What is the single worst decision your team ever made?

[Snubbed4Vezina]

Tage Thompson (not sure if in history but it hurts today lol)

Uh, what? Did you forget what happened immediately after?

I make that trade 100 times out of 100.

 

[Avs2022]

It's been almost 20 years, but...

Avalanche	Flames
LW Dean McAmmond D Derek Morris	C Chris Drury C Stephane Yelle

McAmmond was a bust and was back in Calgary the following season (2003-2004). Morris had a first good season but wasn't the same after cracking his orbital bone during a fight, and was also no longer with the Avalanche the following season (dealt at the 2003-2004 trade deadline).

Meanwhile, Drury was a borderline star player, and Yelle was the glue that held Colorado's third line together. The most tragic part is Morris was traded for pending free agent Chris Gratton, who was tasked with filling Yelle's vacant 3C spot but was a bust.

To this day, I never understood why we traded Drury away. It made no sense, we didn't upgrade or even get a player close to his skill level.

I think by that point, the thought process was that the Avs could trade for anyone and be successful. They did have some good trades that panned out the years before (Bourque, Blake, etc), but that was probably the end of good Avs trades for quite some time.

 

[Behn Wilson]

Chicago Blackhawks.

Well the big one is obvious and disturbing, so Im going to keep this to hockey-specific stuff.

Trading Hasek is the first that leaps to mind.

Since they had a HOF goalie in Belfour, I would not rank that as their worst move.

Trading Phil Esposito (along with Hodge and Stanfield) was a far worse sin, though they did get Pit Martin of the MPH line fame at least.

But not retaining Bobby Hull and losing him to the WHA was their biggest mistake and killed the franchise for a long time.

 

[Voight]

For Lou in NJ, it was the decade of futile drafts between 05-15. If you don’t want to rebuild, you better hit on some players. Refusal to address scouting and then a refusal to rebuild - fatal blow.

But specifically, he should’ve done everything in his power to keep Scott Niedermayer. Likely cost himself a cup, maybe two.

TBH I don't think theres anything he could've done.

Niedermayer had won everything possible and the only thing left that he wanted to do was win the cup with his brother. Anaheim knew that so its not as easy as Lou trading for Rob.

To this day, I never understood why we traded Drury away. It made no sense, we didn't upgrade or even get a player close to his skill level.

I think by that point, the thought process was that the Avs could trade for anyone and be successful. They did have some good trades that panned out the years before (Bourque, Blake, etc), but that was probably the end of good Avs trades for quite some time.

IMO its was unlikely those two wouldn't pan out between them being HOF level players and the Avs being loaded with talent.

 

[MoeBartoli]

There's a lot in contention:

HM: Not re-signing Ray Whitney.

HM: Hiring Scott Arniel.

HM: Drafting Gilbert Brule over Anze Kopitar despite the scouts picking Kopitar (MacLean went rogue)

HM: Signing Nathan Horton. (Got a debilitating back injury and was unable to play again. His contract was uninsured and our ownership demanded Jarmo get rid of it for a player who could actually play. Which had us take on David Clarkson. Who also then got a debilitating back injury and was unable to play again. Which forced us to find a way to pawn it off on Vegas during the draft lottery costing us a first round pick.)

1: Trading voracek + 1st (Couturier) for Jeff Carter. (Jeff Carter sulked after the trade happened and had to be privately courted by the Owner, President, GM, and Rick Nash to play. Once he did, he openly quit on the team multiple times and was a bad apple behind the scenes too. Had no interest in being here. Voracek went on to have an all star calibre career and arguably the best center in the draft (at the time) fell to the pick they would have had.

Good list. I’d probably add: “Hiring Doug McLean to launch the franchise”

 

[dalewood12]

Holding onto Bylsma after 2011. I think the Pens win another Cup between 2012 and 2015 if it wasn't for him.

 

[Unspecified]

Hiring Jim Nill

 

[Lou Sassole]

Ripple effect aside, capping ROR at Duchene’s cap hit wasn’t great. We hitched ourselves to the wrong horse.

Trading the pick that became Filip Forsberg for Varly, letting Varly walk after we acquired Grubauer. Then Grubauer walks and we paid for Kuemper. Then Kuemper walks and having to get Georgiev. We’ve used a lot of assets to get mostly good, but never elite goaltending. Better than having terrible goaltending I guess but it sure would’ve been easier and cheaper to just pick a guy and stick with him.

At least you guys didn't trade Forsberg for Erat......

 

[Bourne Endeavor]

“We think he’s going to be our number one defenceman,” said Benning in a call with the media after the trade.

“Quinn will be better for us acquiring Ekman-Larsson, because he can play now in a different kind of role,”

“He’ll be a top-pairing guy, can play a lot of minutes, PP, PK, can be a match-up guy playing against the other team’s top lines,” said Benning.

"He's competitive in his own end."

“He’s a smart two-way player, right,” said Benning. “He’s a guy who can carry the puck up ice, he’s got a great shot from the blue line, but he’s competitive in his own end. We’re excited to get him because he plays against the best players in the league.”

“He’s still 30 years old, so I think he’s gonna have another five, six good years left in him,” said Benning.

 

[Lou Sassole]

Washington Capitals: not paying Scott Stevens

This. So this.

 

[LTIR]

Oilers not using the first overall pick on Eichel when we could have

 

[Hockey4Lyfe]

For the Penguins, one of them has to be the off-season moves that happened after the 2017 season.

Their FO deemed that they needed to get bigger to deter teams making runs out their stars.

Shuffled a team up that had won back to back cups and very easily could have won 3 in a row without the horrible decision making.

 

[High five Tom]

Trading Joe Thornton

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Recent Mike Sullivan extension.

For the Penguins, one of them has to be the off-season moves that happened after the 2017 season.

Their FO deemed that they needed to get bigger to deter teams making runs out their stars.

Shuffled a team up that had won back to back cups and very easily could have won 3 in a row without the horrible decision making.

Front office? Sid And Geno basically begged for Ryan Reaves by name and JR got him. Then Sullivan pouted and misused him entirely until he got his way.

 

[Beniersgeron]

View attachment 661637
“We think he’s going to be our number one defenceman,” said Benning in a call with the media after the trade.

“Quinn will be better for us acquiring Ekman-Larsson, because he can play now in a different kind of role,”

“He’ll be a top-pairing guy, can play a lot of minutes, PP, PK, can be a match-up guy playing against the other team’s top lines,” said Benning.

"He's competitive in his own end."

“He’s a smart two-way player, right,” said Benning. “He’s a guy who can carry the puck up ice, he’s got a great shot from the blue line, but he’s competitive in his own end. We’re excited to get him because he plays against the best players in the league.”

“He’s still 30 years old, so I think he’s gonna have another five, six good years left in him,” said Benning.

I think (HOPE, like really HOPE) Garland will make it all up for the Nucks one day, but the clock is ticking for Garland to break out as he is at that age now.

 

[Voight]

Holding onto Bylsma after 2011. I think the Pens win another Cup between 2012 and 2015 if it wasn't for him.

Had more to do with MAF being one of the worst goalies in playoff history during that 2011-2015 stretch.

Trading Joe Thornton

While the value returned was bad, without that trade they arguably don't sign Chara (cap space) and quite possible they don't win any cups.

 

[mazmin]

I was devastated when Jets 1.0 traded Selanne for Tverdovsky and Kilger. And it turns out every tear was justified.

 

[DingDongCharlie]

Oilers : The Gretzky trade (sale)

Was great for growing the game in the US, he never should have been sold off.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Not tanking for McDavid.

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

Wild: Hiring Chuck Fletcher
Flyers: Hiring Chuck Fletcher

Flyers: Hiring Ron Hextall
Penguins: Hiring Ron Hextall


Seriously, Hexy wasted Giroux's prime. Another(pre-Hexy) you could say was not getting a goalie at the 2010 deadline.

 

[MessierThanThou]

I would actually argue that trading away Messier was more harmful to the Oilers than trading Gretz! The Oilers won a Cup in 1990 and made it to the Conference Finals the following year.

Then again, Messier was traded after that, and the Oilers, somehow, still made it to the Conference Finals in '92.

I think hiring Peter Chiarelli was the worst decision in the history of the Oilers franchise. Who knows how many more Cups we'd have if he didn't make all those terrible trades and f*** us so hard? His mistakes even haunted us last postseason, when we had to play Koskinen (his signing) in lieu of Smith and he choked hard.

And for those wondering, MacTavish was the GM who drafted Draisaitl, not Chiarelli.

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Flyers: Hiring Ron Hextall
Penguins: Hiring Ron Hextall


Seriously, Hexy wasted Giroux's prime. Another(pre-Hexy) you could say was not getting a goalie at the 2010 deadline.

Fletcher has done far more damage to this franchise than Hextall could have ever dreamed of. It will be years before the Flyers are even remotely relevant again.

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

Fletcher has done far more damage to this franchise than Hextall could have ever dreamed of. It will be years before the Flyers are even remotely relevant again.

How so? Did he not already inherit a mess? His problem is he's done pretty much nothing about it, and it's gotten long enough that it's been long enough we can't blame Hextall for everything anymore.

 

[rocketdan9]

2015 draft
Except very smooth recovery via Debrusk/Carlo progressions

And Zacha steal trade has been huge

Nice recovery and unusual way to recover

 

[Thallis]

Uh, what? Did you forget what happened immediately after?

I make that trade 100 times out of 100.

It's also not a sure thing that Thompson ever becomes who he is today with Don Granato's coaching in Buffalo