offered star players such as Owen Nolan, Peter Forsberg, Ron Hextall, and draft picks, but Ottawa management disregarded all offers."

What If The Ottawa Senators Selected Chris Pronger 1st Overall in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft? - Puck Planet

I think this one has reached urban legend status to a degree. At face value, Quebec told the press that they asked Ottawa if they were willing to part with the pick and they said no. According to both sides, no names were discussed since Ottawa was set on drafting Daigle.

Although the interesting offer that was made was Quebec offering an unsigned Peter Forsberg to San Jose for #2. Quebec wanted Chris Pronger which made sense given all the young forwards they had. Originally they made an offer centered around Mike Ricci and #10, but San Jose declined since #10 was too late to still get Viktor Kozlov who was going top 6.

On San Jose's end, their scouts had been split between Pronger, Kozlov, and Paul Kariya. The Sharks had fired inaugural GM Jack Ferreira in 1992. Instead of appointing a replacement, the owner set up a weird co-GM structure between Dean Lombardi, Chuck Grillo, and head coach George Kingston. Grillo had a fascination with European players and eventually steered the team to take Kozlov. Dean Lombardi was tasked with trading down and still getting Kozlov.

Lombardi was pissed at Quebec's hectic negotiation style. We were only a year removed from them trading Eric Lindros twice. According the article, Quebec's owner tried to go over Lombardi's head to negotiate a deal. I think a different article mentioned that the Nordiques brass no showed a meeting with San Jose the night before the draft. This led San Jose to take Hartford's deal since that was the only one that could guarantee* Kozlov.

On the draft floor, Quebec offered Forsberg. Lombardi fumed to the press afterwards, seemingly indicating that he would have taken Forsberg contingent on him signing a contract. But since Quebec waited until the last moment, Lombardi had no time to talk to Forsberg's agent.

The problem for San Jose was the CBA rules at the time. There was no rookie salary cap and Alexandre Daigle was about to sign a 5 year, 12.5 million dollar deal which would make him one of the highest paid players before he ever played in the league. Forsberg was reportedly eyeing a deal in the same ballpark.

The other wrinkle was a rule in the 1988-1994 CBA which allowed certain unsigned European draft picks to sign offer sheets. In the summer of 1992, Calgary signed Teemu Selanne to an offer sheet (3 years x 400K, 1.5 mil signing bonus). Winnipeg begrudgingly matched as they would have received no compensation if they hadn't. There were rumors that Forsberg and Markus Naslund were going to follow Selanne's lead.

Lombardi didn't want to trade the Pronger pick for Forsberg only to find himself in a situation where they had to match a bloated offer sheet which would put the team in a bad spot financially.

---------

*Additional amusing story: Hartford had to include a conditional 1994 1st round pick if Kozlov wasn't available for San Jose at #6. Whalers GM Brian Burke was confident that the top 5 was going to go Daigle-Pronger-Gratton-Kariya-Niedermayer.

After the trade was made, Florida GM Bobby Clarke suddenly approached Burke and said they'd be taking Kozlov unless they were given something to change their mind. Burke didn't want to call Clarke's bluff, so he gave them a 1994 2nd round pick for nothing. I believe Florida was taking Niedermayer the entire time.

To this day, Burke is pissed about being extorted out of the additional pick. He said the only people who knew about the conditional 1st were the Whalers/Sharks and NHL Central Registry. Burke assumed somebody at the Sharks table leaked that detail.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Tage Thompson was offered from a Sabres for late rounds pick, no takers. That was rumour.

 

[ManofSteel55]

I wanna know if the rumored Subban deal to Edmonton for 3 OVR (Dry Sandal) + was real or just crap

I don't recall who said it, but I recall that it was a rumour from a pretty reliable source.

 

[pth2]

Pretty sure Quebec offered Forsberg to Ottawa for the Alexander Daigle draft pick.

And Ottawa asked for both Sakic AND Forsberg for the pick...

 

[Brodeur]

And Ottawa asked for both Sakic AND Forsberg for the pick...

Just curious if you have a source on that. Seemed like a lot of the supposed offers were just speculation.

 

[pth2]

Mine is Patrick Roy for Owen Nolan and Stéphane Fiset.

Just curious if you have a source on that. Seemed like a lot of the supposed offers were just speculation.

Memory of newspaper articles back then.

It's also typical of Ottawa mismanagement in that era...

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

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.