Trades in which a player traded from a desirable/successful organization to the opposite?

[IslesFan2017]

The other day, I was reading about Chris Terreri on here and it reminded me of him being traded by the Devils to the Islanders for John Vanbiesbrouck before the trade deadline in the 2000-01 season. Even though I don't remember the exact details, I remember reading in "Fish Sticks: The Fall and Rise of the New York Islanders" that he was disappointed and unhappy being sent to the Islanders. At least Terreri didn't have to move very far from New Jersey to Long Island.

The Devils were the defending champions and on their way back to the Finals before losing Game 7 to the Avalanche. On the other hand, the Islanders had been one of the worse teams in the league since the mid-1990s and had suffered from ownership issues off-the-ice. Nassau Coliseum was already outdated and that only added to the miserable atmosphere surrounding the Islanders at the time. The Islanders finished in 30th place that season although if I recall from the book, there was some optimism for the Islanders before that season due to increased payroll.

I couldn't find much about the trade except this ESPN article: ESPN.com - NHL - Devils deal veteran Terreri in goalie swap

Do you know of any other similar trades where a player was traded from a successful organization to such a dysfunctional and terribly-run organization?

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[carjackmalone]

During a brief competitive level in the late 70’s Lanny McDonald went from the leafs to cellar dwellers Colorado Rockies

 

[rnhaas]

During a brief competitive level in the late 70’s Lanny McDonald went from the leafs to cellar dwellers Colorado Rockies

Also the Sittler trade from the Flyers. Yes, the Red Wings had finally made the playoffs but only because it was the '80s.

 

[Crosby2010]

Immediately I am thinking about the Coffey trade from Detroit to Hartford. That was just awful. Coffey immediately asked to be traded away and he was traded to Philly two months later. But he got in a collision with John Leclair (in practice I think?) and I don't think he was ever the same. He just might have lost his passion after the Wings traded him in 1996. The last greatness we saw of Coffey was that season and the World Cup, where he played well. From 1996-'01 Coffey was never Coffey again. It reminds me of Messier pretty much post 1997. You want to forget all of those years and they don't matter really in the grand scheme of things. To his credit, Coffey along with Primeau fetched Shanahan in that trade and Shanny was the final piece (along with Larry Murphy later) to the Wings winning.

Esposito traded from Boston to the declining Rangers was another example too. Although Esposito still had some good years left in him, and he certainly made the best out of it.

Doug Weight getting traded to Edmonton from the Rangers for Tikkanen. He went to a dumpster fire and left a team that would famously win that year.

I guess we'll say the most obvious one - Gretzky in 1988.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i always wondered if when lou was trading away guys who wanted too much money, whether he did them dirty on purpose, sending them to bad teams/dysfunctional orgs.

verbeek and sean burke were both traded to hartford

and i’m not sure if he was a salary negotiations purge or they were just making room for fetisov/kasatonov but kurvers was traded to toronto near the end of the pre-fletcher years

but i imagine being john maclean in the early 90s looking at all his former teammates while he’s scoring 40 goals a year and being careful to never step out of line

 

[MadLuke]

Like Coffey, Ciccarelli went from the the team that would win the next 2 cups (detroit) to Tampa Bay in the summer of 1996, than the other florida team the panthers, never played a playoff game again.

Still did really well (35 goals and an all star game appearance in 1997)

asked to be traded away and he was traded to Philly two months later.

with how he was treated there by Neilson (including not playing in the playoff) and benched some games in the end of the regular seasons...

 

[Crosby2010]

Like Coffey, Ciccarelli went from the the team that would win the next 2 cups (detroit) to Tampa Bay in the summer of 1996, than the other florida team the panthers, never played a playoff game again.

Still did really well (35 goals and an all star game appearance in 1997)


with how he was treated there by Neilson (including not playing in the playoff) and benched some games in the end of the regular seasons...

Coffey missed the final two Cup final games in Detroit. Other than that he played every playoff game. It didn't make a difference, Philly was even worse in Game 3 without him and then lost Game 4 too. Coffey didn't play well in Games 1 and 2, but he wasn't the problem. Remember, it was Terry Murray, not Roger Neilson, as coach of the Flyers that season. I honestly don't know why they traded Dino. They got nothing back for him. Eventually they got lucky and Holmstrom played Dino's role, but he wasn't used really in 1997. By 1998 he had a good playoff though. But I think they win the Cup in 1997 with Dino. I am not sure if they do without Shanahan though and instead have an older Coffey and a playoff no-show in Primeau. So that was a good trade in reality. But sucks to be Coffey. However he had nothing left to prove with that career, plenty of championships too.

 

[MadLuke]

Remember, it was Terry Murray, not Roger Neilson, as coach of the Flyers that season.

Yes it was mostly the second seaso/Neilson n when it went really bad relation wise, he was benched some games, played 0 minutes of the 1998 playoff and was asked to cut sticks during practice (according to Daigle).

Maybe his career ending is more graceful if he do not request that trade after all.

The Whalers-Cane when he went back there, were making the playoff by 1999 and he got to play 23 minutes a night during them....

 

[The Panther]

The end of Coffey's career just seems ridiculous. Like, he played for who those last few years...? Boston, I think? Carolina? Does anyone even remember this?

 

[NyQuil]

Marian Hossa was traded from a very competitive Ottawa team to the Atlanta Thrashers on the same day as signing a long-term deal with the Senators.

Ottawa had won the President’s Trophy in 2003 and was a perennial playoff team at this point.

Atlanta would only qualify for the playoffs in one season of their existence and failed to win a single playoff game.

 

[The Panther]

John Kordic. From late-80s Canadiens to Leafs.

 

[carjackmalone]

Pavel Bure to Florida

 

[Terry Yake]

The end of Coffey's career just seems ridiculous. Like, he played for who those last few years...? Boston, I think? Carolina? Does anyone even remember this?

he was bourque's replacement in boston

 

[Primary Assist]

Kessel from the Bruins to the sad sack Leafs immediately comes to mind. Misses the Cup win with the Bruins by two years. And he got to play a grand total of one playoff series with the Leafs, where he suffered one of the most humiliating losses in playoff history to... the Bruins.

Of course this is also an example where a player was dealt away from a championship team since that team didn't believe he had the qualities of a champion, so this may have been less bad luck and more of a self inflicted wound.

Edit - In hindsight my post is too critical of Phil. He did get the last laugh after all by playing for the other, more successful black and gold team of the 2010s and proved himself every bit the championship player as an integral piece of back-to-back champs. And nobody would have ever guessed he would do so in a team's bottom six.