Seemingly Small Moves That Ended Up Having Major Consequences

[End of Line]

Pens trading Rob Scuderi to the Blackhawks for Trevor Daley in December 2015

 

[tanti9]

Pretty interesting idea for a topic, no idea why you choose this horrible example though.

For one, a draft pick is just that, a draft pick. It's not a player, it's not even the rights to a player yet. That Montreal ended up picking Hutson with that pick is thus entirely irrelevant. There is no reason to assume that Edmonton would have drafted Hutson with that pick. Not to mention that for every Hutson drafted in the second round, there are dozens of players who never amount to anything. Not that it really matters, because trading a future piece for something that might help you win now is the whole point of contenders trading at the deadline. You take the risk (not that a 2nd rounder is a risk to begin with) of losing out on something that could help you in the future to have a better chance at winning now. And if you end up winning a Cup, it doesn't matter one bit what you gave up, because you won the very thing you wanted to win. Now, Edmonton didn't succeed in that, but so did plenty of others who tried as well. If they are an example for anything, it's that having franchise players doesn't equal an automatic Cup-win.

Brett Kulak has delivered exactly as expected, and has regularly upped his game in the playoffs by quite a bit. He was easily worth the 2nd rounder (a pick, not Hutson, no matter how much you pretend otherwise) that was being traded for him. Being somewhat responsible for goals against one one game doesn't change anything about that. Players have bad games, it happens, regardless of point in time. Patrick Roy is famed for his playoff performances, yet that didn't stop him from sinking his team in the conference finals with his "statue of liberty" mistake and following 0-7 drubbing in the next game.

Kulak was very much worth his contract extension. On top of that, Broberg was neither better than Kulak (much less vastly superior) at any point of their time on the team together, nor did Kulak block Broberg from playing, otherwise you hardly would have seen Broberg in the last playoffs, no?

In no way, shape or from did Kulak prevent the Oilers from playing Broberg, or from re-signing him. As evidenced by the fact that the team cleared enough cap-space to spend millions on UFA-wingers last summer.
Management clearly botched things with Broberg, and Holloway as well for that matter But that has nothing whatsoever to do with Kulak. There was nothing bad about getting him, nor about keeping him. It was not remotely close to being "value bleeding" and it sure as heck couldn't be further from "franchise crippling". So no, your post is very much not "without exaggeration", it is indeed the exact opposite of that. It is about as exaggerated as it gets and completely detached from reality.

And looking at your over the top ranting, if the Oilers hadn't traded that pick for a defenseman they clearly needed, you probably would have whined about how management failed to do its utmost to improve the roster and thus wasted years of McDavid's and Draisaitl's prime.

nah..it was not just a pick!!!! The trade was a 2nd for Hutson...... lol I am just kidding, I agree with your assessment, no one knows who the Oilers would have drafted with that pick but it is debatable if Kulak is worth a second

 

[Antropovsky]

There have been articles around the subject, so there’s better than what I’m typing for you if you want to go learn all the details:

Steen to stl meets your criteria.

He was not the primary trade demand in the initial transaction, then stuff happens, he becomes a core of our group, he wins a cup and now is about to be our gm.

Here is a top 10 video of steen moments

Everyone knew that trade was ridiculous. Apparently, even Colaiacovo asked Toronto GM Cliff Fletcher who they were being traded for, and when Fletcher said “Stempniak,” Colaiacovo responded with, “And…?”


I believe even Ron Wilson mentioned that Fletcher made that trade without his input.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

At the 2012 deadline the Canes traded pending UFA Alex Ponikarovsky to NJD for Joe Sova and a 2012 4th round pick.

With 13 years of hindsight, that trade can also be described as Ponikarovsky for Joe Sova and Jaccob Slavin.

 

[Bring Bak Damphousse]

Not sure this qualifies but habs trade veteran dman Craig Rivet to the Sharks for Gorges and a late 1st. Habs draft Pacioretty with that pick, than trade Pacioretty for Tatar and Suzuki. What should have been an inconsequential trade of a veteran dman for a playoff run, ends up filling our captain position for a decade +

 

[Frank Drebin]

June 27, 2015. Sunrise, Florida

Boston Bruins and their fans are still processing the previous day. Former first round pick and highly touted defenseman Dougie Hamilton was traded to Calgary and fan favorite Milan Lucic was traded to Los Angeles.

After picking 15th, 16th and 17th in the first round the Bruins make a meaningless trade with the Minnesota Wild.

Bruins received a 5th round pick in 2016 from the Wild (Cam Clarke, retired ECHLer) in return for their 5th round pick (135th overall) in the 2015 NHL draft

With that pick, the Wild selected, Kirill Kaprizov.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Buffalo matching the offer sheet for Vanek and forgoing the Oilers next four 1st round picks

Who knows where the Oilers end up with Vanek or who the Sabres draft but that was two of the Oilers 1st overall picks. The Sabres would have had much higher picks as well to compliment

 

[landy]

Matt Duchene requesting a trade to a playoff team. Matt Duchene crying like a baby all season is a huge reason why the Avs finished last that year, drafting Makar immediately after, and shipping his ass out so Mac can take the reigns. Also Duchenes contract was the internal cap that gave us so many years of Mackinnon at $6.5M.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

2 for the Bolts:


In 2014, the Lightning packaged the 80th overall pick with their 7th rounder to move up ONE spot to 79. With that pick, they nabbed Brayden Point.

The Lightning traded Kyle Quincey to the Red Wings for a late first rounder in 2012. That first rounder became Andrei Vasilevskiy.

 

[banks]

I am going to steal my own post from a recent "change of scenery" thread. But the answer applies here. Dubnyk to Minny!

In 2015, with goalies Backstrom and Kuemper struggling with health/performance, Minnesota traded a 3rd rounder for a 3rd string goalie to temporarily start some games. It was a depth trade at the time. Dubnyk was not even half a season removed from clearing waivers and playing in the AHL.

For Minny Dubnyk starts 38 consecutive games going 27–9–2, making the playoffs when it seemed impossible. That year Dubnyk was 3rd in Vezina voting, 4th in Hart voting, and won a Masterton! He went on to be a workhorse goalie for Minny for the next 4 years, was a 3 time all-star, and started more games than almost anyone league wide while posting great numbers.

You won't find many bigger swings than a 3rd rounder for a recent AHL cast off to Vezina and Hart votes!

 

[King'sPawn]

Kings traded Ryan Smyth back to Edmonton after he complained about "not feeling safe" in Southern California.

The reason why it was seemingly low impact is that originally, it was for Gilbert Brule and a fourth. However, Kevin Lowe didn't disclose Brule's health issue, and so the trade was nixxed.

So the Kings ended up getting Colin Fraser and a 7th instead.

Kings went on to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history less than 12 months later, and Colin Fraser scored the first goal of the Stanley Cup final.

 

[King'sPawn]

Ryan Smyth requested a trade in 2011 and the Kings sent him back to Edmonton in June of that year. The deal was originally in exchange for Gilbert Brule but that was scuttled because there was a disagreement over Brule’s health so the Oilers sent Colin Fraser back instead. If Smyth hadn’t done that the Kings would not have had the cap space to trade for Jeff Carter later that year without making another move. Colin Fraser ended up centering the Kings’ aggressive forechecking 4th line on their way to a Stanley Cup.

I only looked at the first page but this was my exact example

 

[FerrisRox]

Detroit picking up Larry Murphy on waivers from Toronto in 1997. Or do you mean currently?

Murphy wasn't placed on waivers.

He was traded to the Red Wings for Future Considerations.

 

[FerrisRox]

Speaking of waiver pick ups ... Martin St Louis. Flames picked Begin over him.

Martin St. Louis was never claimed on waivers.

 

[Bouboumaster]

Summer of 2021: Everything related to Danault/Kotkaniemi/Dvorak and Bergevin

 

[Chainshot]

Probably the goalie carousel that had Hasek go to Buffalo, Christian Ruuttu go to Winnipeg and on to Chicago and Stephane Beauregard go from Winnipeg to Buffalo to Winnipeg to keep him out of the expansion draft. Buffalo wound up with the odd man out of the Belfour-Waite-Hasek Cerberus as well as the pick used on Eric Daze plus Ruuttu and Winnipeg had their goalie protected from being selected in the expansion draft.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

A few for Washington:

- Steve Eminger gets playing time in the 2008 playoffs due to injuries, salvages his career from bust status, and gets traded to Philly along with the 84th pick at the 2008 draft for the 27th pick, which turned out to be John Carlson.
- Traded a 3rd to Chicago for Michal Kempny, who was supposed to be a healthy scratch behind their other TDL acquisition, Jakub Jerabek. Jerabek struggled so they put in Kempny, and Kempny ended up being Carlson’s partner during the Cup run.
- Signing Dylan Strome to a one-year prove-it deal after Chicago non-tendered him.

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Feel like everything posted so far is like - "player not good actually was good" or "pick became good player" which is kinda boring. Are there any good examples of like a butterfly effect thing where a tiny domino turned into something much bigger down the road whether it be player or organizational impact?

Going back to the Patrick Sharp trade:

Phi receives:
Matt Ellison - 4th rnd pick in 2002 (Chi)
2006 3rd rnd pic (later traded to Mtl who choose Ryan White)
-trade with Mtl results in Jonathan Matsumoto and Jacub Kovar
-Matsumoto gets traded for a 7th rnd pick in 2010
Chi receives:
Eric Meloche - 7th rnd pick in 1996 (Pit)
Patrick Sharp - 3rd rnd pick 2001 (Phi)



So two 3rds, a 4th, and a 7th. None of these guys should have amounted to much.
Ryan White plays ~300 games in the NHL over 8 seasons for 4 teams.
Ellison played under 50 games in the NHL.
Meloche played under 100 games in the NHL.
Kovar never plays in the NHL.
Matsumoto plays 14 games in the NHL
Blidstrand never plays in the NHL


Patrick Sharp becomes a 3x-Cup Winning All-Star, fan favorite, hearthrob for the female fans, elite PKer, and 30-goal scorer.

On top of that, in 2010 he scores 4 goals in the Stanley Cup Finals against? The team who drafted and traded him, the Philadelphia Flyers.

It should have been a nothing trade.
Hawks don't win those cups without Sharp.

Sharp later traded to Dallas which has it's own chain of events including eventually sending Trevor Daley to Pit where he plays a big part in the Penguins winning the Cup.

Side notes:

In 2006-07 the Flyers finished with 56 points, their worst season in franchise history, and had the best odds for the draft lottery for the #1 overall pick. But the Blackhawks won the lottery and chose Patrick Kane. The Flyers picked JVR at #2. Of course Kane goes on to score the cup-winning OT goal in game 6 against those same Flyers and has a HHOF career.

Patrick Sharp is now part of the front office in player development for? The Philadelphia Flyers

 

[TheNewEra]

letting hasek play in the olympics....

ottawa trading for craig anderson in 2011, he came over and played amazing when sens were well out of it and cost ottawa a top 3 pick (RNH/Landeskog/Huberdeau), which eventually led to the zibanejad for brassard deal which eventually led ottawa to giving brassard away for free

 

[BLNY]

Martin St. Louis was never claimed on waivers.

That's correct. He was waived in favor of Begin, but ultimately signed as a UFA with the Bolts.

 

[Habsrule]

2013 draft day floor.

Detroit had pick #18. San Jose traded up from picks #20 and #58.

Sharks traded up to draft Mirco Mueller and the Wings drafted Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Mueller played 54 career games for the Sharks while the Wings got 607 games out of Mantha and Bertuzzi.

 

[Garbageyuk]

The Habs trading Craig Rivet.

 

[jonlin]

fter picking 15th, 16th and 17th in the first round the Bruins

The Bruins legendary draft and you got the numbers wrong:

13th Zboril
14th DeBrusk
15th Senyshyn

What could have been:

16th Barzal
17th Connor
18th Chabot
20th Eriksson-Ek
23rd Boeser
24th Konecny

 

[Fig]

Flames needed a goalie when Sutter took the reins in '03. Coming from San Jose, he asked for Toskala. Sharks said no and offered their third stringer instead.

Amazing trade for both teams, and the guy the Flames got (#34) was better than Toskala and is a franchise legend for us.

 

[chaser17]

The Kulak example is riddled with false equivalencies, half-truths and hyperbole.

However, the premise of the thread is interesting. I will submit the example that appeared most obvious to me when clicking on the thread.

Waiver pickup Gustav Forsling. I don't think I need to explain further.

Kulak has been rock solid for the Oilers in the playoffs 3 years in a row, not sure why OP is clinging onto him not having a great gap on the game 7 gwg.