Speculation: Craziest trades that almost happened

[TheLegend]

@Zirakzigil and @TheLegend once tried to trade me, they were unsuccessful

Once they all saw your parking ability they walked away from the deal ......... laughing hysterically.

 

[GhostfaceWu]

The draisaitl plus for subban. Thank god that didnt happen.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I just saw a thing about Kelly Chase (?) Getting traded to Montreal. The return wasn't discussed, but Chase said he was out golfing with Hull and someone else when he got the call.

Brett kept telling him he wasn't getting traded despite the fact that he had to go meet their gm at the office. Hull didn't believe him, so Chase told him he'd go talk to the GM and then come back for Hull as Chase drove there.

When Chase got there, their gm told him he was lucky as he had to call Montreal and nix the trade because Hull called him and said "if Chase is going to Montreal, I'm going to Montreal" and we can't lose Hull, so you're staying!


Maybe that was the rumour and it just got twisted a bit ?

No, it was Brett Hull. But this was so long ago, I don't remember the context; whether it was that Montreal was attempting to acquire, that there was speculation, or that a deal was even discussed. I read it in Le Droit and believe I heard it being discussed on Mitch Melnyk's show. There was plenty enough smoke, but as we know when it comes to Habs speculation that by no way means any fire.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Not in Detroit. Not seriously, anyway.

The only serious Yzerman trade rumor we ever heard included Yzerman and Osgood for Yashin and Damian Rhodes. And this was something that Scotty Bowman pursued but Mir. I put the kibosh on immediately. Like "f*** no, we're not dealing Yzerman"

There was fire to this rumour. At least on the Montreal end anyway. They were pushing hard for him. Whether that meant Detroit would have entertained the idea or not is another story. Remember, at that point Montreal had been almost 15 years removed from having a bona fide #1 center. Can you imagine going that long?

 

[rypper]

It's probably been mentioned but Jim Benning tried to trade for PK Subban around the 2016 draft.

Rumored to be included was Bo Horvat and the Canucks 2016 1st round pick (5th overall) But the deal fell through when Winnipeg took Dubois.

 

[Axel Sandy Pelikan]

There was fire to this rumour. At least on the Montreal end anyway. They were pushing hard for him. Whether that meant Detroit would have entertained the idea or not is another story. Remember, at that point Montreal had been almost 15 years removed from having a bona fide #1 center. Can you imagine going that long?

I can guarantee you they would not. I never heard hide nor hair of Yzerman to Montreal in any serious way. Ottawa rumor was huge around 1995 just after the Wings got shit-stomped by NJ in the finals... because Yashin was still a hugely hot property at that point and the whole reason Scotty entertained it was his challenge to Yzerman to become a true two-way force instead of an offensive guy. Hell, once word of the Ottawa talk reached Mike and Marian Ilitch, they stepped in and told Bowman to cut out all of the shit.

 

[wintersej]

I’ve always been so curious what the market was for Tuukka Rask when the Bruins traded Martin Jones to SJ instead.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

I'm sure it's somewhere in here, but Lecavalier was traded to Montreal for a 1st, Subban, Paciorety and Price. Lecavalier (and even more his wife), nixed deal. What ticks me off about this is that Kent Hughes goes and hires Lecavalier as an advisor for the Habs, a guy who didn't want to come to Montreal...what kind of credibility does that give him in Montreal with current players!

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

I'm sure it's somewhere in here, but Lecavalier was traded to Montreal for a 1st, Subban, Paciorety and Price. Lecavalier (and even more his wife), nixed deal. What ticks me off about this is that Kent Hughes goes and hires Lecavalier as an advisor for the Habs, a guy who didn't want to come to Montreal...what kind of credibility does that give him in Montreal with current players!

It was reported that when Tampa was owned by Len Barrie and that other guy they didn't agree. Lawton and one of the owners wanted to do the trade and the other didn't. Bettman stepped in and nixed the deal apparently.

I believe it also came out it was much less than that.

 

[Brodeur]

I mean I get what you mean, still I don't think the gap between the 2nd overall and the 4th overall is an entire draft

Depends on the draft year, Pittsburgh wouldn't have traded down from the Evgeni Malkin pick for a bunch of extra picks. An argument could have been made that 2012 would have been a year to consider though; Ryan Murray was (ironically) considered the safe pick while other guys had higher offensive upside (Rielly/Dumba) or defensive capabilities (Reinhart/Trouba).

Typically when a team trades down at the top of the draft, it's not because they were overwhelmed by the value being offered. It's because they think they can trade down and still land the guy they would have originally taken anyways while adding some assets.

For better or worse, San Jose talked themselves into Viktor Kozlov being the premier center prospect that they were lacking in 1993. So they auctioned off the pick and Hartford was the only team picking high enough where San Jose felt safe trading down; Hartford had to include a conditional 1994 1st in the event that Kozlov wasn't on the board in order to get the deal over the finish line. Florida GM Bobby Clarke then intervened and threatened to take Kozlov at #5 and Hartford gave them a 1994 2nd instead of calling Clarke's bluff.

In the end Hartford gave up its 1st, 2nd, 3rd, Sergei Makarov (acquired for their 4th a week earlier), and a future 2nd to move up four spots. With hindsight, that was a tremendous deal to move up for Chris Pronger (granted Pronger's stay in Hartford was brief after Brian Burke quit after that draft and the owner got impatient).

Going back to Columbus, in the moment the 2012 Draft wasn't considered to be particularly great. So adding another half-dozen picks maybe wasn't as tantalizing as it sounds. An argument could be made that they could have used those picks to trade back up, but I'm reminded of some draft video from their table in 2013 when Columbus had three picks in the first round. They tried to trade up for somebody (Max Domi?) but nobody wanted to trade down.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

It was reported that when Tampa was owned by Len Barrie and that other guy they didn't agree. Lawton and one of the owners wanted to do the trade and the other didn't. Bettman stepped in and nixed the deal apparently.

I believe it also came out it was much less than that.

I'm not sure that was the exact trade details, but I do know from people within the Habs organization that it was Lecavalier, and especially his wife, who refused to go to Montreal as they enjoyed life in Tampa.

 

[Mrfenn92]

I'm not sure that was the exact trade details, but I do know from people within the Habs organization that it was Lecavalier, and especially his wife, who refused to go to Montreal as they enjoyed life in Tampa.

Their right if they could control a move

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

I'm not sure that was the exact trade details, but I do know from people within the Habs organization that it was Lecavalier, and especially his wife, who refused to go to Montreal as they enjoyed life in Tampa.

I guess when he was brought on to work with the Habs he was asked about it and said he authorized a deal to Montreal in '08, so it wasn't him who got it canceled.

 

[BJCOLLINS]

The draisaitl plus for subban. Thank god that didnt happen.

Yeah, take it for what it’s worth….I read the rumour as being PK for Draisaitl + #4 OA at the ‘16 draft. Draisaitl had come off 50+pt rookie season when the Oilers made the offer. When Columbus picked PLD at #3 the Habs nixed the deal because they believed PLD was the centrepiece.

 

[Point21]

Claude Giroux for Paul Ranger 1 for 1 is the one that always sticks out for me

 

[PredsV82]

The draisaitl plus for subban. Thank god that didnt happen.

I have often wondered if Draisatl for Weber could have happened.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Not a major one, but Necas reportedly saying he wouldn’t re-sign with Buffalo (thus nixing the deal) is a recent one.

 

[viper0220]

Just before Joe Thornton was traded to San Jose, the Calgary Flames checked in and the asking piece in a package was Robyn Regher and Darryl Sutter said no:

 

[BostonBob]

Just before Joe Thornton was traded to San Jose, the Calgary Flames checked in and the asking piece in a package was Robyn Regher and Darryl Sutter said no:

I don't think that's correct. Apparently Bruins GM Mike O'Connell only talked to San Jose about a Thornton deal.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'm sure it's somewhere in here, but Lecavalier was traded to Montreal for a 1st, Subban, Paciorety and Price. Lecavalier (and even more his wife), nixed deal. What ticks me off about this is that Kent Hughes goes and hires Lecavalier as an advisor for the Habs, a guy who didn't want to come to Montreal...what kind of credibility does that give him in Montreal with current players!

That he's intelligent?

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I think the funniest is Shero and Lombardi being confused if they should be talking about a Malkin deal back in 2008, before the Cup win. Some Kings staffer found the rumor on HockeyBuzz and Shero and Lombardi had a laugh about it, but it was taken seriously enough where Lemieux asked Shero about it and Shero was trying to find out with Lombardi what was going on.

Probably is posted somewhere in 17 pages that I am not going to look through since so many are Leafs, Oilers, Habs, etc stuff...

A few Penguins ones:

• Penguins almost had Andy Moog but Johnston was fired when his deal was nixed, it was Guenette and 1st in '88 for Moog.
• Eposito then drafted Darrin Shannon in 1988 with that 1st, Ed Johnston was quoted as wanting to take Teemu Selanne that draft and didn't care about the 4yr wait for his Military Service, the vision of Teemu with Lemieux was all EJ wanted (Eat shit Tony Esposito)
  • Ironically, Johnston is the one that wanted to trade that 1988 pick in the first place, Esposito told the Pens owner at the time that it was a bad deal to make, trading the 1st.
• In that infamous dying alive trade, the deal was supposed to be Jagr + Hrdina for a package that included Dainius Zubrus, Penguins really wanted Zubrus at his draft and saw their chance to get him in a deal they didn't want to make (trade Jagr, but had to).
• Penguins almost took Backstrom, Shero was keen on him while Penguins scout Greg Malone wanted Staal, another Penguins scout didn't really like Toews and they never considered Toews that year and Shero was still very new and trusted Malone, Staal worked out in the end with the 2009 cup but crying ass wanted out and left for Carolina later. Shero probably would have taken Backstrom if he had more time with the team, he just came on board and trusted who was already there and decided ok if he's so adamant they need Staal...would have been fun - Crosby, Fleury, Malkin, Backstrom...but they maybe don't win in 2009.
• Hossa - Had the Pens kept Hossa, it might have screwed up the Cap a little but losing out on keeping Hossa made Shero look for other options, Shero made attempts apparently to land Chris Kunitz and couldn't, it wasn't until later during the season that they did land him for Whitney.
• The Hamhuis thing is interesting - Hamhuis would have been a Penguin if Shero agreed to 6yrs for his deal, Martin liked the idea of joining the Penguins and Shero wanted him for 5yrs and got him. Worked out fine I think.

 

[Craig Ludwig]

That he's intelligent?

Very insightful post at 3:19 AM in the morning, have one more...

 

[Craig Ludwig]

Their right if they could control a move

Agreed, but as a Habs fan it disappoints me that we then give him a job in the front office after refusing to play for Montreal...

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

The Whalers almost traded Ronny Francis for F’in John Cullen.

Wait….. what?!?!

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Alfredsson to Toronto to play with his buddy Mats Sundin.