Speculation: Craziest trades that almost happened

[toddkaz]

Peca for Iginla.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

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

I'd rather you had at least one.

 

[viper0220]

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

I think it was probing, it never got far.

 

[LeBrun is a Clown]

There was some chatter from someone I knew connected to the ducks FO in 2013/14ish and basically, Bob Murray was pursuing Shea Weber HARD but it didn’t happen because Poile wanted Lindholm ++.

I also heard Klein for Hiller was also close around that same time when the ducks were still contending.

One more I just remembered:

Around the 2016 draft, Murray attempted to trade Andersen/Gibson + OR Fowler + for a pick to select Matthew Tkachuk.

 

[Schemp]

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

Wait….. what?!?!

No mention about Ulfie and Zarley?

 

[Voight]

Has anyone brought up Garth Snow almost trading his whole 2012 draft in order to get the #2 and select Ryan Murray. Thankfully Columbus didn’t accept and Garth went on to using all picks on defensemen as a result. The 1st rounder turned into Mat Barzal (and Anthony Beauvillier) while the 3rd round pick was Adam Pelech.

I dont who's dumber here. Scott Howson for not accepting it, or Snow for even offering that trade in the first place.

 

[Soundwave]

Habs could have apparently have gotten Draisaitl for PK Subban in summer 2016 and a boat load of other assets.

 

[Voight]

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.

Not syre Backstrom becomes the elite number one center he became if he was a Penguin. Would've been stuck on the third line.

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

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.

I recall Paul Steigerwald on air saying Esposito was quoted as hating Selanne despite apparently knowing nothing at all about him but still having some blind hatred for him for being "a soft European floater" and wanted a big tough Canadian boy. I honestly do believe this, Steigerwald might have been a terrible play by play guy, but the dude had a job with the franchise forever and was very well connected, I think even Bob Errey even confirmed this to be 100% accurate and may have called Esposito a bozo.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

No mention about Ulfie and Zarley?

Ugh… that too

 

[McShogun99]

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

Jarmo did the Oilers a huge favor by passing on Pulujarvj at the draft. Chia has to be one of the worst GM’s of all time. Just look earlier in this thread when he was looking to trade Hall for Ceci or Hamonic if Jersey wouldn’t trade Larsson.

 

[Schemp]

Ugh… that too

Politics and sports don't mix. From my understanding they wanted to lower the price of the franchise.
Still remembering the GM saying that the franchise couldn't win the cup with them...

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I recall Paul Steigerwald on air saying Esposito was quoted as hating Selanne despite apparently knowing nothing at all about him but still having some blind hatred for him for being "a soft European floater" and wanted a big tough Canadian boy. I honestly do believe this, Steigerwald might have been a terrible play by play guy, but the dude had a job with the franchise forever and was very well connected, I think even Bob Errey even confirmed this to be 100% accurate and may have called Esposito a bozo.

Esposito was a wanker. He only got the job because he got in his Bff DeBartolo's head about moves they should make and sniped the job from EJ.

 

[HabsQC]

Alfredsson to Toronto to play with his buddy Mats Sundin.

Of all the trades that didn't happen, this one didn't happen the most.

 

[Brodeur]

I dont who's dumber here. Scott Howson for not accepting it, or Snow for even offering that trade in the first place.

The 'whole draft' maybe sounds sexier than it is. In 2008, the Islanders traded down from #5 and got #7, #68, and a future 2nd (37th).

Islanders allegedly offered #4, #34, #65, #103, #125, #155, and #185 for #2. As much as like the draft, the value of the later picks aren't quite as good as we hope. Almost reminds me trying to stack assets on a Madden trade until the CPU accepts.

It's easier with hindsight to cherry pick which names Columbus could have hypothetically gotten with the extra picks. When a thread about the rumored offer first surfaced, I asked who people would have taken with the extra picks. I recall that Matt Finn and Martin Frk were popular choices for pick #34.

And then there can be the issue with having too many draft picks. Occasionally we'll see teams simply run out of contract spots and they can't offer ELCs to everybody.

Typically teams only trade down at the top of the draft if they think they still land their intended target not because they were overwhelmed with "value." Obviously with hindsight it looks bad with how Ryan Murray's career played out. But in the moment, it was understandable if teams thought there was a gap between him and Reinhart/Dumba/Rielly/Trouba.

2012 was a weird year where Rielly/Galchenyuk missed significant time and still went top 5. Murray himself missed a chunk of time. Even a guy like Slater Koekkoek cracked the top 10 despite only playing in 26 games that season. Maybe in a world where Rielly played a full season, Columbus could have given the trade down more consideration.

 

[CraigBillington]

I dont who's dumber here. Scott Howson for not accepting it, or Snow for even offering that trade in the first place.

And the 2012 first was used on Griffin Reinhard, not Barzal and Beauvillier. That was three years later.

 

[Goptor]

Halak, Ryder, and a 2nd nearly got traded from the Canadiens.

 

[Frank Drebin]

During the 1995 lockout, there were very strong rumours that the Canadiens were going to trade Mathieu Schneider and a forward - never disclosed, but Schneider was the "main" piece - to Detroit for Steve Yzerman.

I seem to remember the day Mark Recchi was acquired I was watching the news and the newscaster said "Detroit Red Wings fans can finally relax" as montreal acquired their star forward

That trade, in case anyone isnt familiar, was:

Recchi and a third for

Desjardins
Leclair
Gilbert Dionne

 

[Point21]

Just watched a random video about the Lightning and apparently Tampa offered package for EK65 was Tyler Johnson, Ryan Callahan, Alex Killorn, and Mikhail Sergachev. I guess Ottawa wanted Brayden Point but Tampa said no.

 

[lawrence]

Bure for Palfy
Bure for Jokinen and Aki Berg
Bure for Nediermayer and Jovo
Bure for Cloutier, Malhotra and Sundstrom
Bure for Cloutier 1st round pick and Sundstrom
Linden + Gelinas for Kovalev Adam Graves and Jeff Beakeboom
Mogilny for Roenick

Mike Gillis openly said that he had trades lined up after the 2013 season that would have changed the direction of the team but was denied by upper management. Trades that would have spun off a "rebuild"

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Just watched a random video about the Lightning and apparently Tampa offered package for EK65 was Tyler Johnson, Ryan Callahan, Alex Killorn, and Mikhail Sergachev. I guess Ottawa wanted Brayden Point but Tampa said no.

Well glad Sens got Stuetzle and Norris instead ngl.

 

[BoltSTH]

Lecavalier for huge package from the Habs on 2008, that was rumored to be Price, Subban, Pacioretty and a 1st. Nixed by co-owner Len Barrie.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Jarmo did the Oilers a huge favor by passing on Pulujarvj at the draft. Chia has to be one of the worst GM’s of all time. Just look earlier in this thread when he was looking to trade Hall for Ceci or Hamonic if Jersey wouldn’t trade Larsson.

I don't know if there's any other instance where the top two players from a single draft class were both traded by the same GM, like Chia did with both Hall and Seguin.

 

[Dr Pepper]

I remembering feeling some resentment towards Brad Richards back in 2011, when I heard he had blocked a deadline deal that Dallas and New York had reached that involved futures going Dallas's way.

Richards' reasoning at the time, if I recall correctly, was that he was going to sign with the Rangers that summer anyways and didn't want them to weaken their farm system beforehand.

Sure enough, I think he was a Ranger on July 2nd.

 

[DJB]

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.

F me as a Sens fan on that one