The bizarre 1989-1990 Maple Leafs

[vadim sharifijanov]

That’s great analysis. The interesting connection here is Jim Benning, who was an early 1980s Leafs first rounder taken 6th overall in 1981 and probably ruined by promotion to the NHL too young as a smaller offensive defenseman. By the time the 1989-90 Leafs were rolling though, Benning had been traded to Vancouver of all places.

One generation later he picks Quinn Hughes 7th overall in 2018. Obviously Hughes has worked out for the Canucks, but it seems like the Benning era has some of that bad epegenetic memory from the 80s Leafs.

this is taking us almost completely off topic, but in the 80s, the canucks transitioned from a decent, if unspectacular, d of harold snepsts, rick lanz, lars lindgren, doug halward, kevin mccarthy, and jiri bubla to a horrible late 80s d of garth butcher, doug lidster, paul reinhart, and a whole lot of junk. among that junk was jim benning, who was acquired in a swap for lanz.

when pat quinn began putting his stamp on the team, he fixed the d in short order through a series of ridiculously efficient moves.

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Montreal Canadiens acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]1991 2nd round pick (#43-Craig Darby)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

March 6, 1990​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Jyrki Lumme[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Montreal Canadiens acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]1991 4th round pick (#73-Vladimir Vujtek)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

January 12, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Gerald Diduck[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Toronto Maple Leafs acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Brian Bradley[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

January 12, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Tom Kurvers[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Calgary Flames acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Dana Murzyn[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

March 5, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Kevan Guy
Ron Stern[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Minnesota North Stars acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Tom Kurvers[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

June 22, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Dave Babych[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



so he got his entire top four of lumme, diduck, murzyn, and babych for the combined cost of a 2nd, 4th, brian bradley, kevan guy, and ronnie stern. (if you dig a little farther back, quinn originally got brian bradley for enforcer craig coxe.)

i always think of it like this: that pat quinn ruthless efficiency of identifying useful players stuck on deep bluelines (lumme and diduck on the habs, murzyn on the flames, kurvers on the leafs) put an end to jim benning's NHL career at the age of 26. he spent the 1991 season in the minors, then went to italy to play out his career the year after.

so benning's act of revenge was to do the exact opposite as a GM.

instead of finding undervalued players on deep bluelines, he bled assets to overpay for mediocre players with name recognition. sbisa, gudbranson, myers, OEL. not to mention derick pouliot, andrey pedan, adam clendenning. if there was a busting prospect, benning was willing to go over the top to get him.

consider that pat quinn got his two best dmen of the 90s, lumme and diduck, for the combined cost of a 2nd and 4th.

then remember that benning traded a 2nd, a 4th, AND future 40 goal scorer jared mccann for gudbranson.

or that he traded a 3rd for andrey pedan, then later traded pedan and a 4th for derick pouliot.

 

[Stephen]

this is taking us almost completely off topic, but in the 80s, the canucks transitioned from a decent, if unspectacular, d of harold snepsts, rick lanz, lars lindgren, doug halward, kevin mccarthy, and jiri bubla to a horrible late 80s d of garth butcher, doug lidster, paul reinhart, and a whole lot of junk. among that junk was jim benning, who was acquired in a swap for lanz.

when pat quinn began putting his stamp on the team, he fixed the d in short order through a series of ridiculously efficient moves.

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Montreal Canadiens acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]1991 2nd round pick (#43-Craig Darby)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

March 6, 1990​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Jyrki Lumme[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Montreal Canadiens acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]1991 4th round pick (#73-Vladimir Vujtek)[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

January 12, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Gerald Diduck[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Toronto Maple Leafs acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Brian Bradley[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

January 12, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Tom Kurvers[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Calgary Flames acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Dana Murzyn[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

March 5, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Kevan Guy
Ron Stern[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

​

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

Minnesota North Stars acquire​

[/TD]

[TD]

Date​

[/TD]

[TD]

Vancouver Canucks acquire​

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]

[/TD]
[TD]Tom Kurvers[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]

[TD]

June 22, 1991​

[/TD]

[TD][TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Dave Babych[/TD]
[TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE][/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]



so he got his entire top four of lumme, diduck, murzyn, and babych for the combined cost of a 2nd, 4th, brian bradley, kevan guy, and ronnie stern. (if you dig a little farther back, quinn originally got brian bradley for enforcer craig coxe.)

i always think of it like this: that pat quinn ruthless efficiency of identifying useful players stuck on deep bluelines (lumme and diduck on the habs, murzyn on the flames, kurvers on the leafs) put an end to jim benning's NHL career at the age of 26. he spent the 1991 season in the minors, then went to italy to play out his career the year after.

so benning's act of revenge was to do the exact opposite as a GM.

instead of finding undervalued players on deep bluelines, he bled assets to overpay for mediocre players with name recognition. sbisa, gudbranson, myers, OEL. not to mention derick pouliot, andrey pedan, adam clendenning. if there was a busting prospect, benning was willing to go over the top to get him.

consider that pat quinn got his two best dmen of the 90s, lumme and diduck, for the combined cost of a 2nd and 4th.

then remember that benning traded a 2nd, a 4th, AND future 40 goal scorer jared mccann for gudbranson.

or that he traded a 3rd for andrey pedan, then later traded pedan and a 4th for derick pouliot.

View attachment 696279

Pat Quinn also did the defenseman trade upgrade routine in Toronto, turning Mathieu Schneider into Alexander Karpovtsev into Bryan McCabe, who was coincidentally part of the Canucks big rebuild return along with Todd Bertuzzi for Trevor Linden, who was the cornerstone of the Quinn era Canucks.

 

[seventieslord]

Pat Quinn also did the defenseman trade upgrade routine in Toronto, turning Mathieu Schneider into Alexander Karpovtsev into Bryan McCabe, who was coincidentally part of the Canucks big rebuild return along with Todd Bertuzzi for Trevor Linden, who was the cornerstone of the Quinn era Canucks.

It's actually pretty shocking Karpovtsev was ever able to be traded straight up for either of those players. Huge whiff by Quinn, who then made up for it.

 

[Stephen]

It's actually pretty shocking Karpovtsev was ever able to be traded straight up for either of those players. Huge whiff by Quinn, who then made up for it.

Agreed. That trade tree is actually extremely convoluted if I can remember all the sequences and side notes and crisscrossing of people properly.

Leafs moved out Kenny Jonsson as part of the Schneider/Clark acquisition deal with the New York Islanders.

Schneider was virtually given away to the Rangers for Karpovtsev by the Mike Smith regime. Karpovtsev actually turned out to be really serviceable in Toronto with Quinn as a head coach, forming a solid D core under Pat Quinn's first season.

Karpovtsev was flipped to Chicago by Quinn who assumed GM duties for an underachieving Bryan McCabe. The GM in Chicago was actually Mike Smith, who had come over from Chicago after his contract with Toronto lapsed and he lost his power struggle to Quinn.

Bryan McCabe had been traded to Chicago from Vancouver in the Sedin draft trade up by Brian Burke, who was a Quinn understudy, and before that McCabe was traded to Vancouver from the Islanders for Pat Quinn's first draft pick as a Canuck, Trevor Linden.

McCabe was originally a highly touted Islanders defense prospect (and I think team captain), who had originally been touted to form a star studded defense core with Bryan Berard, Kenny Jonsson who came over from Toronto as well as a young Zdeno Chara whom the Islanders drafted in 1996.

Bryan McCabe was partially a replacement for the injured Bryan Berard, who had also come to Toronto in a trade for Felix Potvin. Who somehow ended up in Vancouver with Brian Burke after the Islanders.

Bryan McCabe formed a celebrated partnership in Toronto with playmaking defenseman Tomas Kaberle, whom the Leafs drafted in the last round of the 1996 draft. Kaberle himself would play over a decade in Toronto before being traded to Zdeno Chara's Boston Bruins by GM Brian Burke.